Edna Pontellier's Journey In The Awakening

Edna fails to control her impulses of her sexual desires and willingly breaks social conformity of her era. She undoubtedly leaves her family to pursue a life without her children and husband. “The acme of bliss, which would have been marriage with the tragedian, was not for her in this world. As the devoted wife of a man who worshipped 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” (Chopin 21). Edna felt destined to live the fantasy life, and with that she believed starting over in another relationship would best benefit her. Morally, this wasn’t acceptable to society around her and she would be seen as a bad mother and wife, yet this did not seem to phase her. Further on Edna takes a moment to reflect if what she is doing is what she believes is following her passions. “But as she sat there amid her guests, she felt the old ennui overtake her; the hopelessness which so often assailed her, which came upon her like an obsession, like something extraneous, independent of volition. … There came over her the acute longing which always summoned into her spiritual vision the presence of the beloved one”(Chopin 159). After Edna realizes that following her passions may have led her to the wrong place, she finds herself still in a position she can be happy with, which is with the “beloved one”. Edna has

Later on in the novel, Edna speaks about how Mademoiselle Reisz checks her shoulder blades for strength because “the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings” (Chopin 79). While many characters shut Reisz off because of how strange she is, Edna visits her because of their unspoken, mutual understanding of the significance of the potential power and precedence that her true, inner identity could hold if she let it fly free. At the end of the novel, Chopin describes a “bird with a broken wing” who circles “disabled down, down to the water” (108) to reflect how the strength of Edna’s inner identity breaks her because her spirit is too weak to maintain her desires alongside her realization that she could never be truly happy again in this time of unbreaking oppression and possession. Elz notes that if Edna continues to live that she will always be moving from relationship to relationship to satisfy her true desires, even though - in contrast - she wishes for her existence to not be defined by her relationships with men. “Like the mockingbird,” Elz continues, Edna “insists on her way” and therefore refuses to accept the roles society pushes on her and, in result, commits suicide as her inner identity wins and proves that she can not be controlled (20).

To start, many comparisons can be drawn between Edna and an imprisoned bird. The first lines of the novel describe “[a] green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door” (Chopin 5). Starting at the bird’s physical description, the brightly colored feathers of this creature strongly represent the power and

Many times however, her rebellion is seen as selfish childishness to others. Breaking the rules and finding her true happiness is what awakens Edna Pontellier and makes her different from the rest. She rebels against society by thinking differently, finding independence, doing what she wants without obeying her husband, moving out to her new "pigeon-house", and taking part in two adulterous affairs. Her climatic finale, her suicide, is her ultimate act of rebellion, not giving the ways of the world, her decision to finally be free. ‘‘She went on and on. She remembered the night she swam far out, and recalled the terror that seized her at the fear of being unable to regain the shore. She did not look back now, but went on and on, thinking of the blue-grass meadow that she had traversed when a little child, believing that it had no beginning and no end.’’ (Chopin, 120) All her rebellious actions are what make Edna such a controversial, yet influential woman till this

She is moved by music. During that summer Edna sketches to find an artistic side to herself. She needs an outlet to express who she is. Edna feels that art is important and adds meaning to her life. After the summer is over and they are back to the city and Edna is a changed woman. She makes many steps towards independence. She stops holding "Tuesday socials", she sends her children to live in the country with their grandparents, she refuses to travel abroad with her husband, she moves out of the Lebrun house on Esplanade Street, and to earn money, she starts selling her sketches and betting the horses. She also starts a relationship with another man Alcee Arobin. He meant nothing to her emotionally but she used him for sexual pleasure. Edna evolved above her peers she did not believe that sexuality and motherhood had to be linked. The last step of her "awakening" is the realization that she can not fulfill her life in a society that will not allow her to be a person and a mother. Edna commits suicide in the ocean at Grand Isle.

The final reason for Edna’s escape from her troublesome life is the failure of her relationship with Robert. Edna was able to find some form of escape through her desire and hope of being with Robert, but when those plans fell through Edna feels as if she has nothing to look forward to, nothing to live for in life. Robert realizes that he and Edna will never be able to have a true

The author is insinuating that Edna no longer wants to be with her husband. Kate Chopin does this by slowly making Edna Pontellier leave the presence of her old life. This also shows that Mrs. Pontellier is becoming very independent because she is no longer living off of her husband and she is doing what she wants to do when she wants to do it. This was very uncommon for a mother of two children during the 1800's. Edna Pontellier's thoughts and feelings change throughout the book and this also helps better reveal her character.

Symbolism also plays an enormous role, birds, oceans, and sound are three different interpretations of Edna. Throughout the entire story, caged birds appear quite often resembling the trapped society of Mrs. Pontellier, it also serves as a reminder that she's caged like a bird wanting to escape and also the entrapment of women in that specific time. In the beginning, the parrot talking to Mr. Pontellier saying to leave in French represents as Edna’s

Related to birds there is another symbol, the flight, which acts as a stand for awakening. This symbolic theme appears constantly throughout the novel. We can see that Edna escapes her life, her children and her husband following her own believes of freedom. In this fragment we can see that Mademoiselle Reisz guides Edna through her awakening, but she cannot help her forever: "she put her arms around me and felt my shoulder blades, to see if my wings were strong. ‘The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth’” (page 217). In other words, she says that she has to be brave in order to defy society.

The stepping stones in Edna’s awakening can be seen through symbols: birds, clothes, and even the ocean. The symbols of caged birds in The Awakening represent Edna’s entrapment as a wife and mother, along with all of the other Victorian women. When Leonce is sitting by the parrots reading his newspaper, the parrot spoke, “a language which nobody understood” (Chopin 5). Edna, just like the parrot, can not be understood. Edna can not communicate her feelings with others, her feelings being the “language” that nobody

She does not want to keep herself hidden from the outside world, unable to transcend the social barriers. However, Adéle Ratignolle represents the typical mother woman in the novel, who has accepted and embodied this socially constructed role. She does her duties without questioning her existence and she lets herself be locked in a "cage". Edna realizes that she does not want a life deprived of independence and freedom. She does not want to be locked up in a cage and that her wings are not clipped yet and she still has got a chance to break through to barriers.

She was pressured to marry Leonce by her father and older sister. Along with marriage came the pressure to have children. She is forced into these roles but never actually succumbs to them. Edna not only has Madame Ratignolle's friendship and her marriage to wake her up to her dreams and emotions, her affairs wake up to her desires. The way the different male characters treat her reminds her that she will never happily fit into the role of a wife and mother, therefore awakening her.

In Chapter 8, Madame Ratignolle pulls Robert aside and asks him to leave Edna alone. She explains that Edna,” Is not one of us; she is not like us. She might make the unfortunate blunder of taking you seriously.” Chopin’s use of repetition in Adele’s dialogue puts emphasis on Edna’s uniqueness and labels her as an outcast. Adele sees Edna drifting further and further away from the social norms of their accustomed society and wishes to stop her before its too late. Chopin also uses this scene to foreshadow Robert’s unwillingness to commit to Edna as he brushes off Madame Ratignolle’s warning, seeing his relationship with Edna as a fling rather than being the passionate lover Edna craves.

In the end the little house will not prove to be the solution that Edna had expected. While the house provides her with independence and isolation, the pigeon house just becomes another cage. It represents her inability to remove herself from her former life. Mademoiselle Reisz provides Edna with music that awakens her soul, advice and letters from Robert. Mademoiselle Reisz views Edna as a bird, who is seeking to fly away from society's conventions and from her responsibilities. She warns Edna that "the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth." (Chopin pp 82). Mademoiselle Reisz seems to know that Edna will try to fly away from the Creole society, but she does not know whether she will be strong enough to succeed. Mademoiselle in many ways warns Edna that her flight may not be successful however, Edna does not understand the advice that Mademoiselle Reisz supplies: "I am not thinking of any extraordinary flight. I only half comprehend her." (Chopin pp83). In the last scene of the novel: "A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water". (Chopin pp 113) this bird represents Edna's disillusionment as she realizes that her ideals of freedom and independence cannot be reality in the Creole society of 19th century.

Birds are a sizable image in The Awakening. Edna feels like a caged bird, and wishes to be freed. When