Edna S Awakening Term paper

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Edna's "Awakening"

Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" is a work of

litature like none other I have read. It is not

hard to imagine why this major work of Chopin's was

banished for decades not long after its initial

publication in 1899. Most of society did not like

the fact that "The Awakenings" main character, Edna

Pontellier, went against the socially acceptable

role of women at that time. At that time in

history, women did just what they were expected to

do. They were expected to be good daughters, good

wives, and good mothers. Edna seemed to fit this

mold at first, but eventually as the story develops

Edna breaks free from that mold.

Edna chose to do what society expected of her,

she marries, and leaves her fantasies and dreams in

the

depths of the shadows. "The acme of bliss, which

would have been a marriage with the tragedian, was

not for her in this world. As the devoted wife of a

man who worshiped her, she felt she would take her

place with a certain dignity in the world of

reality, closing the portals forever behind her

upon the realm of romance and dreams." After

marriage, Edna faced the expectations of motherhood

and being a devoted mother, after all "if it was

not a mother's place to look after children, whose

on earth was it?" (P.471)

The outward appearance of Edna's life looked

perfect, she was the envy of many women. "And the

ladies, selecting with dainty and discriminating

fingers and a little greedily, all declared that

Mr. Pontellier was the best husband in the world.

Mrs. Pontellier was forced to admit she knew of

none better." (P. 472) The cover of her life was a

picture of a fairy tale, but inside, the pages were

filled with the emptiness and the loneliness she

was feeling. During that summer at Grand Isle, the

pages were finally read, and slowly Edna became

less and less concerned for the welfare of her

family and more concerned with the feeling she was

having. "He [Mr. Pontellier] thought it very

discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object

of his existence evinced so little interest in

things which concerned him, and valued so little

his conversation." (P. 471) In Mr. Pontellier's

eyes his wife was not a mother-woman, because "it

was easy to know them, fluttering about with

extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or

imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They

were women who idolized their children, worshiped

their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to

efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as

ministering angels." (P. 473) Mr.Pontellier's wife

seemed more interested in using her...

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