Preview

Feminism In The Awakening

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1387 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Feminism In The Awakening
Chopin's View on Feminism In today's world, Feminism is a large part of our society. Many women believe in equal rights and having the same chances as men do. We see that over time, women have gained more rights in hopes of having equal opportunity as the opposite sex. However, although women have gained rights there is still a lack in equality between men and women: In the novel, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, the use of imagery and symbolism through the novel demonstrates feminist ideas. To begin, the of birds demonstrates Demi's ''tis views on treatment of women. The very first sentence that the book opens with is a squawking sound, coming from the parrot that resides in the cage outside of the Pontellier’s beach house. The parrot …show more content…
Wedding rings symbolize eternalness . To “give a woman a ring signifies never-ending and immortal love” (Noreen). Whether it be to go swimming, or to go to bed, Edna slips her wedding wing off each time she does so. When Leonce came back from work after being absent for an extended amount of time, his commentary and foul attitude during dinner angered Edna. She fled the dinner hall, and began angrily pacing the room in which she escaped her husband from, and “stopped, taking off her wedding ring, and [flinging] it upon the carpet. When she saw it lying there, she stamped her heel upon it, striving to crush it. But her small boot heel did not make an indenture, not a mark upon the little glittering circlet.” The wedding ring that Edna tries to destroy symbolizes the tight grasp that husbands have on their wives in terms of marriage. The ring is explains that women cannot leave the marriage, no matter the circumstances, for the circle represents eternity and timelessness. As Edna becomes “increasingly aware that she is "seeking herself and finding herself," she struggles with growing ferocity to discard and even destroy the conventions by which she has lived, including her wedding ring”. (Gilbert) Edna’s wedding ring acts as a “symbol of the bonds between her and Leonce Pontellier, her husband. It represents the vows they agreed to when they got married. By “taking off her ring and stomping on it to …show more content…
Even though she claims she loves them, Edna leads readers to believe otherwise. “She [puts] her arms around me and [feels] my shoulder blades, to see if my wings [are] strong, she [says]. 'The bird that [soars] above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth.' Whither would you soar?” (Chopin 289). To begin with, Chopin denotes Edna as the bird who soars above tradition and prejudice, and explains that in order to do so, Edna must remain resilient in her efforts. Comparatively, the “weaklings” that Madame Reisz speaks of are a direct reference to Edna’s two children. Reisz notably refers to these children as “weaklings” because of how they conform to society’s rigid standards. She explains subtly that they will grow up to be exactly like those who have come before them, having implications that they will be “normal”. Normal, in this instance, is unfavorable, because it alludes to the idea that one must act like a robot, with no real control over his or her life. The “weaklings” flutter back to earth “bruised” and “exhausted” when they realize that becoming the normal Victorian Era society is demoralizing and highly restrictive. Similarly, the “weaklings” could also symbolize

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In “Total Eclipse,” by Annie Dillard, Dillard contrasts the emerging ring of light around the sun to an old silver wedding band or a morsel of bone in order to juxtapose the different feelings the eclipse raises as well as portray the lasting impression the total eclipse had on people. A worn wedding band insinuates the notion of the eclipse’s beauty and excitement in suspense of it, just as a marriage; moreover, a marriage lasts forever much like the imprinting the eclipse leaves on people. Dillard, for example, become attached to it and recounts it as lingering in her memory forever; so much so that she could write about it two years later in exceptional detail. Dillard belies the wedding band with a morsel of a bone, which serves as a symbol…

    • 213 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From her crying alone at night to her sudden rebellious comment to her husband you can infer that she’s been holding something to herself. This quote peers into how Edna truly feels on…

    • 220 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edna believes that she accidentally got married because she accepted the traditional path. She married Leonce due to the fact that he was financially sound and in love with her. After a summer in Grand Isles she starts to realize the fault in the marriage. Edna does not care for her children as the other Creole mothers do; she would not give herself and her sanity…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In a traditional society, Edna feels stuck between what is right for her and what makes society happy. She is expected to be a good wife and mother, however; she falls short of this…

    • 1518 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edna’s independence causes familial tension. Edna’s resistance to her husband’s orders angers Leonce. For example, when Mr. Pontellier learns that Edna did not stay at home for her regular Tuesday reception, he screams and says she had to continue the…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This quote is a summary of Leonce and Edna’s relationship. She doesn’t really love him, nor does she really believe that she ever did. She loves him for the reason that he is the father of her children, but not for much else. Later in the book, it even seems believable that she doesn’t care for her children either. However, it could be that she left her children to spare them from the hurt she would bring if she were to stay and be their ‘mother’.…

    • 2230 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Quesons to 10

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Why did Edna marry Leonce? Is he the model husband? She was exercising her right to choose her own husband and find her own path, simply because her parents didn’t like him.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bye Beautiful

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages

    | Symbolism: The ring – Sandy worries whether Marianne loses it. (Marianne forgets Peter) Heat…

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Victorian Era was not a good time for women. They were often abused, emotionally and physically; had the same rights as children; and were not allowed to act of their own accord. Men treated women like objects created only to satisfy their needs and care for their family. Women’s needs and desires where forgotten and any woman who tried to live for herself was rejected from society. Feminism did not exist and was never even considered. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, set in the Victorian Era, is definitely a piece of feminist literature.…

    • 93 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edna faces this struggle with her husband, Mr. Pontellier because she feels like he controls her. After her first awakening experience, Edna’s husband demands that she come inside and go to bed and it is noted that, “She wondered if her husband had ever spoken to her like that before, and if she had submitted to his command. Of course she had; she remembered that she had. But she could not realize why or how she should have yielded, feeling as she then did.” This realization that her husband used to control her and Edna’s refusal to continue obeying him demarks the first steps she takes toward taking control of her own life. The second prominent example of blatant disregard for her husband’s wishes is when Edna moves into her own house. No longer wishing to live in her husband’s house, she moves to her own as the narrator points out, “The pigeon-house pleased her. It at once assumed the intimate character of a home, while she herself invested it with a charm… Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual.” This validates Edna’s desire to be free from her former life and highlights the fact that she is only able to truly flourish when she is on her own. Sadly, one must be willing to give up relationships in order to fully achieve this sense of…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Awakening

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Edna married Leonce because she went against what her father and sister wanted. “He pleases her. . . Add to this the violent opposition of her father and her sister Margaret to her marriage with a Catholic.” He is a model husband because he works hard in order to keep the family on the higher end of society and he cares about Edna, always sending her gifts when he was away on business.…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edna is a married woman vacationing at her summer home with her family. Edna’s husband conforms to gender stereotypes of this time and is devoted more to his work than to his family, and believes he holds dominance over his wife solely because he is male. In the first chapter of the novel Mr. Pontellier leaves Edna for Klein’s Hotel and doesn’t return for hours. This is the first of many instanced when Edna is isolated from her husband for long periods of time. Edna quickly becomes rebellious toward her husband. In her time alone she realizes that she doesn’t need him and can be perfectly happy on her own. Edna relishes in her first experience of talking back to her husband enjoying the power she suddenly feels over…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    There is a dual personality in Edna, “the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions” (Chopin 26). Edna does not express opinions or anything that would insinuate a power struggle between her and the men around her. This behavior is typical of the woman in the nineteenth century as women were only seen as objects. Edna is especially seen as an object in the eyes of her husband. After Edna comes back to her husband from the beach, he shows concern over her darkened appearance. Mr. Pontellier looks at his wife as if she is “a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage” (Chopin 7). Edna does not establish herself as a human with thoughts and opinions, as she just laughs with her friend soon after. Although, there are a few women who do share opinions and speak about educated topics in broad daylight. Edna is with these women in the…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unable to adapt Edna was left at a cross roads; she could be miserable and accepted or different and possibly happy. Finally cracking under the pressure of who she was becoming and why she "Stamped her heel upon it[her engagement ring], striving to crush it" (1294). By destroying her ring she freed herself. No longer would she be ruled, no invisible force could stop her and casting aside for good her bonds to the burdens of life "She began to do as she liked and feel as she liked" (1297). Edna begins to see what these societal constraints mean and she hates it.…

    • 1134 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics