Edna Pontellier's Character In 'The Awakening'
McKenna Martin
Mrs. Schroder
AP Literature
3 January 2018
The Awakening Outside Essay - 1999 Prompt The Awakening showcases Edna Pontellier, a housewife residing in New Orleans, Louisiana during the early 1900s. Edna Pontellier is married to Leonce Pontellier and they have two sons together. Edna is consumed in internal conflicts throughout the entire novel. She is trying to find herself in a society where she has many duties and responsibilities. From the beginning of the novel, there is a sense of tension between Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier. Mrs. Pontellier is first seen with a man named Robert coming from the beach and when she gets back, Mr. Pontellier hands her rings back to her. An aura of suspicion settles in as we see Mrs. Pontellier
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Adele has her sewing and Madame Reisz has her piano playing. One day, Edna agrees to go swimming with Robert. This experience awakens something inside her. She realizes swimming in the sea is some kind of escape for her. She can forget about all her responsibilities as a wife and a mother for a little while and just focus on herself. After swimming successfully, she develops feelings for Robert. After this awakening, Edna starts to step back and rethink her entire life; her marriage, her role, and even herself. She realizes she feels sort of imprisoned in this life she has had for so long. Edna finally starts doing things for her, she is letting herself feel an attraction for another man even though she is married and she also gets into art and has everyone in the house model for her. Rather than doing things to get the house ready for her husband or spending time playing with her children, she is distracted by all her newly found …show more content…
Edna broke free from the mold of her society. She was trying to find her purpose and her worth in a world where she did not have many rights or individual stability. Edna Pontellier worked to disregard the influence and power of men and society as a whole to discover more about herself and what she really wanted out of life (Bommarito). She gave up the “unessential” such as her home, possessions, and reputation to do things for
Theme Of Edna Pontellier's Responsibility In The Awakening
1023 Words | 5 PagesInitially, Edna is characterized as independent as she is following the Victorian orders for women which was to move aside her personality and care for her children and husband. At this point Edna has realized that her husband is weighing her down and she tries to find herself by separating herself from her family and home. She finds that she loves Robert after her “awakening” whilst he seems to acknowledge that he is trespassing a line between what he thinks is right and leaves Edna alone to face her awakening. Another theme represented in the book has to do with class and society. Was Edna going on a suicide swim or was it an accident due to the way society has made her believe things should be during this specific era and considering that Leonce was a well known man who traveled immensely and solely depended on Edna to fill her role while he was
Mrs. Edna Pontellier's The Awakening
255 Words | 2 PagesThe Awakening took place in the year 1899 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The protagonist of this novel was Mrs. Edna Pontellier, a married woman of twenty-six who was trapped in an unhappy marriage. Due to the expectations of this time, it would have been impossible for Edna to divorce her husband and be fully independent, so instead she was forced to be the model housewife who didn't even know that she should desire freedom; however, as the novel progressed, Edna realized her love for her closest companion, Robert Lebrun, while he was away in Mexico. Edna's love grew in his absence, and as this love helped her dismiss the confines of her marriage, her feeling of independence was kindled, which resulted in her moving into a separate house from
Men In The Great Awakening
947 Words | 4 PagesThis married woman with two children had inadvertently fallen in love with another man. Although he leaves, Robert is the most important part of Edna's awakening. He is the one who gives her the love that her own husband will not. She starts to truly blossom when she falls for Robert. After he leaves, she often goes to Madame Lebrun's home to look at Robert's baby pictures.
Edna Pontellier's Moral Conflict In The Awakening
209 Words | 1 PagesThe moral conflict that Edna Pontellier experience begins when she is unable to control her urges as a result of her new sexual desires and willingness to break Victorian social conventions. She quickly leaves her family in order to pursue a life free of her children and husband. There are times when the internal more conflict shows and her old morals return for a short period of time. For example, when she visited her children in the country and expressed how much she missed them, even though she left them within a week. Edna sees that an adulterous relationship is wrong, but she continues to live the fantasy life with Robert and Arobin.
Edna Pontellier's Heroic Individualism In 'The Awakening'
794 Words | 4 PagesEdna Pontellier possessed something rich and unworthy. Edna’s disregard for the individuals and society’s opinion did not force her to remain oppressed in the parrot’s cage nor become reluctant to the ocean. Edna’s heroic individualism liberated the chains that plagued her from flying and swimming into freedom and the discovery of Edna’s identity. All individuals experience various sorts of transitions in their life, whether it’s emotionally, physically, or mentally. It was Edna Pontellier’s journey of a thousand miles, new experiences and beginnings that led to the benefit of self- rule and sovereignty.
Water Symbolism In Kate Chopin's The Awakening
743 Words | 3 PagesThe only way to elude herself of the responsibilities of her life was to embrace death and drown herself in the ocean. In her death, Edna rejects the social belief that a woman’s duty are found in motherhood. At the last moment, she thinks of Leonce and the children, she admits they were a part of her life, “but they need not have thought they could possess her, body and soul” (190). This also reflects societal notion telling her to be submissive, to tend to the house, and adore her
Bird Symbolism In The Awakening
811 Words | 4 PagesEdna understanding how to swim is representative of a rebirth of her mindset into a new woman; She feels great power having control over her body and mind while swimming. The farther she swims the more control she feels as she breaks away from the others at the party although she eventually returns to shore and reunites with her husband. As Edna begins to frequent the Gulf, she also starts to defy her husband, no longer obeying his commands; She begins to distance herself from her children feeling less passionate about her maternal and marital obligations with her new mindset of self empowerment. Slowly, Edna becomes more aware of her diminishing role in society because despite her own mindset of self power, society does not reciprocate this understanding.
The Oppression Of Women In The Awakening
1310 Words | 6 PagesMrs. Pontellier's’ egoistic suicide at the end of the novel is an act of freedom from social restrictions imposed upon women of the
Examples Of Freedom In The Awakening
1074 Words | 5 PagesEdna comes to realize that even with all this freedom that she currently possesses while she is in the water, in the long run she will always be within the man dominant society that will bring her down whenever they can which causes her senses of freedom and liberation to weaken which ultimately evokes fear and ends up breaking the metaphorical barrier that she had initially created to blockade herself from the same society makes her want to be an independent woman. All in all, Edna feels overwhelmed with all the freedom that she achieved by taking risks, which is the reason why she is unable to follow her dreams of being an individualistic
Edna Pontellier's Attitudes Toward Motherhood In The Awakening
1044 Words | 5 PagesEdna Pontellier’s attitude toward motherhood is that she is not a perfect mother-women for many ways. Edna Pontellier is not a perfect mother because “Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-women”(Chopin, 10). This quote means that Edna Pontellier is not a good mother/wife because she is not that of a women who would worship their children ,and their husband. Edna Pontellier is not a good mother because “I would give up the
Argumentative Essay On The Awakening
1162 Words | 5 PagesStarting from the beginning, she seems to have the same ideals as the typical woman in her time, but she is unhappy and her unhappiness leads to rebellion and the breaking of social norms. At the beginning of the novel, Edna learns to swim. This might seem like a minor detail, but it ties to the downfall of Mrs. Pontellier. She falls in love with Robert, even though she is a married woman to Mr. Pontellier.
Water In The Awakening
595 Words | 3 PagesThis daring, adventurous desire stemmed from her husband, Mr. Pontellier, and his overbearing, possessive nature. This rebirth occurs, and over time Edna feels like herself, able to make her own decisions. Feeling alone, the “space and solitude” of the ocean emphasizes how Edna is different from the others in her society and seems rebellious to her husband (55). The freedom that
Conformity In The Awakening
849 Words | 4 PagesEdna continually questions whether or not she is destined to live a life of subordination or if she can find her own freedom. Edna Pontellier’s defiant nature is brought out
Essay On Edna Pontellier's Awakening
938 Words | 4 PagesAs the novel concludes, Edna sees how impractical her hopes are for life. She accepts that Robert and she will never be together and that she is not willing to continue living a life she is unfit for. She leaves on her own to go back to the start of all awakening: Grande Isle. Upon her arrival she goes to swim and finds herself far out. Similar to her lack of energy to continue with life, her energy to swim back to shore has disappeared.
Gender Roles In The Awakening
1178 Words | 5 PagesA wonderful mother, Adele also tends to her husband’s every need. Furthermore, she seems to enjoy this role, apparently thriving in it. Her friend Edna starts off like Adele but then realizes the role is drowning her. Edna and Adele are different people who, though dealt the same cards in life,
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