Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, is about a young woman, Edna Pontellier, who is full of dreams and emotions. She is married to Leonce Pontellier, who is a successful businessman. Their marriage is an amicable but loveless one. The story opens at Grand Isle, a summer home where Edna meets Robert Lebrun. Mr. Lebrun gives her his attention and affection and she finds herself falling in love with him. He awakens within her a desire for independence and individuality. When Robert realizes that he loves Edna, a married woman, he leaves for Mexico to distance himself from her. His departure pushes Edna into a type of identity crisis from which she never really recovers. While Edna does not behave as a traditional woman would in those times, I cannot help but admire her bravery in standing up for her own desires and ambitions. She demonstrates her bravery early by defying her father and marrying Leonce. Later in life, she dares to look deep within her spirit to determine the type of woman she really was, facing all her doubts and imperfections. Once she came to self-realization, Edna had the courage to act on her own desires regardless of the consequences. Ultimately, her need to control her own destiny drove her to her final brave act, her own suicide.
             The reader first encounters Edna's bravery and defiance upon the mention of the boldness of Edna's marriage to Leonce. As the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, Edna's marriage to a Catholic Creole was a constant annoyance to her family. Instead of finding this troubling, Edna felt that this "violent opposition of her father and her sister" added to her desire to marry Leonce (Chopin 533).
             Edna exhibits a great deal of courage when she chooses to look deep into her soul and discover the person inside. She spent a lot of time contemplating who she really was. Not what society expected, or what her labels mandated, but what her values, d...