What was Ednas Awakening? Essay -- Literary Analysis, Kate Chopin

The roles we fill in society are what define us as a person. Many times, we do not choose our own place, but we still are obligated to fill it. Some societies have limited roles, especially for minorities such as blacks, women, and so on. However, in a society with an endless number of options, where people are free to be anything they want to be, how is it that one-woman still feels lost? Kate Chopin's book, The Awakening, tells the story of just that. A woman named Edna Pontellier is 28 years old living in New Orleans at the end of the 19th century. Unlike her old home in Kentucky, the Creoles are free to be what they will. The only stipulation is once you have chosen that role it is expected of you to obey it. In Edna's case, once she has picked her poison she is forced to drink it. Edna walked through her life almost asleep, going through the motions. After six years of marriage and two children, she suddenly realizes she has not been living at all. She struggles des perately to gain her independence and find who she really is. By the end, Edna has crossed a number of social taboos to the tragic end of suicide. Did Edna ever fully awaken herself by drowning at sea, or was it fear of failure that brought Edna to killing her self? This argument should start by explaining why Edna needed to have an awakening in the first place. Looking at the culture, she should have already been awakened. However, the strict up bringing by her father determined her path until she was aware enough to know it. Edna joined Madame Ratignolle for a walk down the beach. While sitting somberly in the shade, Ratignolle asked Edna what was on her mind. Loosing track of her thoughts, they wandered to an old memory of her life in Kent... ...uts herself back in the same place she was. This idea of a partner is not just a little voice in her head; it is something she actively pursues with Robert, pleading to him "We shall be everything to each other" (147). This uncontrollable desire to become one with Robert is what turns her to suicide. When he leaves for Mexico Edna is alone and understands how much Robert was a part of her life for she was, "under the spell of her infatuation . . . The thought of him was like an obsession, ever pressing itself upon her . . . It was his being, his existence, which dominated her thought" (73). Robert leaves for good because he does not want to rune her marriage. Edna realizes that no matter how much power and independence she gained, life was not worth living if Robert, who was the one who helped her change in the first place, was not there to share it with.