... towards autonomy, a direct violation of the mother-woman image. Throughout The Awakening, Edna increasingly distances herself from the image of the mother-woman, until her suicide, which serves as the total opposite of the mother-woman image. Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, the two important female subsidary characters, provide the two different identities Edna associates with. Adele serves as the perfect "mother-woman in The Awakening, being both married and pregnant, but Edna does not ... follow Adele's footsteps. For Edna, Adele appears unable to perceive herself as an indiv...

• Word Count: 789
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... archetypical directions: these archetypes include the marriage of the work-orientated and "bread-winning" husband and the ideal mother, the outcast "quasi-intellectual" feminist, the high-class society, and the true love. This pulling from the various archetypical, yet very human, characters and settings eventually allows Mrs. Pontellier to reject the norms of her society and become her own person. The gradual breaking up of the pontilliers is a pillar in The Awakening. Cultural and social differences, life changing experiences ... , and a general dissatisfaction of the marriage all accu...

• Word Count: 1488
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... most famous for her novel The Awakening, which is often categorized simply as a feminist work. Yet, from the time of its first publication in 1899 to the present day, the story continues to be scrutinized for what the specific message is that Chopin tries to convey. While the novel explores themes such as identity, fulfillment, individuality, and freedom, the ambiguity of the ending, in which the protagonist commits suicide, often creates ... stresses Edna's rebellion against this conformity as a means to express herself as an individual. The novel's setting is in a Creole community in ...

• Word Count: 1885
• Approx Pages: 8

... of "mother-women," who "idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it to a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals". The characters of Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz represent what the society views as the appropriate and inappropriate woman figures. Mademoiselle Ratignolle was the ideal Grand Isle woman, a home-loving mother and a good wife; however, Mademoiselle Reisz was the old, unmarried, childless, musician who devoted all her life to ... lifestyle, Edna realizes that independent ideas cannot always translate into all together self-suffici...

• Word Count: 664
• Approx Pages: 3

... father's accidental death. In 1870, she married Oscar Chopin, and the new couple moved to Louisiana, which became the setting for many of her short stories. In New Orleans, she brings to life the Louisiana setting, and the personalities of her characters, which are usually Creoles or Cajuns. Her themes center around the social, emotional, and sexual roles of women within those societies. Chopin's earliest ... story "Wiser Than a God" focuses on her desire for female independence. In the story the main character, Paula Von Stoltz, who is a successful ... when her last novel "The Awakening...

• Word Count: 649
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... works. Many of Kate Chopin's works deal with women in the 19th century whom , much like Chopin did not hold the rudimentary attitudes that was to be beholden to women. . Kate Chopin's writing was also extremely controversial, and seen as to edgy by many critics, Throughout the majority of Chopin's works the characters faced a vast amount of barriers , but somehow she made it through. Chopin ... was born in St. Louis Missouri , in 1851 to Eliza Faris O"Flaherty and Thomas O" Flaherty. Kate had lost her a large amount of her family ... wrote. Often her stories turned upon acts of rebell...

• Word Count: 1100
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

"A Doll's House" In Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House," the characters Nora and Torvald are misleading in their nature. Nora initially seems immature and childlike, but as the play develops her independence and strong will become more prevalent. The strong and generous husband, Torvald, later exposes himself as a truly self-centered, and selfish man. This fallibility of their appearances proves to hide the veracity of the play's characters; and it is when these masks are unveiled ... pursuing of a loan to save Torvald's life demonstrates her understanding of business and therefore shows her inte...

• Word Count: 510
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School