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Rebellion In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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The Awakening is a book written by Kate Chopin and it is quite a journey. Being just over a hundred pages in length, this novel gives an adequate picture of the protagonist Edna Pontellier, who consistently challenges the roles that society has placed on her. In her own words, she says “I would give my life for my children, but I wouldn’t give myself ” (45). This not only foreshadows her ultimate fate, but it also shows the readers that Edna is not willing to suppress her passions and desires for anybody. It appears that Chopin is making the argument in her book that Edna’s form of resistance, while admirable, comes at a price. What Edna comes to realize is that she has no place in society being a rebel and the only way she can truly escape society is through death. While this crucial point is conveyed, we shall also look at the arguments of two scholars: Lee R. Edwards and Patricia S. Yaeger. There are numerous instances in which Edna is portrayed as a rebel. Edwards makes a wonderful point that Edna does not enjoy church, as shown when it is explained …show more content…

He is basically the false interpreter of Edna’s feelings (286). She allows him to interpret her feelings for her and even relies on him to do so, such as when she swims out and feels a multitude of emotions she cannot explain, and Robert attributes it to a spirit searching for a worthy mortal host (29). Her love for Robert that she displays is not the awakening that is described earlier in the novel as she relates her experience out in the ocean to her fond memories of moving through meadows as a child (17, 102). Furthermore, she says “it was you who awoke me last summer out of a life-long stupid dream” (103). Edna makes the mistake that many people make which is giving credit to a person for having made some internal change. The ultimate beholder of change belongs to an individual’s self. The most anybody can do for an individual is initiate the idea of

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