the awakening

Question: Does Edna's relationship with Arobin, while she is supposedly in love with Robert, cause her to lose some of her credibility as a woman who is justly sick of her marriage?

Comment: Edna's character creates a kind of paradox of many female gender norms. On the one hand, she values her own independence and wants to exist without being held back by her husband. On the other hand, she lets her actions be determined by the men in her life, and is never actually without a male character who keeps her company. Also, Edna does not view her children in a typically feminine or nurturing way, and often acts discordantly with the view of an ideal wife. However, she is always described as being beautiful and feminine, and finds it very important to approach unpleasant topics with delicacy when in public. I feel as if this paradox represents the author's position. Although Kate Chopin was clearly filled with ideas that were very revolutional at the time, she was also completely absorbed in a society where women filled a very specific role.

The Awakening Blog

Reading The Awakening again, after having read it in high school, was certainly a different experience. Since then I have read numerous other books that not only add to my current knowledge but also inform previous knowledge or books that I've read. Specifically, I find the circumstances, or perhaps the general dilemma, of Edna's life similar to that of April Wheeler in the book "Revolutionary Road". Both of these women struggle with the limitations and thus the consequences of domestic life and the standards established by the culture and society of each of their respective times. However, even though these women are separated by decades of history and change - the Victorian Era and the 1960's - they still struggle with these base issues of femininity, gender, gender roles, and numerous other issues tied to familial expectations... their personal plights however are merely viewed through different historical contexts. Still, despite the generations of thought and progress that span between them, they both meet an outcome that is self-inflicted and rather tragic. I find this to be incredibly intriguing, because it only emphasizes the fact that despite how much we as a culture or society may think we change or progress in terms of our ways of thinking, specifically with gender, the base issues and struggles are always there and always affect us. Granted, these stories are fictional... still they are born from a reaction to real life circumstances.

My question therefore is: What other connections between female characters through out literature can you think of that are similar or different to Edna's and April's? Do you think that the change of time and progress of culture and ways of thinking can ever alleviate these base issues that women like this face? Or are these struggles and plight's that women... and maybe even men... will continue to face regardless of how much we may come to understand about it?

"The Awakening" Blog

Comment: In the beginning and the middle of the storyline, Edna Pontellier is portrayed as an independent woman who goes after what she wants—someone who many people would call a feminist. However, towards the end of the book, I got the impression that she was selfish more than anything else. She did whatever she pleased and did not take the feelings and emotions of others into consideration: her husband’s worries, Arobin’s sincere feelings, and her children’s needs. When she was in her state of depression after Robert left her, she said that she “understood now clearly what she had meant long ago when she said to Adele Ratignolle that she would give up the unessential, but she would never sacrifice herself for her children” (108). She put herself over everyone else—even her children. Moreover, I felt like her final act was an indication of both her selfishness and weakness.

Question: How does The Awakening and/or the character of Edna Pontellier reflect the life of Kate Chopin?

I really enjoyed the story in the Awakening because it showed how Edna went from being a conservative, quiet woman to a woman who embraced as much freedom as possible. Her relationship with Robert inspired her to believe that she didn't need to be submissive to her husband and could rather break away from the place she no longer wanted to be. The story line displayed how Edna, being a woman, had the strength and courage of breaking away from her "socially acceptable" position as a housewife and a mother and becoming a rebellious woman by having an affair. It was interesting how the book displayed an extreme contrast between the Edna before she met Robert and the Edna after she met Robert; one man led all the changes to make her a better person but her husband was less than satisfactory to provide her needs.

This last statement leads to my question: Isn't it ironic that it was a man who inspired Edna to be free and independent when it was a man who constrained her to be submissive and reserved in the first place? If yes, why?

The Awakening

While talking to Robert about the intentions of his spur of the moment trip to Mexico, Edna says, “I suppose this is what you would call unwomanly; but I have into a habit of expressing myself. It doesn’t matter to me, and you may think me unwomanly if you like” (100). I like this quote immensely, and I feel it accurately sums up all that Edna represents in The Awakening. She does not play the subdued wife and mother who always succumbs to her husbands wishes. On the contrary, Edna Pontillier is a strong woman who represents independence and free will. She opts to move houses and throws lavish parties. She leaves her children in order to go out on her own and find herself. She has flings with more than one man. She has a “habit of expressing [herself]”, unfiltered and sometimes uncontrollable.
            One question I have is about the significance of the character, Arobin. Chopin shows Edna Pontillier as a woman who goes after what she wants and who isn’t afraid of defying social norms. After reading the novel, we find out that Edna is truly passionate for Robert, thus performing an act of infidelity. Why, then, is Arobin’s character important? She shows some interest in him, yet nothing as strong as Robert, which makes Arobin seem somewhat insignificant. 

Why? The Awakening

My question: Why was this book was banned from the library (other than the ending). Was it because she was not a good wife? or because she did not want to participate in the duties that were expected of her in society? her negligence? the sexual implications?

The aspect of the man in the family needing to be more "masculine" within the home, as Professor Messner mentioned, is seen in this novel. Mr. Pontellier is a broker--someone who is urbanized and is confined within an office and as a result, must show his masculinity at home. However, when he sees that his wife is not submissive to him, and is someone who has a mind of her own, he feels lost and insecure. He wants to be viewed as the perfect husband as he sends her extravagant gifts while he is away to Edna, but he does not see how unhappy she is because he thinks that by meeting the expectations of society will give him and his wife happiness--which it clearly does not.

The Awakening

Question: How come it was so accepted that women have extremely friendly relationships that today can be construed as lesbian-ish? How did this shift occur?


Comment: I think it is interesting to see how, although Mrs. Pontellier is inside and basically immersed in the Creole tradition and culture, she is really an outsider-within because she herself is not Creole and is not accustomed to many of their behaviors still to that day. I wonder how the Creole people feel about her not really being part of "them" culturally-wise. I like how Chopin allows the reader to know Mrs. Pontellier's thoughts because it creates this divide among gendered, racial, and sometimes class lines which is what we had been discussing in class.