The Awakening

The Awakening

"Edna began to feel like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities oppressing into her soul." (Pg. 42) In Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening the constant boundaries and restrictions placed on Edna Pontellier by society will lead to her struggle for freedom and her ultimate suicide. Her husband Leonce Pontellier, the current women of society, and the Grand Isle make it evident that Edna is trapped in a patriarchal society.

There are constant boundaries and restrictions imposed on Edna Pontellier that ignite Edna's struggle for freedom. Edna is a young Creole wife and mother in a high-class society. Leonce Pontellier, her husband is declared "...the best husband in the world", while Edna sits and feels unsatisfied with her marriage. Edna did not respect her husband as the other women did. Leonce condemned Edna for neglecting their children. Edna's mind was at rest concerning the present material needs of her children. Edna's thoughts are clouded with her unhappiness, one night she awakes and sits in the night air and cries. She does not know how to explain her crying, but the reader is able to understand that it is because she is unhappy with her life.

Unlike many of the women that Edna is surrounded by she does not worship her husband. In a fit of rage one night she rips her wedding ring from her finger and throws it on the floor. She tries to stomp on it, but her small heel makes not indentation. Later, Edna feels like a child, but the action holds a lot of meaning. A wedding ring is meant to bind two people together through a promise, and Edna wants out of this promise. Determined to leave the life she doesn't want, Edna leaves her family while they are away and rents a small house.

Edna lives with the knowledge that she is not a "woman-mother". Her own husband chides her for not paying more attention to the children. Edna's affections for her children depend on her mood, although she her state of mind always makes clear that she loves them. While talking to a close friend she attempts to explain how far she would go for the sake of her children, "I 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." (Pg. 63) Edna cannot explain how she feels, but she knows that she cannot lose herself to those to whom she is bound.

"The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clearing, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in the abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace." (Pg. 18) The sea is where Edna begins her search for freedom. In the beginning of the novel she is unable to swim, despite practically everyone on the island giving her instruction. However, once she does learn to swim she feels a bit of the freedom she wants. While swimming with a large group of people she breaks away and swims as far as her arms