... popular issues is that of Edna Pontellier's suicide in Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Suicide was not something an upper middle class woman would commit, and reasonably a shocker, since many felt she had more respectable ways to handle her situation. However, Kate Chopin shows throughout the story that Edna did indeed take the most honorable out she had, given the social customs of that time. Since Edna realizes that she ... sons' chances of succeeding in life. Knowing that she cannot sacrifice herself and go back to the old way of life, she takes the only other route open to her at the t...

• Word Count: 1008
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate