Gender Roles In The Awakening

It is as if having something so perfect in the palm of one’s hands and then having it torn away from one in the blink of an eye. She has found independence and wishes to keep hold of it through all circumstances. Mike Timko wrote his concerns with the lack of female freedom from societal, especially masculine, directives (Timko par. 6). Timko noticed how throughout the book, Edna was being suppressed by her husband and that it is rather unfortunate that the idea of male dominance is so widely accepted at that time. Towards the end of the book, Edna says: “I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions,” here, Edna is claiming that she is for herself, not for anyone to take a hold of (Chopin 146).

Parenting has been a long practice that desires and demands unconditional sacrifices. Sacrifice is something that makes motherhood worthwhile. The mother-child relation- ship can be a standout amongst the most convoluted, and fulfilling, of all connections. Women are fuel by self-sacrifice and guilt - but everyone is the better for it. Their youngsters, who feel adored; whatever is left of us, who are saved disagreeable expe- riences with adolescents raised without affection or warmth; and mothers most impor- tantly.

This tasks required women’s complete dedication to what Sharon Hays defines as ‘intensive mothering’, an exclusive, time-consuming wholly child-centred activity. The ideal mother was portrayed in this ideology as completely devoted to the care of others. Her supposed self-sacrificing nature turned her into the object of her child’s needs, completely abnegated by her role of keeper of home and morality. The maternal figure who dedicated herself to intensive mothering could not be considered ‘a subject with her own needs and interests’ anymore. Women’s fundamental role in the domestic sphere required their constant presence, and consequently caused female exclusion from the market economy.

To be a good wife in Edna’s society meant being a ”mother-woman“. James describes these women as ”...women who idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels. “ (Chopin, chapter 4) Typical example is Adele Ratignolle, Edna's best friend, who devotes herself solely to her husband and children seeking nothing for herself. Edna starts to be dissatisfied with this and begins awakening from her semi-conscious state of a devoted wife and a mother and breaking free from her limited, conservative lifestyle. She begins to see the world around her with a fresh perspective and discovers her own identity.

She knew she didn’t want to get married but the society pushed her to get married to someone like Buddy. That is why when Buddy proposed in chapter eight, and Esther said “‘I’m never going to get married…No. My mind is made up’” (), Buddy’s expression didn’t change because he knew she would have to follow the gender roles. It proves Plath’s claim because Esther couldn’t decide what to do and it had an impact on her later decisions about suicide.

This constantly reminds readers of why Odysseus has to be back in Ithaca. As suiters “feed on another’s goods and go scot-free” and aim to marry Penelope, Homer vividly describes how Telemachus is not able to handle the uproar of the suitors and Penelope “[falls] to weeping for Odysseus, her beloved husband.” By knowing this information – that is blind to Odysseus but not to the readers – the readers are able to understand the urgency of Odysseus’s household. By doing this, Homer emphasizes not only Odysseus’s responsibility as a ruler, but also his duty as a husband and a father, leading readers to regard Penelope as the main drive for Odysseus’s grand journey. Therefore, the readers are able to deduce that the reason Odysseus has to return home is to protect his household, especially Penelope who is continuously forced to marry one of the

Which had you rather, that the most just law now took your brother’s life; or, to redeem him, Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness as she that he hath stain’d?” ( 2.4.1075). In this scene Angelo is revealing his whole plan to Isabella and is expecting her to be submissive and accept his offer. “If he be like your brother, for his sake Is he pardon 'd; and, for your lovely sake, Give me your hand and say you will be mine. He is my brother too: but fitter time for that.

The reaction of other character illustrates his aura of delusion and immaturity in which they have clocked themselves all along. At the last part of the book, Ruth became a stronger character and we begin to care about what happens to her. She keeps a strict watch on the lovers. She also tries to tempt Jerry from her treatment and love to him. Though she show him that she is ready to leave him but in reality she is not willing to destroy her marriage.

This scene “reveals Ruth 's independence, expressing her right to choose and to assert control, yet it also depicts the desperation of a working-class woman who cannot afford to have another child.” (Bloom) Mama greatly opposes Ruth getting an abortion. Her conservative views and religious beliefs do not allow her to consider this as an option. She remembers the

She simultaneously loves and resents her children because, while she is their mother, she feels that they have taken away her freedom and self-purpose. As Edna journeys in her awakening, she strives to find meaning for herself as Edna, not her children's mother. To prove she is more than just a mother, she distances herself from normal motherly responsibilities. “He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?”(Chopin, 15) Edna's neglect of her children stems from others expectations for her to submit to and look after her

When normally timid women, rendered even more so by pregnancy, triumphed over the terror of death (Saxton 30). If death did occur during childbirth, the women is heavily praised for their sacrifice. When it came to being a mother, women were religious teachers to their children. She was to work as hard as she could, instilling the principles of religion in her babies and catechizing them as soon as they can speak (31). To righteous puritan mothers the path of god was a must for their children.

For many years, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was considered perhaps one of the most scandalous novels written by a woman about a woman’s sexual and spiritual liberation and independence. Much of Chopin’s fiction has been praised as a celebration of female sexuality, conspicuously highlighting the tension between erotic desire and the demands that come from marriage, family life, and society (Martin 1). Unlike other literary contemporaries, Chopin does not attempt to moralize her heroines’ moral frailty, and more importantly she unapologetically allows her heroines’ unconventional sexuality to thrive (Martin 6). Only recently has The Awakening been acknowledged as a well-crafted narrative of Edna Pontellier’s struggle between individuality and

In “The Awakening”, Robert Lebrun sacrifices his love and desire for Edna Pontellier because he knows that he can not be with her. This reveals that even though Robert was in love with Edna he knew what was right and he understood why he could not be with Edna. Robert sacrifices his love when he leaves for Mexico in search of business and at the end of the novel when he decides that he can not stay with Edna in her “pigeon-house”. When Robert leaves to Mexico in search of business and riches he does not tell Edna that he was planning on leaving after spending all day with her.

It is often easy to spot an outlier. An outlier is the person or thing that acts, dresses, and is overall completely different from everything else around them. Edna Pontellier is a perfect example of an obvious outlier. Edna is an alien in her life of proper people. She is not like the others.

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was written at the end of the nineteenth century, where many roles for women began to change; therefore, the it appears to have been a turning point for females (“The Role of the Wife and Mother”). These changes in female roles were mostly due to the actions of women themselves, motivated by their desires to break away from the limits imposed on their gender The nineteenth century was a critical point in time for women, in regards to their roles in society (“The Role of the Wife and Mother”). In The Awakening, Edna goes through noteworthy changes in the course of the novel, which reconstructs her into a woman who goes against societal ideals regarding motherhood and marriage . In the 1890s, motherhood was viewed