Symbols And Motifs In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

Right before Edna goes to kill herself, she had many thoughts about people who have meant a lot to her in her past life. She thinks this about her children: Edna declares her children to be a representation of her own “slavery” of being a mother. Edna uses the word “antagonists” to describe the images of her children in her head. She believes that her kids are a wall standing between the standards of being a mother, which Edna is trying to escape, and her becoming an individual woman. She then uses the verbs “overcome” and “overpowered” to describe the action of what her children have done to her.

Edna was finally free from the life that she didn’t want anymore and although the sacrifice had to be her life it’s what finally made her happy and feel free. In conclusion, Edna sacrifices her own life because she starts to value herself and her own wants/needs not just the wants and needs of her family. Sadly, the only way for her to have that freedom and independence she was longing for was to commit suicide.

Moreover, when her children tumbled, she will not pick them up just let them get up on their own. In contrast to Adele, Edna is not contributing herself to her family as well as Adele. Edna tries to fit in as the role to be a good mother, but, she cannot definitely, to be a mother-woman cannot fulfill her eagerness to be a special, independent and egocentric person. In Chapter XVI, Edna said to Adele, she would give her money and her life to children, but never herself. And that is what she is trying to understand and recognize.

The amount of love and support she received from her friends and family was a bit unrealistic. Even Leone supported her until her death even though she left and cheated on him. While reading this story it could be argued that Leone was just as much a feminist as his wife by allowing her the freedom she desired. If Edna had reached out to him in the end he more than likely would have provided her with a safety net. Leone loved and supported Edna to the end despite the disrespectful treatment he received from her and her moving into her own home that had no room for him or their

She tells Madame Ratignolle, “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself. I can't make it more clear; it's only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me” (52). This lets the readers know that Edna is starting to acknowledge that she cannot dedicate all of her time to her children and that she's not willing to sacrifice herself for them. This action displays how Edna's attitude towards others around her is changing and how she does not want to have the responsibility of taking care of her family because it would mean that she has to dedicate her time and space to them which would mean that she would be giving herself up for the sake of the

Awakening Essay The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a novel filled with many conflicting perspectives in the mind of Edna Pontellier. Mrs. Pontellier is a complex character filled with different desires and ambitions for what she wants out of her life. Throughout the novel, we get to know the many sides to this character and we see who she becomes and how that leads to her eventual peaceful downfall.

The major theme of The Awakening by Kate Chopin is finding oneself. This theme is shown mostly through Edna Pontellier. Edna’s quest throughout the whole book is to find herself and become independent. Before she chose to try and live her own life, she submitted to being nothing other than a wife and mother. Towards the start of the story she says “Looking at them reminded her of her rings, which she had given to her husband before leaving for the beach.

Every situation has it own point of view. In the novel, Edna attempted to convinved herself that whateer dishonesty she was doing was not wrong. She seems to be drowning herself in her own issues. throughout the novel, she commits moral crimes such as maintaining a false marriage.

Logically what she did was suicide and made her seem extremely unstable but the purpose of her suicide was to represent her freeing herself from society. It was less of suicide and more of becoming something

Edna sets personhood limits on how much she would give up for her children through a recalled conversation with Adele where Edna spoke her views on motherhood: “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself” (47). Her statement is revealing because Edna goes against what society says a woman is supposed to feel towards her children. She would give up superficial things like money, or a even a vital thing - her life - for her children. However, Edna states her unwillingness to become a ministering angel where to reach divine status she would have to erase her personhood, who she is as an individual. Edna will not give up her self for anything.

She wasn’t wife nor mother material, and as she became conscious of it through the development of the novel, Edna isolated herself so she could be awaken. “I could only see the stretch of grass before me, and I feel as if I must walk on forever, without coming to the end of it” (Chopin 19). Edna is beginning to see her role as a wife and mother as eternal and inescapable. So, at the birth of Adele’s child, she starts to find it quite frightening because at this point Edna is reminded to stay dedicated and devoted to her children. Etienne and Raoul imprisoned her body, they were preventing her from taking her own path and also chained misery to her life.

During the Victorian Era, women are looked down upon on, and the idea of this is being expressed in many ways in daily life. Their clothing were tide and inconvenient to restricting them to fulfill daily tasks. The main character Edna wore different clothes from other mother women to resemble herself rather than doing what others expects from her. Kate Chopin, one of the greatest American writers who believed in Naturalism, implies her perspective of the restrictions for women and the societal expectations that placed on women into her writings. The idea of the desire of freedom but inability to control it, and eventually yield in front of the societal expectations.

At the beginning of the novel, Edna had appeared to be recognizing the fact that her life revolves around her husband and her children, and that it is her main duty to care for them. It is mainly Mr. Pontellier, her husband, who tries to establish an image of her being a both a perfect partner and wife. He views her as an object that must be suitable for the eyes of society. According to him, his wife is a “valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage” (Chopin 2). He is controlling over her appearance and actions.

Edna even says herself, “I would give up the unessential…my money…my life for my children, but not myself.” For her life, Edna realized that means her marriage and physical life. As far as her marriage, Edna was never truly happy with her marriage with Leonce. Furthermore, Edna states she truly cares for her children, but sometimes her search for herself may conflict with this. This then further discourages readers even more due to the fact that this gives insight to her actions, and somewhat justifies them.

Women 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).