Kate Chopin's The Awakening: Women's Role In Society Essay

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is a story written in the late 19th century about a woman named Edna becoming independent and finding herself in a time when women had little to no rights and were seen as property of their husband. Racism, sexism, and feminism were all going on when this book was written, and therefore influenced it greatly.

During the mid to late 1800s, the time period that Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening, women were expected to be a "mother-woman", which influenced Kate Chopin to write this book about the gain of independence by women. Women were expected to stay at home

Kate Chopin’s aspiration to deliver The Awakening was to convey to the early 20th century public her position of women’s roles, rights, and independence in a time of strict gender roles. Chopin conveys to readers the oppression of women during her time. Edna Pontellier is Chopin’s protagonist in the novel, and she finds herself unhappy and contempt of her role as a republican mother, which characterizes the idea of women’s work, and Edna identifies indirectly with the women at the Seneca Falls convention. Throughout the book Edna’s husband, Leónce Pontellier, continually scolds her for not being an attentive and loving mother and Edna compares herself with Madame Ratignolle, who is the epitome of motherhood

Questioning Women’s Equal Rights led to an uproar during the 1800’s, within the literary world the re-establishment of such era was exposed, through Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899). The protagonist, Edna Pointillier was beared in mind as selfish: as she“rejected domesticity in favor of her own fulfillment”(Walker 5). In the course of identifying a white middle-class woman, “the United States, disseminated through novels, religious writings, and advice books.” Proclaimg to be a true woman, “she must be confined to the home, devoted to husband, and children,” and deliberately avoid employment and the sphere of politics (Smith-Rosenberg). Shockingly, the empowerment of middle-class women grew, as reform movements and campaigns resisting

To what extent does Edna Pontellier, in Kate Chopin's The Awakening, mark a departure from the female characters of earlier nineteenth-century American novels

But in the 1800s, it was no question to the fact that men were believed to have all the authority in comparison to women. The novel, The Awakening by Kate Chopin the men in Edna’s life had the power to oppress her. The external obstacle of her being a woman during the 1800s made it difficult for her to stand out and be the person she truly was; everything she did then was considered wrong. Being espoused

In Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, Edna Pontellier and Adele Ratignolle have opposing viewpoints and personalities. Moreover, Edna is independent, strong-willed, and does not answer to her husband. In contrast, Mademoiselle Ratignolle is the ideal woman because she gives her whole self to her husband and children. Although Adele is the optimal woman, Adele is living a farce. In reality, Adele is intelligent and has the ability to think for herself. Despite Adele’s acumen, Adele plays the character of a subservient woman, due to the fact that an obedient woman was perceived as perfect in the late 19th century. Edna differs from Adele in that Edna does not hide who she really is; Edna voices her opinions and does what she wants. The two characters, Adele and Edna, are foils because Adele plays the game of a submissive wife while Edna is her true self.

It is often deemed that during the Victorian era women’s social mobility and free-will were stifled, and society scorned against any deviation from a set of antiquated standards. This is evident in Kate Chopin’s classic novel The Awakening as the main protagonist, Edna Pontellier, struggles against her gender restraints in an attempt to live life in the way she desires. However, in the novel the misconceptions of Victorian society and set gender roles also stifle men- as evidenced by Edna’s husband Leonce being unable to escape from his duties as a man to properly love Edna. This duality reveals Chopin’s message that gender roles and societal preconceptions serve no purpose but to fetter and chain individualism, self-concept, and happiness.

There are many other areas of Edna's story while illustrate the rebellious ideas that she represents. For example, her view of religion is very controversial for that time period. Throughout the story, we can see that Edna had no tolerance for the religious practices that were held so dear to the rest of society (Klein 3). It is not surprising that Edna refuses to "worship" any higher power, since we have also seen that she refuses to hold even her family to any higher regard (Klein 4). Additionally, Edna's attitude towards art builds on the unconventional themes of the story (Klein 6). Edna is told by Mademoiselle Reisz that ""o be an artist... you must possess the courageous soul... the brave soul. The soul that dares and defies" (Chopin 115). This seems indicative of the very soul that Edna strives to possess in the story. Her quest to become an artist seems tied to her quest to break from the conventions of society because of this definition. Edna's reverence for art and the values that it seems to be connected with make her personality even more unconventional in the terms of the society that she lived in.

In Kate Chopin’s book, The Awakening, the women characters’ represent different types of women during the 19th century. The main character, Edna Pontellier, goes through a phase in figuring out her persona. Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz provide options for Edna’s future. While Adele represents the “sleeping” woman, Mme. Reisz symbolizes the “awake” woman. Edna decides to wake up, but her desire for a man leads her to failure.

With more and more women being accepted to universities the era and idea of women are slowly changing and there are some women that want to transition out of the motherhood realm and into the workforce or a life of their own. Chopin depicts this in her work “The Awakening”, with her character Edna stating, "It seems to me the utmost folly for a woman at the head of a household, and the mother of children, to spend in an atelier days which would be better employed contriving for the comfort of her family."(1253) With this cryptic language of the time, it questions why should the woman of the home be only tied down to the job of mother, wife, and caretaker of the home. When she wants to be so much more but the timeframe cast the image of a woman that is like this is a wild spirit and not deemed a true lady. During the late 1800’s the transition of women is greatly morphing from homemaker to more of their own independent woman mainly due to these happenings, women are demanding the right to vote and are getting it in various states, women are forming groups to battle domestic violence, prohibition, and overall quality of life as a

G.D Anderson, an author, says “Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives them.” Edna Pontellier, protagonist of Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, discovers her own strength gradually and experiences many obstacles along the way. One of the main obstacles she faces is the conditioned notion that women are inferior to men. While the men are not openly chauvinistic towards women, a deep rooted superior mentality exists within them. The dialogue Chopin writes for the male characters shows a subtle inflection of superiority. Chopin’s purpose specific to her dialogue is to emphasize how men during the 19th century only addressed women with off-putting attitudes. Within

In Kate Chopin’s novel, “The Awakening”, Edna finds herself in a society where women were socially confined to be mothers and wives. This novel embodies the struggle of women in the society for independence along with the presence of women struggling to live up to the demands that their strict culture has placed upon them. A part of Edna wants to meet the standards of mother and wife that society has set, however her biggest desire is to be a woman free from the oppression of a society that is male dominant. Readers will find that the foundation of “The Awakening” the feminist perspective because of the passion that Edna has for gaining her own identity, and independence,

At the end of 19th century, American society presented an ideology of patriarchy. Feminists struggle for the equality and discrimination against female. As feminist movement started, lots of female writers were explored. One of the most famous writers is Kate Chopin. Her works mostly present a theme of women pursue freedom and equality. “The Story Of An Hour” and “The Awakening” are her representative works. In these two works, Kate Chopin reveals how women lived under the oppression of male-dominated society, especially for women who got married. They were not financially independent and their freedom and rights were deprived. Therefore female were forced to be an “angle in the home”. Both challenge the preconception that women can only be a housekeeper and marriage is the only way out.

The literary novel The Awakening written by author Kate Chopin was groundbreaking in its time as a story following Edna Pontellier’s transformation from an obedient, traditional housewife and mother into a self-realized, sexually liberated and independent woman— all written during the Victorian era of patriarchal constraints and beliefs that a woman was fit to be only a wife and mother. Chopin introduces a multitude of feminist issues throughout the duration of the story, including the societal structures of motherhood, marital expectations and feminine liberation. The fact that Chopin’s novel addresses these issues is a testament to how radical and ahead of its time The Awakening was. Although this novel was originally published over a century ago, it is clear that the feminist topics that Chopin proposes in the novel are still relevant today in our modern day patriarchal society.