The Awakening :: essays research papers

The AwakeningEdna 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 Chopins 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 present-day(prenominal) 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 Ednas 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 orb, 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. Ednas mind was at rest concerning the present material ne eds of her children. Ednas 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 joyless 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 spousal ring from her flick 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 doesnt want, Edna leaves her family while they are absent 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. Ednas affections for her children depend on her mood, a lthough she her put in 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 wouldnt give myself.