How Does Kate Chopin Contribute To Independence

Kate Chopin has a way of inspiring us all from her exhilarating book, The Awakening. She related her own life to the main character, Edna Pontellier, who is married to her husband, Leonce, along with her two children. Even though families were particularly arranged during this time, this wasn’t the life that Edna was wishing to pursue. She was constantly looking for something more by going beyond the boundaries of the rules of society. Throughout the novel, she discovered an “awakening” in herself that led to self-independence without the need of her husband and children. Kate Chopin has shown the importance of freedom, happiness, and some of the journeys that can lead to certain destinations. As a child, Chopin grew up with her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, all widowed by their husbands. Her father died on All Saints Day and her brother died of typhoid. Because of this, Chopin had much independence from the time she was a child and didn’t have men to constantly control her life. Even though Chopin ended up married, she based her own life in a comparable way on the life of Edna’s, who wants to break away from the label of being “a
She taught her audience that you must push yourselves through the struggles and to never give up. This related to the text said by Edna, saying, “I would give up the unessential...but I would never give up myself” (Chopin 47). This means that she would give up anything to be happy. For example, Edna gave up her reputation by erasing the fact of being a mother and a wife in society. She had an affair with her husband and sent her kids far away. However, the life she wanted to live wasn’t enough. Edna ended up floating her way out to sea and never returning. Chopin wanted to help the audience realize that sometimes the journey can not only lead to beautiful destinations, but by devastating ones as