Kate Chopin's The Awakening
Kate Chopin’s book The Awakening is based on the expections placed on women in society, particularly in the upper class at the turn of the 20th century. This story explains how there is more than one reason why effects on a human or thing happen. Edna Pontellier’s character shows not only the limited options of a woman, but the dangers of taking risks of unrealistic expectations of life and love. Chopin is trying to show how change can break a human. The intent of Kate Chopin’s story was to show the limited options of a woman. Mrs. Pontellier was one who broke all the expected roles of an upper class woman. Mrs. Pontellier became extremely bored with her lifestyle and her husband. Her husband was never around, nor did he appear to be
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One of these risks is Robert. Edna spends all her spare time with Robert, and when she is with Robert, she symbolically removes her wedding rings. Edna lives in a dream world of courtly romance. When she hears about Robert’s trip to Mexico, “she recognized anew the symptoms of infatuation which she had felt incipiently as a child, as a girl in her earliest teens, and later as a young woman” (60). She does girlish things, such as treasuring the picture of the tragedian and “kiss[ing] the cold glass passionately.” (24) The narrator claims, “her marriage to Leonce Pontellier was purely an accident,” signifying that while she seems to subconsciously desire romance and passion in her life, she disdains any actual evidence of it. It is not until there is no longer a possibility of having Robert that she desires him. Edna has a habit of always wanting what she cannot have – which leads to her doing everything she can to get it. The other main behavior that can be considered risky is her friendship with Mademoiselle Reisz. Mademoiselle Reisz is everything that Edna wants to be and have. She is unmarried and has no children. Edna has a hidden romantic side to Mademoiselle Reisz’s music. Her emotions are defined clearly: “the very passions themselves were aroused within her soul, swaying it, lashing it, as the waves daily beat upon her splendid body. She trembled,
One of these risks is Robert. Edna spends all her spare time with Robert, and when she is with Robert, she symbolically removes her wedding rings. Edna lives in a dream world of courtly romance. When she hears about Robert’s trip to Mexico, “she recognized anew the symptoms of infatuation which she had felt incipiently as a child, as a girl in her earliest teens, and later as a young woman” (60). She does girlish things, such as treasuring the picture of the tragedian and “kiss[ing] the cold glass passionately.” (24) The narrator claims, “her marriage to Leonce Pontellier was purely an accident,” signifying that while she seems to subconsciously desire romance and passion in her life, she disdains any actual evidence of it. It is not until there is no longer a possibility of having Robert that she desires him. Edna has a habit of always wanting what she cannot have – which leads to her doing everything she can to get it. The other main behavior that can be considered risky is her friendship with Mademoiselle Reisz. Mademoiselle Reisz is everything that Edna wants to be and have. She is unmarried and has no children. Edna has a hidden romantic side to Mademoiselle Reisz’s music. Her emotions are defined clearly: “the very passions themselves were aroused within her soul, swaying it, lashing it, as the waves daily beat upon her splendid body. She trembled,