Edna Pontellier's Suicide In The Awakening
Edna Pontellier, the main character in Kate Chopin’s, The Awakening, is portrayed as an incredibly independent woman and one who tends to reject almost all traditional societal norms, and instead chooses to fight her way towards emancipation from her husband, a foreign concept during the time period in which this novel was written in. Edna’s struggles to gain this independence so strives so strongly for, and in doing so she manages to separate herself from her husband, and reunite with a lover, Robert, from her past that she had forsaken when she married. All these events that work to emancipate Edna from her former life and get her the freedom she craves, ultimately leads her to her unpredicted suicide. While the motives of her suicide seems to be confusing, when looking into this issue more indepthly, Edna’s motives for killing herself can be more easily understood. …show more content…
While not only, knocking the idea of traditional female ideals, she also gets the chance to show her absolute disdain for commitment in marriage, most likely due to her affair with the man she truly loved, Robert. When Edna’s husband decides to leave her alone and goes on an extended trip, she finally puts her words of dissatisfaction into action and, as an act against societal norms and traditional obedient women ideals, moves out of the house that she shares with her husband, and instead, lives on her own in order to become more independant. A woman having any type of independence during this time period was a completely radical idea, and she struggles to find a normal
Edna's Suicide In The Awakening
396 Words | 2 PagesThe Awakening Promt #5 I think that Edna’s suicide was due more to her failure to escape from what she was supposed to do as a mother and a housewife, especially when she lost Robert, than giving up and giving herself to the sea. There were many times where she has neglected to be a good mother to her children and a good housewife. Just as in chapter three page 5, she doesn’t even notice or seem to care that her child has a fever. In chapter seven page 18, she would sometimes forget her children and she even felt their absence as a relief.
Edna Pontellier's Expectations In The Awakening
1041 Words | 5 PagesI grew up hearing the saying that a little girl could have an old soul, or that someone is well beyond their years. These sayings are popular to societies, because they try to explain why certain individuals differentiate from the acceptable norms in ways that may be more complicated than just personality traits. In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier is no exception. Her society’s expectations differ from who she is and how she is willing to act so that she would fit in. Chapter one of The Awakening begins the story with several examples of how Edna does not fit in with her society.
Edna's Suicide In The Awakening
789 Words | 4 PagesThe ending of Kate Chopin's novel “The Awakening” has been long debated over whether or not the main character Edna commits suicide in the end. Many critics and readers argue that her death, in the end, was not intentional and rather the consequence of her actions. Others believe that she never actually died in the end and the book ends before she swims back to shore. Contrary to these ideas, I think that Edna's suicide was intentional as she had planned it right after she found Robert's notes saying he was leaving. She planned the suicide that night not specifically wanting to die but feeling as if she had no other choice and death was her last hope at an “awakening”.
Sexism In Kate Chopin's The Awakening
1336 Words | 6 PagesKate Chopin’s The Awakening, is a controversial novel due to the suicide of the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, as well as the lofty concepts and ideologies that the book conveys. Throughout the novel there are multiple indicators including themes, symbols, and contextualization that provide evidence that Edna made an impartial decision and intentionally committed suicide, knowing that she would do so before she even entered the water. Critics have wrestled with this concept, as well as counter arguments that imply that Edna’s suicide was unforeseen, and developed in-depth analysis’ that support and sometimes oppose the idea that Edna Pontellier deliberately entered the water knowing that she would kill herself. Multiple themes are present throughout
Edna Pontellier Character Analysis
707 Words | 3 PagesIn the book “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, the main character Edna Pontellier, is faced with many troubles. One of her troubles is the internal conflict of her facing herself and realizing her own identity. She is constantly under pressure to be the person she is expected to be by her peers, friends, and family. She ultimately does being to break free and find her identity even if it did mean that she must kill herself in order to do so. Edna is constantly under pressure from all of the people around her.
The Sea And Music In Kate Chopin's The Awakening
765 Words | 4 PagesOver 50 % of all people who die by suicide suffer from major depression. Depression itself is often seen as a growing dilemma in Edna Pontellier's life, as she grows more and more intolerant towards her problems of being enslaved by her children and dominated by men. However, throughout the storyline of The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses the sea and music as symbols to reveal Edna's compelling desires to be free and how one must break away from society to achieve an independent self unit. In effect, these symbols help the reader understand the ultimate surrendering Edna has to undergo to unshackle herself from Victorian reform.
Outward Conformity In Kate Chopin's The Awakening
825 Words | 4 PagesWomen during Edna’s time were supposed to be dedicated to their husbands and children, however, Edna yearned for her own independence, and as a result of wanting her own independence Edna knew that she was seen as a terrible person. For instance Edna wanted to “…try to determine what character of a woman I am; for, candidly, I don't know. By all the codes which I am acquainted with, I am a devilishly wicked specimen of the sex. But some way I can't convince myself that I am. I must think about it" (27.4).
Edna Pontellier's Death In The Awakening
687 Words | 3 PagesThe Death of Edna Pontellier The struggles of Edna Pontellier throughout her everyday life in a society that she feels she doesn’t belong in, is developed through the writing of Kate Chopin. As her character develops, Edna’s final decision of suicide illustrates her defeat in the face of society. In, The Awakening, Kate Chopin employs poetic diction and anaphora to emphasize and illuminate Edna’s awakening and how her death positively affected her character development.
Edna Pontellier's Sacrifice In The Awakening
627 Words | 3 PagesSacrifice In the book The Awakening Edna Pontellier sacrifices who she is to try to be a mother-woman. In her society and life she is expected to be the caring wife who takes care of the children and her husband. However, Edna sacrifices her character, dreams and freedom because she is trying to fit in. Edna Pontellier is a mother of two in the south during a time period in which women are expected to be obedient, lady-like and caretakers.
What Makes Edna's True Desires In The Awakening
503 Words | 3 PagesEdna constantly struggles to realize her true desires and to understand her inner emotions and personal preferences. Part of her is always trying to establish a new outer persona while also trying to determine what she wants on the inside. She has an inner conflict between loving her family and showing compassion for them, or facing her honest yearning for a different lifestyle, breaking away from the expectations and standards of society. In the end, this internal argument causes her to fully realize that in her time period, what she truly wants is unattainable, especially after dealing with rejection from Robert and disappointment in her marriage. Overall, Mrs. Pontellier is trying to be herself in a world where a pre-existing set of rules already determine who she
Why Is Edna Pontellier's Use Of Solitude In The Awakening
1560 Words | 7 PagesEdna Pontellier dreams of breaking free from her social status, as a wife of a wealthy husband, with two children, in the Victorian era. While most women of the time would crave this seemingly perfect life, the protagonist of Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, comes to the realization that she would much rather bare independence than a name for herself. Edna befriends artist and feminist, Mademoiselle Reisz, and through multiple affairs, moving into a “Pigeon House,” and pursuing a passion of painting, she begins to get a sense of what is truly important to her; this being self-reliance. Throughout the course of the novel, Mrs. Pontellier grapples with the idea of becoming a self-sufficient woman, and Chopin uses the motif of birds --various
Motherhood In Chopin's The Awakening
511 Words | 3 PagesEdna says she wants to do her own thing without being fettered by her children or the society that is saying that you can’t get divorced. Edna also states that her children are bringing her down and damning her soul; Edna thought about her being free and realized that it is just another fantasy and the one person who actually gave her pleasure was Robert and he had left her for the sake of herself. Edna had been getting frustrated with the idea of her not being satisfied and her not receiving the love that she wanted and the realization of her not getting love or independence she didn’t give love back. She did love her kids but she never really wanted to be in this grouping of a mom or a housewife essentially.
Character Analysis Of Edna Pontellier's Character In 'The Awakening'
845 Words | 4 PagesEarly in the novel, she lives her life in misery like a bird trapped in a cage. She realizes that she should get to live the life she wants without following society’s expectations. This is shown when she begins to decline her daily duties such as not accepting any visitors on Tuesday, maintaining a wellbalanced household, and not caring for her children. Ultimately, Edna becomes an impulsive and selfish woman leading her to drown herself in the sea. Kate Chopin uses Edna to show that change along with too much independence can lead to
Kate Chopin's The Awakening: An Analysis
1242 Words | 5 PagesEdna goes from being a timid housewife to an autonomous young woman who tries to change her role in society. When Edna first arrives in Grand Isle, she is a typical woman of her era. She is shyer than most women and is very
Edna Pontellier's Suicide Analysis
1045 Words | 5 PagesIn the novel, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the main character, Edna Pontellier, makes the decision to become a completely independent by straying away from the restraints placed onto her by her husband, children and society. In the end of the novel, the audience is left to determine why Edna decides to commit suicide. The predominant reason Chopin reveals throughout the novel is the idea that suicide is a way for Edna to escape the confined life she was living and truly become the free woman she is dreaming of becoming. Since Edna lived during a time during women were oppressed in every way possible, Edna’s search for freedom is limited.
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