Argumentative Essay On The Awakening

Edna is definitely not the ideal wife or mother role, but she could be known as being a great leader for rebelling against society and the general idea of a general woman’s characteristics- others never influenced her decisions and she only ever followed what she felt best suited herself, which is what made her the strong woman she expressed herself as throughout the

Shown in this quote, “her senses kindled afresh in thinking of Robert’s words, the pressure of his arms, and the feeling of his lips upon her own…. She hoped he would be asleep that she might arouse him with her caresses”(172), Edna has enormous feelings for Robert. Edna loves the way Robert touches her and treats her. Despite the fact that Edna is already married and have two kids. Edna was also sexual attracted to Alcee.

She begins withdrawing herself from societal norms and finally becomes more content with life. After Edna learns to swim “a feeling of exultation [overtakes] her, as if some power of significant import [is] given her to control the working of her body and her soul…She [wants] to swim far out, where no woman [has] swum before” (Chopin 37). Edna develops new confidence in what she wants in her life after slowly retracting from societal expectations. Edna obtains a new mindset on how she will accomplish her goals. She becomes more determined and cares less about what others think.

This married woman with two children had inadvertently fallen in love with another man. Although he leaves, Robert is the most important part of Edna's awakening. He is the one who gives her the love that her own husband will not. She starts to truly blossom when she falls for Robert. After he leaves, she often goes to Madame Lebrun's home to look at Robert's baby pictures.

After swimming successfully, she develops feelings for Robert. After this awakening, Edna starts to step back and rethink her entire life; her marriage, her role, and even herself. She realizes she feels sort of imprisoned in this life she has had for so long. Edna finally starts doing things for her, she is letting herself feel an attraction for another man even though she is married and she also gets into art and has everyone in the house model for her. Rather than doing things to get the house ready for her husband or spending time playing with her children, she is distracted by all her newly found

Edna begins as a wife unsatisfied with her married life and responsibilities as a mother. This entrapment is symbolized as a green and yellow parrot in a cage that has the right to make all the fuss it wants, although still stuck in a cage, void of the interactions that it longs for. The confines of Edna’s marriage are preventing her from flying out into the world so she can experience it for herself. Edna must escape from her caged existence and find her wings in order to soar. Building strength as an independent woman, Edna finds great value in her relationship with Mademoiselle Reisz who is an artist and inspirational female figure to Edna.

This novel, The Awakening, is about a woman named Edna Pontellier learns to think of herself as an independent human being. Also, Edna Pontellier refuses to obey against the social norms by leaving her husband Leónce Pontellier and having an affair with Robert Lebrun. Kate Chopin describes societal expectations and the battle of fitting the mold of motherhood in the Awakening by how Edna Pontellier and Adele Ratignolle contribute to their family in different ways. Edna Pontellier’s attitude toward motherhood is that she is not a perfect mother-women. Adele Ratignolle’s attitude toward motherhood is that she is a perfect mother-women.

Edna fully understands that society would brand her as a terrible woman, but she does not view herself as a bad person. There is an external and internal difference that Edna hopes to one day reconcile. Chopin, instead of creating tension within Edna, created tension within the society and Edna with her newfound independence does not mind how society classifies her. Decisively, it can be concluded that the tension between outward conformity and inward questioning builds the meaning of the novel by examining Edna’s role as a wife, mother, and as nontraditional woman in the traditional Victorian period.

Edna continually questions whether or not she is destined to live a life of subordination or if she can find her own freedom. Edna Pontellier’s defiant nature is brought out

Every situation has it own point of view. In the novel, Edna attempted to convinved herself that whateer dishonesty she was doing was not wrong. She seems to be drowning herself in her own issues. throughout the novel, she commits moral crimes such as maintaining a false marriage.

In Kate Chopin’ s novel, The Awakening, there are three identities inside of the female leading role, Edna Pontellier, being a wife, mother and own self. Edna was born in 19th century at the Vitoria period, a patriarchy society, women have low freedom to achieve personal goal. She married with Léonce Pontellier, a wealthy man with Creole descent. After having a child, her life is still unchangeable and as bored as before. Until she encountered Robert Leburn, Mademoiselle Reisz, and Alcée Arobin, her value of self-cognition has changed.

However, Creole women were expected to be chaste, and would behave in a unreserved manner. The exposure to such openness is what frees Edna from her previously repressed emotions and desires and motivates her to become more independent. Because they are women, Adele and Edna do not have much freedom, as in comparison to men. However, Edna gains more freedom that is much closer to that of men when she abandons her household and social responsibilities. Edna’s refusal to follow and obey social conventions, allows her to spend her time on painting and sketching.

For example, when the couple returns from Grand Isle, Edna begins to act on her own and refuses to show hospitality towards her guests and it begins to exasperate Mr. Pontellier. As the novel progresses, it is evident that the relationship between Mr. Pontellier and Edna is purely superficial; it lacks sentiment and is only picture perfect for society. Because Edna is portrayed as an object of her husband, it fits the the fact that marriages in the nineteenth century viewed women as an “object of others [rather than] the free subject of their own fates”

Edna begins to become more aware of her position in her relationship with her husband. She is now comprehending the feelings she associates with the Apollonian and Dionysian influences in her

Edna’s inner identity reaches the breakpoint where it is necessary for her well-being that it is expressed. At this point, nothing else matters besides her intuitions and desires. This brings difficulty to her familiar relationships and friendships due to her rejection of living according to her role as a mother and a wife. Even though this conflict is addressed, it does not make an impact on her decision to remain a bit selfish through this time that she is finding herself. As a way of explaining her state of mind, Edna states that she "would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself.