Critical Analysis The Awakening By Kate Chopin

The Awakening by Kate Chopin illustrates life dilemmas of women throughout the late nineteenth century. Period of time in the history that has many similarities to the position of women is society these days. While in our culture we have taken big steps toward changing the stereotypes, there is still a large groupe of people that believe a woman's place is in the home, taking care of her children and pleasing her husband. These beliefs are at the centre of inequality both then and now. The main character lives through inequality having options available to her, but she always had to consider what those choices and speaking about them openly will do to her socially.

The novel "The Awakening" focuses on Edna Pontellier, the twenty-eight year-old women struggling with the constraints that society has placed on her. The innovative shows Edna's gender building by the humanity that she lives in, based on Chopin's portrayal of her in the innovative endeavouring to obtain self-reliance and command over her life in a humanity where she is expected to have none. Women like this are looked upon badly in a society that anticipates a woman to be a good mother and wife, not anything more or less. When she breaks these rules her husband thinks that she might have a mental illness, but Chopin in the novel points out that what he doesn't realize is that "Edna was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world".

Edna is not striving towards the equality of genders, but rather with her own sexuality, and the problems that she faces in society because of that sexuality (Walker p78). Sexuality is natural because it deals with sentiments that we will not control. These sentiments come naturally to all human beings and are very hard to repress. Gender is conceived by society. Society imposes directions on women that notify them what acceptable demeanour is. These directions are passed down through generations and take a long time to considerably change.

Realizing that she is still shackled to societal anticipations, she withdraws to impressive Isle to clear her mind. As she stands by the ocean where she first learned to bathe, she observers a broken winged bird smash into into the surf. As she strolls into the water she "understood now clearly what she had intended long before when she said to Adele Ratignolle that she would give up her life, but she would not ever forfeit herself for her young kids" (p155). In her mind, by staying miserably wed to Leonce would be betraying herself by forfeiting herself for the sake of her children. As she swims out far into the sea, she reminisces of her childhood. Then she conceives about Robert and how he never understood her, and probably never will. As exhaustion takes over, she surrenders herself into the ocean.

Edna's death is an proceed of her proposal to the power of ...