Character Analysis: The Awakening By Kate Chopin

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.

Prevalent concept in the novel is the concept of the “mother-woman”, which is something Edna Pontellier deeply struggles with. “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” (chapter 16). A woman may fulfil other roles than those of a mother or a wife. Therefore, the novel tackles the issue of the sense of self, inner and outer.

Curley’s wife is not dedicated to Curley as she has the eye for other men (pg 28, p4). Evidently Curley’s wife isn’t loyal to him as she doesn’t bother hiding her interest in other people. Since she has no dedication to him, their partnership is broken. Curley’s wife doesn’t care about Curley at all which is shown when he gets into a fight and she expresses her appreciation of him getting injured (pg 81, p11). She has no respect for her husband and doesn’t show any concern for him.

Nora faces the same lack of control. Her husband tries to control every part of her life. Nora is married to Helmer Trovald and is a typical housewife however, Nora uses manipulation to get the things she wants such as money, her husband’s approval, and much more. Like Tamora, Nora does not have any power. Helmer controlled everything Nora did from what she ate to the money she spent.

Those proves the thesis because it shows the attachment she will always have to Leonce because she does not feel strong enough to leave the marriage. Another example of Edna’s forced dependency to Leonce is the expectation of married women by society. During that era women had little to no rights and were expected to abide by the strict societal rules. According to Mary Bird’s essay “Women had no rights, and were legally bound to do whatever their husbands decided was best”. This proves that Edna’s dependency on her husband was not by choice rather by society.

Just something she had grabbed up to drape her dreams over” (Hurston 72). Janie figures out that Joe is not the man she had married when the “image of Jody tumbled down” she begins to understand that Joe was not at all significant to her because he never cared for her and instead he was a bad influence. Janie figures out that he “never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams” the life she desires of with Joe Starks, is an allusion and Janie’s dreams are once again crushed. Janie is deceived by Joe because he represents empty dreams for Janie, he was a “drape [for] her dreams” Joe took advantage of Janie and manipulates her to do excessive labour for him in the store and constantly silences her. Furthermore, Joe Starks never treats Janie with respect as he views her as an object and spends his time commanding her.

This confirms Marie is uninterested because she no longer cares about the life her mom planned out for her and wants to spend her time with her grandmother. Marie does not care about the life her mom wants her to have and grew to love Aanaq. In conclusion, “Ovatniah” and “Dear Future” have differences in character traits for Marie and

Victor’s father was around most of Victor’s life, yet he did not support Victor. When Victor fell ill, his father did not visit him to take care of him. Clerval attends to Victor when he is sick, breaking gender norms by playing nurse. When Victor told his father about studying alchemy, he told Victor that he would be wasting his life. In Victor’s mind, being a good father is not being there for his son, the monster.

Chopin makes her strong statement in this quote from the story. Mrs. Mallard has no one to answer to but herself, and she feels liberated that her husband can no longer control her. During the late nineteenth century, women quite frequently had to suppress themselves to the will of their husbands, or to some other man who had a significant amount of control over their lives. Chopin successfully uses vivid imagery, point of view, and irony that gives a different view of marriage that is not typical of today.

Despite Sister’s dreams that Carhullan was a sanctuary from oppression, it is, in fact, the invert of the outside world. Similar to the government in the outside world, whom hid Carhullan’s existence for fear of losing what was left of their people, Carhullan also rarely discussed news from the outside world. In fact, one of the commune’s members was born and raised at Carhullan and had never “been exposed to a world of inferiority or cattiness, nor male dominance. She was, in a way, an idealised female” (Hall 109). In other words, this daughter of Carhullan has never experienced male dominance - she has only ever known female dominance.

I interviewed my mom, Catherine Farrar, for the religion interview assignment. My mom was raised Catholic, but stopped attending church in college and never looked back. She is a feminist, and the Catholic Church is simply not conducive to feminist beliefs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s piece, “The Introduction to The Women’s Bible” seemed to mirror my mom’s stance on the issue; the Bible was written by men, for men, with the goal of achieving power over others. Clearly, the Bible does not favor women, and this is true for many religious texts.