In Erik Margraf’s essay on The Awakening, he points out that naturalistic writers frequently “focused their attention on heredity and environment respectively as the primary forces that determine the individual. ” This emphasis in part on environment is a major theme in three texts that have female protagonists—The Awakening by Kate Chopin, “The Yellow Wallpaper” … Read more
The Awakening: Literary Criticism Summaries. In Cynthia Griffin Wolff’s analysis of the novel The Awakening, Wolff identifies Edna’s struggle with sexual identity, and exploits in conveying her experience of displaying primitive behaviors, through utilization of Freudian psycho analysis. Wolff further supports her thesis through utilization of literary and cultural analysis. It is argued that her … Read more
In Kate Chopin’s book The Awakening, the title holds a significant but complex meaning. Throughout the book, the main character, Edna Pontellier, experiences various awakenings in different ways; she has an awakening of herself as an artist when she tries to paint, a realisation that she can appreciate music, a realisation of what love is, … Read more
In the last half of the nineteenth century, Victorian ideals still held sway in American society, at least among members of the middle and upper classes. Thus the cult of True Womanhood was still promoted which preached four cardinal virtues for women: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Women were considered far more religious than men … Read more
The novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin tells the story of a woman who is married and has an awaking of her true feelings. The situation is very complex and Edna cannot handle the complexity of it. In the end she commits suicide. The novel The Awakening by Edna is described as a woman who … Read more
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 current women of society, and the Grand Isle make it evident that Edna is trapped in a patriarchal society. Despite these people, … Read more
I believe that Kate Chopin, author of The Awakening, uses the plot, characters, setting, and the themes in order to get your point of view across to the reader. Each one of these elements makes the story easier to understand through Chopin’s use of them. The plot is needed in order for it just to … Read more
In all novels the use of symbols are what make the story feel so real to the reader. A symbol as simple as a bird can mean so much more then what you see. Whereas a symbol as complicated as the sea, can mean so much less then what you thought. It is a person … Read more
Kate Chopin underscores the expression “free as a bird” in the novel The Awakening through the consistent use of aviary symbolism. Throughout the story she cleverly weaves images and descriptions of birds to express the psychological state of mind of her main character, Edna Pontellier. Perhaps the most obvious example of this symbolism is in … Read more
“The boundaries which divide Life and Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where one ends, and where the other begins?” Edgar Allan Poe, The Premature Burial (Bartlett, 642). To venture into the world of Edgar Allan Poe is to embark on a journey to a land filled with perversities of the … Read more