On the surface Edna seems to have it all, the perfect life as it would be perceived by society. She has two children and a doctor for a husband. However, Edna doesn’t feel as if this completes her; instead, she enters a phase of self-discovery and a sense of finding passion again. Edna is trying to break traditional ties that claim that she should be a good mother-woman. This ultimately leads to her awakening or freedom from the life that she believes restricts her. Edna’s sense of awakening happens in stages with different aspects leading up to the final awakening. Her awakening is a cycle that is completed with many different events synching together to form a better understanding of Edna Pontellier.…
The doctors told that her death was because she was so happy that she died, and it is sad that they got it completely wrong. None of them truly knew what was going on in Louise Mallard’s head before her death. She was filled with excitement about life and nobody was aware of the freedom she felt. It is hard to imagine a death where nobody truly knows about how someone feels.…
Edna’s suicide was a happy ending for her alone. She came to the realization that she couldn’t remain awakened and live in a world filled with moral conventions and responsibilities. Her death reconciled her life with freedom.…
In Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” Kate explores a depressed high class woman’s psychological journey and gender issues towards enlightenment and end up committing suicide as she couldn’t open up herself to anybody who could help her in the situation she was going through. The position of women in society in 19th society was limited to household activities, taking care of children, and work according to the husband to please him all the time. Edna, who is self-aware and she wants to live her life in her own way rather than dancing on tunes of her husband to fulfil his desires. The Awakening supports women to obtain independence physically, emotionally, and financially which was impossible for the women of 19th century.…
Mallard in the story, which allows us to envisage the irony in the story. It starts on the substantial belief of “weak heart”, therefore,” Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.”(Choplin 1) But, till the readers reach the end the death of Louise brings out the irony in the story.” The Joy that kills” (Choplin 20) relates to her death because of sudden loss of independence she found a while ago. Mark Cunningham also debates on the similar theme that Louise’s death is caused by the shock of the new found…
During their talk in chapter 7, Edna also tells Adele something about her feelings for her children. Edna loves her children but feels weighed down with a responsibility that is suited to her nature. She feels relief when they are away. Edna is not a “mother-woman” like the women that surround her on the island, and their children, when they fall over and hurt themselves, do not rush to her as other women's children do, but they merely pick themselves up and carry on playing. Although Mr. Pontellier is therefore not able to point the finger towards any definite dereliction of duty as a mother, the way that Edna is obviously so different from the other mothers with them that summer highlights that she has a very different kind of relationship…
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, was published in 1899 and explored the life of a young married woman named Edna Pontellier. Throughout the novel, Edna attempts to discover her true self and her place in the world by becoming economically independent from her husband and seeking extramarital relationships with young, attractive men. There are multiple opinions about the impact of her awakening and the meaning behind Edna Pontellier’s suicide. Chopin’s goals in the novel were to emphasize the importance of Edna’s rebellion against traditional roles under the prejudice of society; the suicide at the end is the pinnacle of her character and the moment in which she becomes entirely free.…
In “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, the author contrasts the three different men who love Edna with each other, revealing the different types of love that each of them represent, causing Edna to understand the type of love that she relates most too.…
Chopin is a very realistic and Edna is the complete opposite of her and is more a naturalistic person. It's quite ironic how Chopin admires and has so much respect for her as a character so that leads her to think that Chopin created Edna to be the “Idealistic” woman of the time or at least what she wanted to be. Edna always seems to be making little steps of progression but never fully does anything special. An example of this is when she goes swimming because she paddles around but never actually swims. This tests her selfhood and ultimately she views the suicide as…
Mallard, in her final moments of life. As the reader shares in the heartache, joys and conflict, that Mrs. Mallard feels at the news of her husband’s death, to the moment of her realization of what that would mean for her future, the reader is reluctant to tear their eyes away from Chopin’s plot twisting story. In a twist of fate, Mr. Mallard appears unharmed and the hopes and dreams of poor Louise, just recently resurrected from the grave, die and are buried along with her. Through key literary elements and devices, the author creates a stunning and surprising work that highlights the joy of remaining independent, and the suffrage that may come along with marriage. Chopin uses this short story to share an insightful underlying message that continues to resonate with me: to live for…
As Edna neglects her social reputation and duties by having affairs, she seems to become an independent woman whose power is guided by love, but she soon crashes through this dream as reality kicks in that she still has a family that she must take care of and expectations to reach. Robert realizes this, which is why he leaves, but seeing her lover float away, Edna loses her fight for control and thus decides to take her own life, sadly much like how many other people in society decide to deal with their problems. If one is going to fight for control and rebel against expectations, he or she must be prepared for the…
Mrs. Mallard has heart problems, and she hears the news that her husband, Brently, has died in a train accident from her sister, Josephine, and her husband's friend, Richards. At first she starts crying thinking about abandonment, but that ceased when Mrs. Mallard goes to her room. She becomes filled with joy when she realizes that she is free. Louise and Brently love each other, but Louise still feels oppressed. Louise feels oppressed because Chopin lived from 1851-1904 and during those times women's rights weren't a priority. The wives were supposed to listen to their husbands and do as they said. The story never talks about Brently forcing Louise to do anything, but when Louise is being described, it states: "She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength" ( 516). Mrs. Mallard's lines on her face are caused by repression. She has a strength of being a woman and is able to handle being in a marriage. When Louise is sitting in her room staring out the window at the sky, she realizes she has regained her independence and is excited about it. She is free! She thinks about the future and feels a joy about living for herself and says a quick prayer that her life will be long. On page 517 it states, "There would be no powerful will bending hers…
Edna Pontellier’s action in the novel “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, could be justified as her being selfish and unjustified in her actions. The story's romanticism changes the outlook of Edna to being an admirable character, in many ways. She emancipated herself from her restraints and achieved nearly all that she desired. Chopin could have used this book to glorify the women of this age, but because of the time period and life styles, most of what was referred to in the story was very straightforward and possible. Therefore, I believe her affairs, treatment of her family and lovers, and suicide were completely unnecessary and, well, idiotic.…
There is nothing that Edna Pontellier wants more than to be unbounded and free from society’s expectation of women. In “The Awakening”, Kate Chopin clearly exhibits her personal stance on women’s roles through the main character. The characterization of Edna allows her personal passion to alter her personality and make several prominent changes to her lifestyle.…
Mark Cunningham wrote “The Autonomous Female Self and the Death of Louise Mallard” in response to Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”. Chopin’s short story centers around Mrs. Louise Mallard, a housewife in nineteenth-century America that has just been informed of the demise of her husband. While Mrs. Mallard mourns Mr. Mallards death, she becomes aware of her newly gained autonomy, which results in joy overcoming her. Even so, as she exits her room at the pleas of her sister, Josephine, the living Brently Mallard enters through the front door, and Mrs. Mallard falls to the floor with a cry and dies. Many critics assume that Louise perished from the shock of seeing her husband; however, Cunningham believes that she in fact did not see her…