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Kate Chopin's The Awakening - Online Paper

Kate Chopin's The Awakening


is a work of fiction that tells the story of
Edna Pontellier, Southern wife and mother. This book presents the reader
with many tough questions and few answers. It is not hard to imagine why
this book was banished for decades not long after its initial publication
in 1899. At that time in history, women did just what they were expected to
do. They were expected to be good daughters, good wives, and good mothers.
A woman was expected to move from the protection of her father's roof to
the protection of her husband. Edna didn't fit this mold, and that
eventually leads her husband to send for a doctor. It is here that Edna
Pontellier says words that define The Awakening, "I don't want ...

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mother.

Throughout the book Edna takes many steps to increase her independence. She
sends her children away, she refuses to stay at home on Tuesdays (as was
the social convention of the time), she frequents races and parties.
Unfortunately, her independence proves to be her downfall.

Edna stays married because divorce was unheard of in those days. She wants
to marry Robert, but he will not because it will disgrace her to leave her
husband. No matter how much Edna exceeds social boundaries, she is held
down by the will of others, despite what she wants. In today's world
divorce, sadly, is almost commonplace, but in her time she would have been
an outcast of her society. By the end of The Awakening, Edna feels like a
possession - of her husband, of her children, and of her society. The only
solution she sees is to end her life, which she does by swimming out into
the sea until her strength gives out. This is a very symbolic death.

I feel the theme of The Awakening is deeper than ...

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Kate Chopin's The Awakening. (2006, July 18). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Kate-Chopins-The-Awakening/49314
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"Kate Chopin's The Awakening." Essayworld.com. July 18, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Kate-Chopins-The-Awakening/49314.
"Kate Chopin's The Awakening." Essayworld.com. July 18, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Kate-Chopins-The-Awakening/49314.
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PAPER DETAILS
Added: 7/18/2006 04:45:27 AM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 753
Pages: 3

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