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Comparing Edna Pontellier's Journey And The Awakening

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The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a feminist story where the protagonist Edna Pontellier begins to fight social norms in order to break free of social norms and become a strong independant woman. This story’s central self conflict feature unique characteristics which make it both similar and different to other romantic and modernist literature in that era. This essay will compare and contrast characteristics of The Awakening and “ A Pair of Silk Stockings” , “ Love is not all” and “ The Journey”. In The Awakening, The protagonist Edna Pontellier starts out as a typical wealthy housewive of a creole. Although her life is comfortable she finds it difficult to find her true inner self as she has to conform to what society wants of her. The start of her awakening is when she gets attracted to a young man named Robert Lebrun and they enjoy each other's company at Cheniere Caminada. After Mass there she falls asleep at Madame Antoine's house and reawaken with a new view on her life. Afterwards Robert goes to Mexico and Edna returns to NEw Orleans. At New Orleans Edna feels imprisoned and does not get along too well with Alcee Arobin who does …show more content…

However, later on she decides to spend the money on herself as she notices Silk Stockings that she likes. The Awakening is similar to the short story “A Pair of Silk Stockings” in that they both feature a central conflict of where the protagonists decide to focus on their own desires before those of their children. There is however a slight difference in that Mrs.Sommers in the short story focuses on materialism while Edna in The Awakening actually gives up some materialism when she decides to live in the pigeon house. In conclusion, The Awakening and “ A Pair of Silk Stockings”both feature the same inner vs outer self conflict however they differ in what some of the respective protagonists goals

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