... a whole new world in which she had the courage and the independence to venture outside her structured world, much to the chagrin of her husband. As she became more and more enthralled in finding her identity, she neglects her duties of a mother and a wife. Edna expresses her own sensuality in her painting. For Edna, painting represents a fulfillment of her own desires. The images and emotions she feels flow naturally from heart to hand ... one summer before. As she enters the sea it caresses her ankles and she swims out farther to realize her own satisfaction. Edna freely surrenders her...

• Word Count: 2488
• Approx Pages: 10

... more than just acknowledging she has the courage and the inner strength to act upon her feelings and desires. She has the courage to break all conventions of society and to discover her true self, to discover that she is more than just a wife and a mother, roles that society had given her. Edna discovers her identity as an independent woman and breaks through the roles assigned by the ... chauvinism at its height. According to him, she has no independence, no personal self-fulfillment, and must only live for him. Leonce believes that Edna is not performing her womanly duties and is an i...

• Word Count: 1837
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography

... independence also changes through the novel while experiences many perceptions based on her psychological attitudes. At first Edna's views seem mainly one sided and regarding what is considered the standard of society. Though we see what she actually thinks about a women's place as a mother in the social order. She reflects, "The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy ... are so different from what she's been told most of her life and now she has the willpower to challenge those saying so that she can actually be independent. We see that Edna's relationships...

• Word Count: 1575
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... worth as they are defined within the system to which she subscribes" (63). She could either return to live with her husband and children, or she could live alone. Edna found neither of these options to be satisfying, or reasonably sufficient. There was a higher price to pay for Edna, even if she didn't view ... a man who she felt no passion for, and was either content and emotionally unattached or restless and unhappy. But unlike other women, Edna had the courage, and the strength, to change that. By her life coming to an end, she took her life and made it her own. In essence, she took...

• Word Count: 1686
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... There, conversations with Adele prompted Edna to realize the oppression caused onto her by her husband. Robert Lebrun's flirtations caused her to desire much more freedom from her husband, and Edna swam for the first time in the sea, showing her personal strength and courage to begin a new chapter in her life, one of self-discovery and fulfillment. When reading The Awakening, I found no true climax, but ... the time, Edna still feels trapped within her life because Leonce does not understand her in the slightest, or her need for independence. Robert Lebrun is what people now refer to as ...

• Word Count: 1694
• Approx Pages: 7