Essay On Virginia Woolf's Identity In The Awakening

“Whatever we may do or attempt, despite the embrace and transports of love, the hunger of lips, we are always alone” (Chopin 581.7). In Kate Chopin’s story The Awakening, not only is this the quote that Edna Pontellier identifies with when Mrs. Ratignolle plays piano for her, but it is also the perfect description of the struggle in which Mrs. Pontellier faces. Though, The Awakening was considered sexually charged and risqué for its time, when one analyzes this quote and the original title of Kate Chopin’s story, A Solitary Soul, they come to the realization that there is more to this story than just sex (562). The Awakening is a story about Edna Pontellier’s struggle to find acceptance and fulfillment in a society confined by gender

The Awakening by Kate Chopin introduces the reader to the life of Edna Pontellier, a woman with an independent nature searching for her true identity in a patriarchal society that expects women to be nothing more than devoted wives and nurturing mothers.

Through Andy's internal conflict and ultimate realization, the author effectively communicates the theme of identity and the pressure to conform. As readers, we empathize with

The search for identity has plagued the minds in the course of life. In A Separate Peace, Knowles explores the mind of a young boarding school student as he makes the desperate attempt to appoint himself to what he believes is a superior personality. Devon highschooler, Gene, urges himself to obtain the identity of his best friend, wanting to distance from himself from his own nature. In the view of Gene’s perspective, it is shown that the development of his new temperament drastically affects himself and his fellow classmates. Identity is constantly cultivated to publicize the impact that it creates when turning to obsession.

Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening expresses the difficulty of finding a woman’s place in society. Edna learns of new ideas such as freedom and independence while vacationing in Grand Isle. Faced with a choice to conform to society’s expectations or to obey personal desires for independence, Edna Pontellier realizes that either option will result in dissatisfaction. Thus, Edna’s awakening in Grand Isle leads to her suicide.

In The Awakening, Kate Chopin creates a protagonist that clearly demonstrates a feminist. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier seeks more from life than what she is living and starts to refuse the standards of the society she lives in. Edna has many moments of awakening resulting in creating a new person for herself. She starts to see the life of freedom and individuality she wants to live. The Awakening encourages feminism as a way for women to obtain freedom and choose individuality over conformity. Chopin creates a feminist story that shows a transformation from an obedient “mother-woman” to a woman who is willing to sacrifice her old life to become independent and make an identity for herself.

I believe there are many points in the story that can be considered to be very relevant to the time it was written, expressing ideas of the approaching feminist movement and building up an awareness of what was happening to women and the forthcoming feminist movement. Many of the ideas that are expressed in the story concern both the women’s movement and an individual woman searching for her identity. Chopin demonstrates

From Emerson, the voice of individualism, Chopin gains the courage to defy the consultant of her husband. In her fight for emancipation, she became an intimidation to the values of a society.

Characters are often unsatisfied with their the place they find themselves in society. Discontent is what drives them to gain ambition in their ability to radically change their situation to one that is most favorable in their perspective. These changes differ from character to character, including alterations in their moral conduct, mental capability, or in something as easy as his way of dress. The ambition to change rests deep within the character’s soul, regardless of how simple their actions may be. Fathoming a false image of oneself not only damages the individual, but creates trouble for the people around them, such as family and loved ones.

    Kate Chopin was an extraordinary writer of the nineteenth century. Despite failure to receive positive critical response, she became one of the most powerful and controversial writers of her time. She dared to write her thoughts on topics considered radical: the institution of marriage and women's desire for social, economic, and political equality. With a focus on the reality of relationships between men and women, she draws stunning and intelligent characters in a rich and bold writing style that was not accepted because it was so far ahead of its time. She risked her reputation by creating female heroines as independent women who wish to receive sexual and emotional fulfillment,

Kate Chopin is known as one of the greatest feminist authors of her time. She grew up around independent, widowed women: her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother. With her father’s death due to a train wreck, and her husband’s death from“swamp fever,” Chopin was left alone to support her six children. According to Nina Baym, the author of Chopin’s biography, influences from strong women in Chopin’s life led to why she wrote about desires, limited aspects of women’s lives, and how women began to challenge the male-dominated culture (550). A lack of men as chief figures in Chopin’s life prevented her from experiencing a tradition of submission by women to men. Additionally, many of Chopin’s works were influenced by realism and feminism.

During the feminist movement many female authors began to write novels about female emancipation. In these novels, the protagonist experiences enlightenment where she discovers that she is living an incomplete life that society has oppressed her into. Before the movement, society forced women into roles that were inferior to men and they were thought of as men’s property. Harold bloom states, “The direction of The Awakening follows what is becoming a pattern in literature by and about women…toward greater self-knowledge that leads in turn to a revelation of the disparity between that self-knowledge and nature of the world” (Bloom, Kate Chopin 43). Moreover, Chopin viewed women’s independence as a personal challenge more than a social struggle, which contradicts her literary works. According to Harold Bloom, “Chopin’s novel was not intended to make a broad social statement but rather that it indicates that Chopin viewed women’s independence as a personal matter”(Bloom, Bloom’s Notes 58). In the past, the novel was banned because of its connection to the feminist movement.

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is a nineteenth century novel of great contemporary value. It highlights many of the social and gender issues of the 1800s while still addressing timeless themes and being written in prose that is easily understood. I believe that The Awakening is a work of art, and I will validate this statement by first proving that literature is art, and then that The Awakening is a work of literature in the truest sense of the term. Throughout the defense of my argument that The Awakening is art I will also explore themes relating to censorship in art, literature, and in the novel specifically.

The unique style of Kate Chopin’s writing has influenced and paved the way for many female authors. Although not verbally, Kate Chopin aired political and social issues affecting women and challenging the validity of such restrictions through fiction. Kate Chopin, a feminist in her time, prevailed against the notion that a woman’s purpose was to only be a housewife and nothing more. Kate Chopin fortified the importance of women empowerment, self-expression, self-assertion, and female sexuality through creativity in her literary work.

Being in the midst of being constantly brought down by your surroundings, there is a breaking point where no one can guide you but yourself. When you are in a situation where you feel confined to be a certain figure in order to please society, you feel as if you’re wearing a mask to the world. Once you unmask yourself you can either be applauded for it or pressured to not be this new person. In the story, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Edna Pontellier is a married woman who is bewildered on who she is due to her relationships amongst various characters. Edna Pontellier does not fully grasp on who she is as an individual because she is tangled on multiple emotions that only leaves her with more confusion. Being in a labyrinth of indecisiveness of what she wants, it leads her to be vulnerable and willing to explore a new world in order to not be repressed from the thoughts and feelings that trouble her. Her acquaintances shows the attitudes and expectations she should be fulfilling. As the story unfolds, Edna’s existence is challenged which sparks a new flame inside her to get free from the birdcage everyone has put her in, which is preventing her to find her genuine self.