Kate Chopin's The Awakening is a work of fiction that tells the
story of Edna Pontellier, Southern wife and mother. This book
presents the reader with many tough questions and few answers. It
is not hard to imagine why this book was banished for decades not
long after its initial publication in 1899. At that time in
history, women did just what they were expected to do. They were
expected to be good daughters, good wives, and good mothers. A
woman was expected to move from the protection of her father's
roof to the protection of her husband. Edna didn't fit this mold,
and that eventually leads her husband to send for a doctor. It is
here that Edna Pontellier says words that define The Awakening, "I
don't want anything but my own way. That is wanting a good deal,
of course, when you have to trample upon the lives, the hearts,
the prejudices of others - but no matter_"
As the book begins, Edna is a married woman who seems vaguely
satisfied with her life. However, she cannot find true happiness.
Her "awakening" begins when a persistent young man named Robert
begins courting her. Edna begins to respond to him with a passion
she hasn't felt before. She begins to realize that she can play
roles other than wife and mother.
Throughout the book Edna takes many steps to increase her
independence. She sends her children away, she refuses to stay at
home on Tuesdays (as was the social convention of the time), she
frequents races and parties. Unfortunately, her independence
proves to be her downfall.
Edna stays married because divorce was unheard of in those days.
She wants to marry Robert, but he will not because it will
disgrace her to leave her husband. No matter how much Edna exceeds
social boundaries, she is held down by the will of others, despite
what she wants. In today's world divorce, sadly, is almost
commonplace, but in her time she would have been an outcast of her
society. By the end of The Awa...