... readers to think for themselves. Edna Pontellier's process of awakening is the focus of this novel. Edna's "awakening" begins when Edna starts "to realize her position in the universe as a human being." (page 57) At this point, Edna starts to think for herself. This happens relatively early in the novel, and spans the course of the book. Edna's Awakening seems to come in short bursts, one level at a ... time. She gains her next "level" when Edna "denied and resisted" (page 78) her husband, which was unheard of in that time. Edna's awakening is well illustrated when she wakes (literally)...

• Word Count: 359
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... , she feels like a slave for her husband, her children, and society. The only way out that she can think of is to end her life, which she does by swimming out into the sea until her strength gives out. This is a very symbolic time in the story. I feel the theme of The Awakening is deeper than women's rights, The Awakening shows how suicide is a common choice for people that ... don't know how to deal with there problems in life. This is where the book creates many questions. Why do people commit suicide? I think the most common reasons are isolation and loneliness, and lack of a social l...

• Word Count: 724
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... for her to do this is to paint. The weather is basically the factor that decides whether Edna paints or not. On the nice days Edna becomes inspired and paints, but the dreary days Edna does not. The sea also shows Edna expressing herself. When she goes swimming it is seen as a baptism, where Edna has her "awakening". This awakening is what helps her to express herself even ... more. Society had a set of very strict guidelines that women usually followed. Edna was one of the very rare ... women that did not follow them. Tuesday's were Edna's day to receive people at the house and talk t...

• Word Count: 481
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... tangible items that we typically associate with family and traditional values. On the literary website "Symbols in The Awakening,"" the setting is described as portraying a "women's sphere-: "Porches and pianos, mothers and children, skirts and sunshades - all these are the props and properties of domesticity, the key elements of what in the nineteenth century was called "women's sphere,"" and it is in this sphere, on the edge of a blue gulf, that Edna Pontellier is ... they might have had together, had they met before Edna's marriage. At several points in the novel, the lady in black f...

• Word Count: 2280
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... a great deal of hurt, time, or maybe experience to come to the conclusion that all of your life you have been walking in the shoes of a person that society has made up, and the only way that empty feeling is going to go a way is that you wake up and make a change. In the story "The Awakening", by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Edna Pontellier comes in terms with her ... awakenings in motherhood and being a wife and finally decides to wake up and become independent. Edna's awakening begins when she starts to cry when Mr. Pontellier, her husband, says she is not a good mother. He ... Edna drowns. All...

• Word Count: 1027
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... (Lecture 1). Women local colorists were concerned with the place of women in society and the moral designs called for in a life. Local Color aspects of The Awakening include the characterizations of the people, the descriptions of places and fundamental meaning in the story, the Creole society and its social mores, and the aspects of women making choices that create a life. The characters are important to the plot, but also to the feeling of place: Mlle. Reisz is ... a bad-tempered spinster, Arobin is a Don Juan, the old men fussing in the boat and Mariequita are "typical" of the island...

• Word Count: 1228
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Andrew Peyton 5th hour 2-19 The Awakening The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a buildungsroman. It shows the growth and development of Edna Pontellier. Through the novel, she grows from a normal and typical mother to a spiritually awakened woman. However, during this process, the transition is anything but smooth. She is constantly contemplating between conforming to society and becoming totally independent. As the novel progresses, each character plays a significant role in Edna's ultimate decision ... in that she serves as an inspiration to Edna. Edna is moved by Mademoiselle Reisz's piano pla...

• Word Count: 820
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... The novel The Awakening takes place in the late 19th century during the Industrial Revolution and the Women's Rights Movement. The entire basis of the story is around the feminist movement and it quite crucial to the plot. The novel opens on Grand Isle, which was a popular summer vacation spot for the wealthy citizens of New Orleans. The story opens as Edna Pontellier is vacationing with her husband, Leonce, and their children at the ... 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 pe...

• Word Count: 1694
• Approx Pages: 7

... Prospective: The Awakening was published in 1899. The Nineteenth Century was ending. Industrialization, urbanization, and changing social norms were coming in to play. Darwin's theory of evolution was being debated, and the Women's Suffrage Movement was continuing. These social and economic factors play a large role in the writing of this book. The author, Edna Pontellier, seems to be trying to find herself in her society. Theme: The theme of the book ... is self-discovery and discontent. The theme also includes rebellion, growing up, and becoming free. Characters: Edna Ponteilier-Main ...

• Word Count: 1006
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... . Since she cannot get rid of her present being in real, she throws the vase symbolizing the neglection and avoidance of a perfectly good life. The title of the novel "The Awakening" represents the "awakening" of Edna through the realization of her true feelings and this realization often preceded by sleep and she does a great deal of it. For instance when she woke up at Cheniere Caminada; she gradually realized her intense love ... any further, thus when she commits suicide she is finally naked. This perhaps also shows that Edna could not take in any more of the growing awakening and th...

• Word Count: 2043
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Awakening " Character Analysis of Edna Pontellier The novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin describes the transformation of Edna Pontellier from a self-less, conventional, and passive typical Louisiana woman of the 1800's to a defiant, independent, and assertive individual. The novel describes a period in her life when Edna rediscovers her own identity and develops inner strength and courage to break through societal conventions in order to acknowledge and act upon her own passions and ... self which we assume like a garment with which to appear to the world." The contrast between Edna and A...

• Word Count: 2850
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... the mercy of the sun, the breeze that beat upon her, and the waves that invited her".(pg 124) In literature water represents a new life and society. (www.sparknotes.com) She went to the water to escape her troubles. It soothed her and made her forget about things that bothered her. The water is evident in the theme because she used the water to help her solve her conflict. The theme in The Awakening ... is to achieve ones goal of freedom. The entire book Edna tries to become her ... own person and not a possession of her husbands ... ...

• Word Count: 487
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... to be more masculine--more powerful, self-interested, and self-indulgent "is to achieve equality and freedom. "The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings- (Chopin 966), and Edna does not. The prejudice of society coats The Awakening with pessimism, and Edna does not have the tools to fight it. At the end of the novel, Chopin tells us, Edna's strength is gone ... . "Chopin was not an active feminist, but represented sides of the human psyche which had previously been repressed under the guise of "moral- fiction. She saw and enjoyed the...

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

... doing so, Edna chose to exercise her quest for freedom by swimming out into the waters and never returning. She found her own way of breaking away and recognized the limits she felt she had to escape from as a resolution to the conflict of being unfulfilled. The following passage from the end of The Awakening conveys the beginning of Edna's final strength of will: She put [her bathing suit] on ... , leaving her clothes in the bath-house. But when she was there beside the sea, absolutely alone, she cast the unpleasant, pricking garments from her, and for the first time in her life she stoo...

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

... one. This same Victorian woman "captured the complicated effects of the era's attempt to control the representation of women's nature" (5). In the 1880's, this "angel in the house" (5), this "ideal woman", was challenged by what was called the "Novissima", "The New Woman" who rejected marriage and motherhood and contested the boundaries of those separate entities. Edna Pontelleir in Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, is a woman that is way ... ahead of her time. She is a woman living through the Victorian Era, although without the many pretenses that most women at the time did. Not only...

• Word Count: 1597
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... when he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of her existence, leaving her alone (139)." Robert feels as if his love for Edna is not strong enough to be in a relationship. The note which is written by Robert makes it clear to Edna that she is ultimately alone in her awakening. When Robert decides to not bother the boundaries of accepted convention ... , Edna confesses the depth of her solitude. ""Good-bye-- because I love you." He did not know; he did not understand...She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for ... an instant, and then sank again (140)." The jo...

• Word Count: 379
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... of her unconventional actions, such as adultery. Edna's experiences on Grand Isle "awaken" desires and urges for music, sexual satisfaction, art, and freedom that New Orleans society deemed unacceptable. Essentialism is blatantly seen throughout The Awakening. By showing two very different societies, and the different social exceptions seen in both of them, one can see how accepting something (X) makes (X) inevitable. Edna did not accept her society ... , nor could she ever conform to the Creole society. The conclusion of the book ended with Edna walking into the ocean to die, symbolizin...

• Word Count: 549
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Awakening written by Kate Chopin was considered very shocking when it was first published because of the main character's unconventional behavior. The novel discusses the changing roles of women in the early 1900's and has raised many different questions throughout the years. One of the most controversial discussions of all has been about the ending of the novel where the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, returns to her vacation spot in Grand Isle and drowns ... of a personal victory than anything. She does not give in to what society demands of her, and insists that she will be "herself" un...

• Word Count: 499
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... during a time when husbands were viewed as the protector and the provider of the family and wives were viewed as "mother-women" and housewives. Women were expected to conform to the role that society depicted for them rather than to behave as persons with individual needs and desires. Edna Pontellier, the protagonist of Chopin's The Awakening seeks to defy convention by transforming from the wife and mother society expects her to be to ... a self-sufficient woman that follows her own ambitions and desires. In the beginning of the novel, Edna is a mother and a wife who is trying to confo...

• Word Count: 1097
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... rebellion againt the mother-woman idea. By moving to her own residence, Edna takes a colossal step 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, ... . M...

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

... was pressing upon and overpowering her," (558) and she is "broken" from the pressures of her society. Ironically, the water exhausts, presses, and overpowers her as well. Perhaps for Edna, given her place in time, there was no alternative, and maybe this is the lesson Kate Chopin was trying to teach. Unlike the belief of many, Chopin does not compromise the theme, the awakening of individuality, in her novel, The Awakening, with its ... fateful ending. Edna finally understands her place in her surroundings, and she comes to the decision that she would rather take herself out of ... ...

• Word Count: 2488
• Approx Pages: 10

... brilliant masterpiece. Chopin's use of imagery, is markedly verbose in her vibrant and rich depiction of the sea, the birds and the treatment of clothing which constantly envelop Edna's quest for self-hood. The sea for Edna serves as a catalyst for her awakening because it operates as a sanctuary of freedom and a diversion from societal ties. Edna's sea operates as a symbol of self ... from society because she rather drown herself in the sea than exist in a lifeless subsistence. Edna's exploration and discovery of the sea is the definitive force responsible for her awakening. Throughout ...

• Word Count: 2022
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

At the beginning of The Awakening, Edna Pontellier alienates herself from society only on an emotional level. She felt as if "a certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her, - the light which, showing the way, forbids it" (17). As the novel progresses, she voices her feelings and begins to put them into action. However, Edna must face the fact that her ideas are not socially acceptable. When Edna ... I was to dream of such a thing, even if you had been willing" (142). Robert abandons Edna, leaving her a note, which allows Edna to come to the realization that her life is no longer acce...

• Word Count: 671
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

At the beginning of The Awakening, Edna Pontellier alienates herself from society only on an emotional level. She felt as if "a certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her, - the light which, showing the way, forbids it" (17). As the novel progresses, she voices her feelings and begins to put them into action. However, Edna must face the fact that her ideas are not socially acceptable. When Edna ... I was to dream of such a thing, even if you had been willing" (142). Robert abandons Edna, leaving her a note, which allows Edna to come to the realization that her life is no longer acce...

• Word Count: 625
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Chopin present the question of gender in The Awakening, I think I have to give a little background of the story. The story took place in the late 1800's, while women's liberation was never be concerned about. At this time women were supposed to find happiness in serving their husbands and also taking care of the children. The setting was in the society of Grand Isle, and it had ... of independence, she soon encounters the conflict from restriction, most obviously, from her husband. And when she makes the decision to abandon her former convention lifestyle, Edna realizes that independent...

• Word Count: 664
• Approx Pages: 3