Edna's Rebellion In The Awakening

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The Awakening by Kate Chopin, is one of the first novels that introduced feminism and advocated women's rights in the female oppressive society of America in the early 1900s. Edna Pontellier, the protagonist, is no normal woman of her time. The novel is set during an age in which women’s main duties were to care for their children, husband, home, and to follow the social conventions of the time perfectly. During Edna’s awakening, she took a personal and moral journey to learn and understand herself as a human being, who is more than just a “mother-woman”. She eventually comes into conflict with her society’s cultures of the time. The process of Edna’s rebellion was before her time, causing her futuristic ideas and the pressures of her oppressive …show more content…
As stated, in The Awakening, a woman is expected to be a mother and that role should be fulfilling of all her needs. It is clearly demonstrated that a woman who chooses alternative lifestyles and behaviors will shame her husband. …show more content…
An ad was placed in a local paper discussing that the Pontellier's were having renovations completed on their home; thus, entertaining must be put on hold. In this example, a wife is viewed almost as a business asset, or object to put on display for the purpose of entertainment and enjoyment. Possessions were important to men during the Victorian age. The first sign of dissatisfaction is when Edna allows herself to feel that her marriage is unsatisfying, yet she must agree with the other women that Leonce is the perfect husband. Edna asks herself that if she has a good husband. She married Leonce not because she loved him but for two reasons, one of them being that she could not refuse his admiration and persistence. The other reason for Edna’s marriage to a Catholic was to use it as a form of rebellion against her Protestant father. This marriage thrusts Edna into a foreign culture. Edna’s marriage to Leonce also reintroduces her clash with Christianity. She reluctantly attends church and hardly discusses religious matters. Edna's overwhelming need to quit the stifling atmosphere of the church and reach the open air. is symbolic of her increasing disinterest in meeting
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