The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, had many themes and motifs, but there was the most obvious message of the inability to grow up. Edna Pontellier did not have to accept the life she was given, but she had a lack of maturity that was her destruction. All throughout the book we witness Edna's inability to leave her childhood behind and her want to be young, free, and without adult boundaries. Chopin did not feel that Edna's situation was fair, however it was obvious she was trying to convey the notion that Edna had a lack of maturity. This childlike quality turned and unhappy situation into a disastrous and horrible situation. Chopin wanted us to see how trapped Edna was, but recognize that she could've saved herself if she had seen where she was in life and not struggled for a past that couldn't be recreated. In The Awakening, there is a message trying to be conveyed to not only women, but people, to live how you want and do what you feel, but to also live responsibly. Edna became lost in a wish to be young and free of her responsibilities, although not all of there were fair, she still created a life for herself that had no where to turn and no purpose. .
The first sign of Edna's lack of maturity is how she is spending her summer days. She feels no need to care for her children or be around her husband, who she still claims to love, she simply does as she pleases with who she pleases. Even though she is friends with Adele Ratignolle, none of Adele's motherly duties rub off on her. She feels as though her children can and should care for herself. She admits to having no need for being a mother. Although it was not her choice to have these children, she shows such a lack of caring that you can see she is not emotionally grown. She thinks a bit like a selfish child. Eager to be given money, eager to play, but not eager to hold up to her end of a bargain. Another early sign of her immaturity is her slightly inappropriate relationship with Robert LeBrun.
Plot Overview IN THE STREETS OF VERONA another brawl breaks out between the servants of the feuding noble families of Capulet and Montague. Benvolio, a Montague, tries to stop the fighting, but is himself embroiled when the rash Capulet, Tybalt, arrives on the scene. After citizens outraged by the...
