Edna Pontellier’s Fall from Grace in Kate Chopins The...

Edna’s Fall from Grace in The Awakening In the novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin tells of Edna Pontelliers struggle with fate. Edna Pontellier awakens from a slumber only to find that her life is displeasing, but these displeasing thoughts are not new to Edna. The actions taken by Edna Pontellier in the novel The Awakening clearly determine that she is not stable. The neglect of her duties as a wife and mother and as a woman of society are all affected by her mental state. Her choices to have affairs and disregard her vow of marriage represent her impaired judgment. The change in her attitude and interests becomes quite irresponsible, and that change along with her final decision to commit suicide tell the reader that Edna†¦show more content†¦Her disposition clearly affects their lives on a regular basis. Edna Pontellier defies her husband and is ready to depart from her children at any time. Counseling of some sort for her temperament might encourage her to put her familys needs before herself. She constantly enj oys her freedom and abandons her responsibilities, displaying a childlike ideal of reality. Edna frequently likes to be alone throughout the novel. She mentions feeling caged and sets out to free herself by moving to another house, when, contrary to her immature thoughts, she is still very much in the same predicament. These actions do not help Edna to better her condition. The lows manic depressives experience can be detrimental, and by placing herself in an isolated atmosphere, she is making her problem greater: But alone Edna is prey to suicidal thoughts, the voices which distort the victims choices and exaggerate her plight. Ednas idea in her last moments that her children are antagonists whom she must elude is patently irrational behavior, for her progeny have given her little trouble and seem her happiest links to life. But for her at this moment they represent the powers arrayed against her. (Franklin 526) Clearly Edna Pontellier is an unstable woman. She is unableShow MoreRelated The Awakening: America Was Not Ready For Edna Pontellier Essay1868 Words   |  8 Pagestheories challenging age-old beliefs were springing up everywhere, such as Darwins natural selection. This post-Civil War era also gave men and women opportunities to work side-by-side, and in 1848, the first womans rights conference was held in Seneca Fall, New York. These events leading up to the twentieth century had polished the way for the new, independent woman to be introduced. Women at all levels of society were active in attempts to better their lot, and the New Woman, the late nineteenth-centuryRead More Chopin Essays1578 Words   |  7 Pages The Struggle to Be a Womyn â€Å"Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual† (93) The Awakening by Kate Chopin introduces the reader to the life of Edna Pontellier, a woman with an independent nature, searching for her true identity in a patriarchal society that expects women to be nothing more than devoted wives and nurturing mothers. In this paper I will describe Edna’s journey of self-discovery and explainRead MoreCompare and Constrast Wide Sargasso Sea and the Awakening1796 Words   |  8 PagesCompare and contrast how ‘Patriarchy’ shows oppression in ‘The Awakening’ and ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’. ‘Patriarchy’ is a social organisation in which the father or eldest male is head of a household or tribe, having supreme authority over his women and children. It is a system of government, where men hold the power, and women are largely excluded from it. A patriarchal civilisation promotes the dominance of men in social or cultural societies. Jean Rhys (August 24th – 1890 May 14th 1979) was a DominicanRead MoreKate Chopin s The Awakening2531 Words   |  11 PagesDress to Impress Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening depicts sexual affairs, inner struggles, and the conquest of motherhood that most women face today. The conquest of motherhood involves the battle between being a supportive wife and selfless mother. The story revolves around the characters’ dialogue and appearances described beautifully throughout the novel by Kate Chopin. The story is a familiar one that, sadly, most women can relate to: A woman is married without knowing what true love is. Her