Social Expectations In Kate Chopin's The Great Awakening

The women of this movement were fighting for something they believed they deserve. Because of the Seneca Falls Convention and the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolution, women were able to express their own opinions. The women’s rights movement led to many different events, impacted other countries, and created a new amendment. The feminist efforts in the mid 1800s were successful enough to allow women to take on occupations and educations they weren’t able to obtain

“I Want a Wife” Rhetorical Analysis In an essay by Judy Brady, the author asserts that husbands (men) expects their wives to cater to their every need; therefore, she too wants a wife to do the same for her. Brady supports her claim first by explaining how a wife should keep track of household duties; second, by explaining how the wife should take care of physical needs; and third by explaining how a wife must satisfy sexual needs. Brady’s purpose is to illuminate the hardships of the perfect wife in order to raise consciousness for women's equality and create social change in American society. Based on her purposeful use of anaphora, catalogue, and pathos, Brady is writing for the feminist community of 1972 so that they may speed the word

The women began to notice that if they were trying to teach their family pure morals inside of the home and then continued to send their family into the dark and wretched world, they were only digressing. This new idea started what we now know as, the Public Sphere. Women felt that it was their jobs to fix problems for people such as slaves, widows, drunks and many other immoral groups (Ginzberg 10). The Public Sphere of women was simply the idea that the rest of our world needed to be reformed into a moral place to ensure that our families would be positively influenced.

Symbols of Freedom: Sea and Birds in “The Awakening” Chopin challenges the gender roles expectations imposed on married women during the nineteenth century in her novel, “The Awakening.” The main protagonist, Edna, initially symbolizes the conventional woman; she is married to Leonce Pontellier and they have two children. Later, at Grand Isle, she experiences dissatisfaction with her life and marriage. Edna experiences a stirring in her soul that exposes contradictions between her natural self and “gendered” self. She wants to break free from social norms that bind her to motherhood, and this is her natural self in conflict with her “gendered” identity.

During the 1890’s until today, the roles of women and their rights have severely changed. They have been inferior, submissive, and trapped by their marriage. Women have slowly evolved into individuals that have rights and can represent “feminine individuality”. The fact that they be intended to be house-caring women has changed.

In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Edna seeks peace and happiness through finding where she fits among other characters and by avoiding the negative effects that people have on her by isolating herself. Edna Pontellier, a young mother in New Orleans is married to a very successful proud man, Mr. Pontellier and together they have 2 sons. As a family they go on vacations to Grand Isle, where Edna meets Robert a secret love interest, and begins to learn that her unhappiness is rooted in her responsibilities as a mother and wife. Throughout the novel, Chopin uses Edna’s reliance on other characters, such as Mr. Pontellier, and their reliance on her, to regulate her happiness. Change occurs when Edna realizes that her happiness will only come when she is separate from society, but she eventually understands that she cannot do this in the life she is living and chooses to simply stop living it.

28 year old, daughter of military, wife of two boys, Edna, grew up in Kentucky, yet lives in Louisiana. Edna married a Créole man, not only is it a culture shock for Edna, she seems disconnected from her surroundings. With the help of symbolisms throughout the novel and a woman’s search for herself, Edna chooses death over the inability to be herself. The novel The Awakening by Katie Chopin is set in the late 1800’s.

In the novel, Edna often feels like her marriage was a misfortune. For example, Edna believes,

Gender roles in the 1900s were expectations that society had to follow in order to have balance. However, women were the ones who carried the weight of the load in the family. In the article "I Want a Wife" by Judy Brady gave an overview of the expectations women had to undergo in society. A wife had to to keep everything in check from the care of the children to having everything prepared and ready, and filling the needs of everyone else.

The change in tone places emphasis on a time in life when young women are most vulnerable, and when they face the most judgement. Women are not told often enough that they need to accept who they are as a person, and are more often than not forced into feeling as if they need to change who they are as a person to make people happy. “Understand yourself, and do not hide anything. It’s your outlook on life that allows you to survive and live well.” (A Century of Women)

On 3/17/17 at 1005 hrs, I was dispatched to the PD lobby in reference to harassing phone calls. Upon my arrival, I made contact with the complainant Victoria Wert and her boyfriend, Bradley Palmer. Wert advised Palmer’s ex-girlfriend, Alexus Smith has been texting her since 9/27/16 to 3/17/17, during this time Wert advised she did not text her Smith once, and her text messages are rude and unwanted. Wert advised she did not receive any concerning messages until 3/17/17 at 0930 hrs.