What Is Edna's Role In The Awakening

Words: 586

Pages: 3

Open Document

“Think of the children, Edna.” These are the last words uttered by Adele Ratignolle to her friend Edna Pontellier, the flawed protagonist of The Awakening by Kate Chopin. On the surface Adele’s words are a harmless recommendation, but when examined in the context of the time period they take a on a more disheartening edge. Edna, as the title would suggest, awakens to the strict confines of society by coming directly into conflict with them. Adele’s command, as well as the words and actions of so many others, seek to return Edna to her rigid role as docile matron.

Edna finds her life not just uninteresting, but uniquely unfulfilling. She seems to have it all: a rich, kind husband; a large, elegant home; and two children that she loves and feels responsible for. Still, she understands none of the joy that the other “mother-women” show. Caring for and doting on her children brings her little satisfaction and her husband Leonce lacks the excitement she felt for earlier loves. She can never even feel truly close to her friends, Adele included, for they take …show more content…
The novel does not condemn her as society would, rather it objectively presents Edna’s actions, selfish and naive as they may be. There is no compromise in her new world, and no place for friends, husbands, and children to detract from her enlightenment. However, a life lived free of responsibilities is impossible. As Edna begins to realize the unsustainability of her new lifestyle Adele’s appeal to her senses catches her off guard and reminds that she can never truly be free of her old life. Happiness cannot exist without sacrifice and Edna’s dreams of consequence-free desires are unrealistic both then and today. Edna’s suicide is then one last defiance, an ultimate rebellion. She could not return to “thinking about her children” and refused to forfeit her integrity and submit to the wills of

Film Analysis: The Awakening

The Awakening, written by Kate Chopin, talks about how the protagonist Edna Pontellier awakes from her marriage and seeks her freedom in marriage and life. The novel ends with Edna’s suicide. Edna is a normal wife in New Orleans who is dissatisfied with her marriage and tries to escape from her current situation. Her awakenings include an emotional awakening caused by the Robert Lebrun, the lover of Edna, and an intellectual awakening led by Mademosielle Reisz, the pianist who touches Edna’s inner…

Words 583 - Pages 3

Creole Women In The Awakening

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening explores both the value of women in society and the ethics of Creole culture. The majority of the plot focuses on the misogynistic traits of society while simultaneously implying a covert gossip culture. Throughout her awakening, Edna continuously moves through a scale of belonging in society; this scale ranges from highly regarded, depicted by Adele, to outcast, characterized by Reisz. Near the end of her awakening, Edna begins rapidly shifting towards the extreme of…

Words 807 - Pages 4

Essay The Awakening

Per.2 Adele as a Foil to Edna in The Awakening The novella The Awakening by Kate Chopin follows the main character Edna Pontellier as she contemplates the life she has chosen for herself. Edna, the defiant protagonist undergoes huge personal changes throughout the novel and is awakened to see a new world she has never experienced before. Edna’s confidante in the novel is a woman named Adele Ratignolle. Adele is not only a good friend of Edna’s, but she is also a foil to Edna as she and Edna…

Words 821 - Pages 4

Essay On Edna Pontellier's Suicide In The Awakening

The Awakening by Kate Chopin discusses the shy and quiet life of Edna Pontellier. Telling her silent journey of self discovery, leading up to her ultimate decision of departure from her husband, and the holds of oppression. However all fell short, as she makes the decision to commit suicide, along with not essentially being the most relatable, self righteous protagonist many books display. Instead Edna's thoughts makes one constantly raise the question of whether or not she had truly developed as…

Words 639 - Pages 3

awakening essay

“Kate Chopin uses powerful and significant symbolism in The Awakening to depict the feminist idea involving women’s longing for sexual and personal emancipation through the development of the main character, Edna Pontellier”1 Explore the relevance of this statement to Edna’s Awakening and show how your reading of the yellow wallpaper illuminates this understanding. The Victorian era was an age of confinement for women in their rights and their social lives, but it was perhaps the beginning of the…

Words 1475 - Pages 6

Feminist Criticism Noah Taylor Essay

Feminist Criticism of The Awakening Imagine being expected to be fully obedient to your husband and be more of a piece of property than a human being; you cannot make your own decisions or act without another one’s consent. This is what life was like for the women of 1899. Edna Pontellier is a married woman in New Orleans and is used to the custom of being completely and utterly subordinate to her husband. This all changes after her emotions start to take over. The Awakening is used by Kate…

Words 685 - Pages 3

The Awakening Essay

3 October 2013 The Awakening For as long as the art of literature has been practiced, esteemed authors have prided themselves in their keen use of symbolism. A symbol can be any person, place or thing within a story that is representative of something else; symbols often appear to be insignificant when first mentioned, but are ultimately brought full circle and expounded upon, their deeper meanings exposed to the reader. This is done through recurrence. The Awakening by Kate Chopin is an…

Words 1514 - Pages 7

Edna Pontellier's Sacrifice In 'The Awakening'

The Awakening, Kate Chopin explores a woman’s spiritual revolution through the character Edna Pontellier. Edna deliberately sacrifices, surrenders, or forfeits many things that are important to her, and in doing so highlights her values. Throughout her journey, she discovers herself through powerful experiences and influential characters. By the end of the dramatic novel, Edna is able to figure out who she is, but that she is unfortunately incapable of handling her true self. In The Awakening, self-discovery…

Words 1330 - Pages 6

Essay on

The Awakening Reviews on “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin Essay April 30, 2013 This paper is a discussion regarding two reviews of The Awakening. A woman’s view of The Awakening compared to a man’s is very different. Katy (female reviewer) states, “She went a bit further than I would be comfortable with. She became so focused on herself that she seemed to neglect her children and didn’t consider the consequences of her choices” (Katy 2010). The male reviewer (Brother Odd) on the other hand…

Words 1320 - Pages 6

Contrasting Forces In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

In Kate Chopin's The Awakening, Edna Pontellier is a woman torn between fulfilling the role society imposes on her and catering to her own needs as an individual. Her thoughts of infidelity and her rejection of societal responsibilities awaken her to what she truly desires in life: independence. In "Contrasting Forces in the Novel", George Arms critiques the novel, stating that Chopin presents contrasting forces without extracting a final truth. He also states that Edna does not seem to struggle…

Words 1413 - Pages 6