The Mother-Woman In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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The fear of not fitting into society makes it hard for a person to honestly express themself. In the novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin tells the story of Edna, a woman in search of individuality in a society that has regulated and created standards for the behavior of each gender. Chopin showcases the possible lifestyles Edna may have in such a confining society through the use of other characters.
Adele Ratignolle demonstrates the life of an ideal woman, one who exerts all her efforts into her husband and children. She is “the embodiment of every womanly grace and charm,” a mother-woman “who [idolizes] their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering …show more content…
She drags “a chair in and out of her room, and at intervals objecting to the crying of a baby” and plays piano in a manner that “sent a keen tremor down Mrs. Pontellier’s spinal column” (71). She is incompetent of the mother-woman characteristics that an ideal Victorian woman encompasses. She is independent of domestic responsibilities and devotes her life to her passion for piano. She displays a lifestyle created by one’s self and serves as an artistic muse for Edna. Although her lifestyle seems like the obvious, ideal decision, it is made difficult by the pressures of society. To live a lifestyle indifferent to the social construct of gender roles, “the artist must possess the courageous soul… the soul that dares and defies” (115). Chopin uses Mademoiselle Reisz to propose another path Edna may take. She displays the freedom and independence Edna wants but is also insufficient of the sexuality and intimacy she desires. Her life is short of the connection and passionate relationship Edna wants to have with someone, particularly Robert. Chopin creates a darker outline of what Edna truly wants through Mademoiselle

Kate Chopin's The Awakening

Kate Chopin, an American feminist author, created historically relevant works during the literary naturalism time period. Published in 1899, The Awakening has become one of her most famous realistic fiction works. The novel’s plot focuses on a southern woman named Edna Pontellier, who lives as a wife and mother in 19th century New Orleans. Chopin’s book is one of the first non-condescending American novels that explicitly addresses a highly controversial topic: women’s rights. Attributed to the thematic…

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When Kate Chopin published her book, The Awakening, in 1899, she was already a well-known and respected author. However, the story was widely rejected by most critics as scandalous and indecent, specifically in the Chicago Times Herald, in which it was written that “it was not necessary for a writer of so great refinement and poetic grace to enter the over-worked field of sex-fiction." However, this was not because her novel was, in fact, a raunchy and vulgar novel intent on reveling in promiscuity…

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