It is possible to regard The Awakening as a proto-feminist novel which presents women as victims of the inadequate men who surround them and a society which limits their chances to escape from these men. The Awakening not only presents women as victims of inadequate men, but it also portrays stronger women who have both survived through and without the oppressing presence of "inadequate men". Beyond simply showing how society limits a woman's available methods of escape, Chopin explores a means of escape that not only was unacceptable to the society of her time and the society depicted in the novel but was also an extension of the novel's climax. The novel also has symbols throughout the reading that make meaning to the story.
             Edna is portrayed as a repressed woman in the beginning of the novel. Her husband would come and go as he wished, leaving Edna not knowing what she would be doing in the evening. In Chapter I, he "got up, saying he had half a mind to go over to Klein's hotel and play a game of billiards." When asked if he would be returning for an early dinner, he did not know, and a simple shrug conveyed this to his wife, who clearly understood the meaning as though it was commonplace. When Edna mastered the art of swimming for the first time, her joy was spread throughout the group at Grand Isle but stopped at Mr. Pontellier's cold reflections that she was "not so very far." He did not respect her for what she had done, and used the situation to again belittle her into submission. Women were not respected by their husbands. Their inadequacy is not so much stated as implied and hinted. Overall, the actions of men are not a focus in the novel. This reinforces the idea that they play a unimportant role in the day-to-day lives of the women at Grand Isle; only enough to make them more difficult, or to make the men look important. However, Mademoiselle Reisz's role in the novel is of great importance. She ...