Kate Chopin's The Awakening

When Kate Chopin published her book, The Awakening, in 1899, she was already a well-known and respected author. However, the story was widely rejected by most critics as scandalous and indecent, specifically in the Chicago Times Herald, in which it was written that “it was not necessary for a writer of so great refinement and poetic grace to enter the over-worked field of sex-fiction." However, this was not because her novel was, in fact, a raunchy and vulgar novel intent on reveling in promiscuity and unfaithfulness. In truth, the book conflicted greatly with the social morals of the 19th century. It questioned the accepted role of wife and mother for women, shone light on the fact that it was not a role which women were all content to live …show more content…
This initial situation serves to show the protagonist, Edna, in a metaphorical sleeping state. She is a woman who has lulled herself into a flat, stagnant state through her life choices, and now finds herself in a marriage devoid of love, and lacking in joy. “Her marriage to Leonce Pontellier was purely an accident, in this respect resembling many other marriages which masquerade as the decrees of Fate.” (Chopin 22). It is the Pontelliers' holiday from everyday work which brings confliction into the uneventful life of Edna. Robert, who represents the freedom which Edna awakes to find she so desires, meets her. Strange though it may seem that the main conflict be introduced in chapter one, as a secondary character, he unwittingly fuels the rise to Edna's rebellion through increasing amount of time he spends with her on the beaches of Grand Isle. She receives swimming lessons, which so symbolically give her the means to leave behind the island on which resides her old life. His love for Edna grows with each success in her abilities, while with each greater success, the less loyalty Edna shows for her husband. Thus, Robert inadvertently encourages Edna's distancing herself from her

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