Comment: Today in class someone mentioned that they thought Edna was courageous and liberating at the end of The Awakening because she left everything behind and just went into the water. I disagree with this statement because I believe that if she were truly liberating, she would find a way to live on her own by becoming an artist or attending a college for women and finding a way. Though the society was critical and judgmental, she could have found a way to make it work. It seemed like she did not attempt very hard to do any one thing, except when she was having an affair, and when she was in love with Robert, though the awakening after the birth of her friend's baby made her realize that even that was fleeting. It seems to me that she is immature for her age, like a sixteen or eighteen year old trapped in a twenty-eight yearbody. She does not have the motherly instincts that come with age, and she has a summer fling that most teenagers dream about. She also tends to move from one interest to another old's her rather quickly like a child losing interest in a toy.

Question: How do the men in this time period accept the fact that their wives have friendly relationships with other men and not feel threatened by it?

Kate Chopin - The Awakening

One of the most significant parts of reading the Awakening for me was realizing when it had been published. Through the lens of an early 20th century audience, Kate Chopin's creation would be nothing short of liberating and, in some ways, very scandalous. I can only imagine how awed some of her first readers might have been. Yet at times, such a significant part of the Awakening can be taken for granted. As someone who has grown up in an era where feminist values have largely developed since Chopin's time, some of Edna's bold decisions and call to freedom can be underestimated. Yet when taking in consideration the times at which Chopin wrote the novel, the Awakening's strong and ardent messages of freedom and independence come across through Edna's character.

Apart from being a timeless work of literature, Edna's story expresses the harshness and intolerance of society. Even though Edna conformed to being the maternal figure everybody wanted from her, liberating herself and being promiscuous was what she wanted from herself--this being something society did not accept and thus leading to her ultimate downfall.

Question: Along the lines of what Messner mentioned in today's lecture, if Edna has access to so much domestic help and is not allowed to do much socially or outside the house, how is someone like her supposed to be creative?

The Awakening

Question: Do you believe that the oppression of women upon World War II had a major influence on Edna and other emergent individuals’ highly sexualized behavior?

Comment: What I found intriguing about The Awakening is that Kate Chopin touches on many of the axes of difference we have discussed in our class. Race, sexual orientation, and social status are extremely prevalent issues in the book and for the general era. Conservative ideals of such factors shaped the way in which men and women often functioned in daily life and, in particular, within the home. Additionally, Chopin expresses a recurrent juxtaposition between freedom and oppression, patriarchal gender roles and modern gender roles, constrained and highly enabled sexuality, and objectivity and subjectivity. Edna was able to channel and express her emotions in a revolutionary way, by voicing her desire to break away from what was commonly accepted (and even demanded) of a wife and mother. She left her husband, for example, and became an independent individual, which mirrors the same kind of actions among other culturally oppressed groups.

blog assignment

Questions: Is the character of The Awakening reflects to the author, Kate Chopin? Is there any reason that Kate wrote this book? How does the characters different from the women at that time? or what are the similarities and differences between the main character and modern women.

Comment: after reading this book, this leads me know more about the social structure of different gender in the past. Basically, I know there are “tradition” concepts to restrict women statues. For example, Edna’s job should be taking care of her children and her husband. However, the main reason that she married with her husband is not they both fall in love, the main reason is based on the family pressure, such as financial problems or social norms. However, in this book, I know that there are not all the women would like to face to their faith. Women would fight for their rights or they would do something to against the faith. Somehow, the character of this book is a little bit reflects the author. They also break the social norms and want to be independent.

The Awakening

What I have found interesting in Kate Chopin's The Awakening is the dichotomy between the symbols present in the novel. Since the beginning of the novel, caged birds (Madame Lebrun's parrot and mockingbird) represent the limited abilities of women during this time period. Although Edna attempts to escape her responsibilities as a mother and a wife by living in the pigeon house, the pigeon house symbolizes yet another inability because it fails to remove her from her former life. On the other hand, the sea in the novel represents liberty and Edna's moments of escape from the reality. It is the ocean where Edna first discovers her own strength and freedom by being able to swim successfully. In water, she is reminded of her position as a human being rather than part of the reality that surrounds her. Also, her success in swimming represents the rebirth in her, which results her transformation in attempts to obtain more independence and solitude.

Considering that the sea symbolizes freedom, does Edna's suicide represent her liberating triumph or rather her surrender to the limitations around her?

The Awakening

In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, I found it interesting that Madame Ratignolle foreshadowed the fact that Edna Pontellier would take Robert’s actions seriously. The book explained that in the past, Robert had doted upon other Creole women, but none had truly taken his advances to mean anything. Therefore, nothing ever happened between Robert and any of the wives. However, since Edna was an outsider within the Creole ranks, she was more susceptible to his charms. Even though she at first believed the idea of Robert being so attached to her would be “unacceptable and annoying,” she eventually came to seek out Robert’s company. I believe that since Edna responded to Robert’s advances, this was the reason the relationship developed later on in the novel. Had Edna been just like the Creole women and forsaken Robert’s companionship, Robert would have gone on to develop an interest in another woman the next summer.
Question: Why is it that none of the other women responded to Robert’s advances in the same way as Edna? Is it simply because she was not a Creole or is it because she saw other men of interest in her life “melt away?”

Blog Assignment

What are examples of symbolism in Kate Chopin's The Awakening?

There are many examples of symbolism in The Awakening, but the ones that seem to stand out the most are the symbols of the sea and the birds. Both the sea and the birds represent freedom to Edna and probably to most women in the Victorian Era. Like the birds, the women's movements and decisions are limited by society. As the novel begins, Kate Chopin compares Edna and other Victorian women to the birds in the bird cages, trapped. For Edna, this is not a big deal at first because she does not know what she is missing and has not yet begun to awaken. Edna has everything and is well taken care of by her husband; she is not wanting for anything materially but still trapped. Edna cannot fly away to freedom; she is tied by social constraints and especially by her family. When she tries to escape from her lifestyle after her realization, she goes to a pidgeon house, which is also indicative of her still restricted lifestyle. The ocean also is a symbol of freedom to her. She is very elated to learn how to swim and sees this as a huge achievement and also at the end of the novel uses the ocean as what seems to her, the ultimate freedom.