Kate Chopin’s Novel the Awakening

In Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, she showed that Edna was confined to society by the expectations of those around her. Her want for independence exemplifies how Edna knows that her life is much more than what she is confined to. Her need for an important, meaningful connection is something that she looks for throughout the entire novel, but she realizes that without a connection there is no such thing as being dependent, and because of that, the way society looks at her she knows that the only way to love is to be dependent on another. Throughout the novel, Edna’s desires transform from a want for independence to a urning for meaningful connection. Due to the society in which Edna belongs, there can be no connection without dependence due to society's stifling of women and rigid social constructs.

During the Nineteenth Century, it was very hard for a women to stand up for themselves and be an independent women. They were oppressed by the male dominant figure in their lives; Edna Pontellier had to live up to the expectations of Nineteenth Century women and conform to a society in which she did not want to live. Most women in this century would have worshiped their children. In fact, the main purpose of a women in the Nineteenth Century was to take care of their children. Edna was different. Edna loved her children, she “would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself. I can't make it more clear; it's only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me "(Chopin 11). Most women would have given everything to their children including themselves, but she would not, she could not because if she did then she would have joined society and she was different, she did not want to be like the rest of them. “Although she does not hover over her children or live every waking moment solely dedicated to them, she attends to their needs and repeatedly shows her affection for them” (Ewell 1). She had loved her children very much and even though it seemed like she neglected her children and would rather get rid of them than spend time with them, she did her job as a mother as best she could due to her circumstances.

Not much was easy for Edna. She was very unhappy in her marriage to Leonce Pontellier. She would often leave the house and go for walks down to the beach with her good friend Adele. One afternoon while they went to the beach she had realized that

“Her marriage to Leonce Pontellier was purely an accident, in this respect resembling many other marriages which masquerade as the decrees of Fate...Add to this the violent opposition of her father and her sister Margaret to her marriage with a Catholic, and we need seek no further for the motives which led her to accept Monsieur Pontellier for her husband” (Chopin 35).

Edna did not know what she was getting herself into by marrying Leonce. She was young and thought she was in love, but in actuality she was not. Her father and her sister also pressured her and convinced her that her best choice was to mary this wealthy, high class, elite man, so she listened and did just that. Her thought process was compromised by the influence of those around her. Leonce frequently got mad at Edna for not spending time with the children, or not being a good enough mother to them when he was barely home and came home late most nights. His ideal wife would have been taking care of the children and being there for him when he needed her. And most of the time, once they were married they became the property of their husband and their entire life up until that point was forgotten.

Edna’s life was much different than most during the Nineteenth Century. Although she did have a husband, not one that cared much for her and her not so much for him, she found a new love. One that she could be reliant on, one that she actually truly loved, and one that believed in her and wanted her to succeed. Robert Lebrun was a like breath of fresh air for Edna. He loved her for her and did not just want or need her to have children, take care of the children and more. Edna went with Robert to Grand Isles, the island where she learned to swim, and where she fell in love with him. That summer she knew that she could not live without Robert and knew that she was whole heartedly in love with him. It was that summer when she learned to swim that she wanted to be an independent and be a strong women. It was as if “A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before” (Chopin 46). Without Robert and her and her family going to Grand Isles she would have never learned and figured out how much of an independent woman she was and how much she truly did love Robert.

Once Edna had met Robert, she knew there was an instant connection, but then realized she had something much more to worry about. She was still married to Leonce and she had no way out, unless he had filed for a divorce, but he would have never done that. For him to file for a divorce in Nineteenth Century England was extremely hard. “Divorce was granted by Parliament only for adultery. Wives could only initiate a divorce Bill if the adultery was compounded by life-threatening cruelty. Because of the high costs, only the wealthy could afford this method of ending a marriage” (Obtaining a Divorce 1). Edna could not afford to get a divorce from Leonce and if she did then she would have had nothing and Leonce, who did not know about the affair, would not have filed for a divorce because he truly loved her.

Soon after Robert leaves to go back to New Orleans, Edna realizes that she needs Robert and a source