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Essays on The Awakening

Prompt examples for "the awakening" essays, edna pontellier's awakening.

Discuss the process of Edna Pontellier's awakening to her own desires and independence in "The Awakening." How does she evolve throughout the novel, and what factors contribute to her transformation?

Gender Roles and Societal Expectations

Analyze the role of gender roles and societal expectations in the novel. How do the constraints of late 19th-century society limit the choices available to women like Edna, and how does she challenge these norms?

Symbolism of the Sea

Examine the symbolism of the sea in "The Awakening." How does the ocean represent freedom, escape, and self-discovery for Edna? Discuss its role as both a liberating and destructive force in her life.

Sexuality and Desire

Discuss the themes of sexuality and desire in the novel. How do Edna's romantic entanglements and affairs reflect her growing awareness of her own desires? Analyze the consequences of her pursuit of passion.

Motherhood and Identity

Explore the theme of motherhood and its impact on Edna's identity. How does her role as a mother, particularly in contrast to her friend Adele Ratignolle, influence her choices and self-perception? Discuss the tension between maternal responsibilities and personal aspirations.

The Ending and Its Interpretations

Analyze the ending of the novel and the various interpretations of Edna's fate. Do you believe her actions at the end of the story represent a triumph of self-discovery or a tragic outcome? Explore the ambiguity of the ending.

Conformity in The Awakening

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Analysis of The Awakening by Kate Chopin

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A Mother-woman Role in The Awakening by Kate Chopin

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The Awakening

59 pages • 1 hour read

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-9

Chapters 10-14

Chapters 15-19

Chapters 20-24

Chapters 25-29

Chapters 30-35

Chapters 36-39

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

How do themes of solitude, independence, and identity, apart from husband and children , connect with Chopin’s own life? Do they echo or contradict it? 

Do the issues of gender and marriage brought up in The Awakening seem outdated to you, or do they remain just as relevant today? 

Compare the story of Edna’s awakening with some other female characters in terms of their transformation. How is Edna different from them? How does their social status influence their struggle for independence?

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The Awakening

Kate chopin, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Kate Chopin's The Awakening . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Awakening: Introduction

The awakening: plot summary, the awakening: detailed summary & analysis, the awakening: themes, the awakening: quotes, the awakening: characters, the awakening: symbols, the awakening: literary devices, the awakening: quizzes, the awakening: theme wheel, brief biography of kate chopin.

Historical Context of The Awakening

Other books related to the awakening.

• Full Title: The Awakening
• When Written: between 1897 and 1899
• Where Written: St. Louis, Missouri.
• When Published: 1899
• Literary Period: late Victorian
• Genre: Bildungsroman , a novel tracing a young person’s emotional and intellectual maturation.
• Setting: Grand Isle and New Orleans in the late 19th century.
• Climax: There are several potential climaxes in the story. One could choose the night Mademoiselle Reisz’s music moves Edna to tears; her first kiss with Arobin; or her last, fatal swim.
• Point of View: Third person.

Extra Credit for The Awakening

Divorce in the Family. Kate Chopin’s great-great-grandmother was the first woman in Mississippi to legally separate from her husband. She went on to raise five children and run a successful shipping business.

Fame After Death. Female desire and nonconformism were so taboo in turn-of-the-century Louisiana that The Awakening was largely forgotten after its publication; Chopin herself died in disgrace. Not until the 1960s did critics recognize Chopin’s last novel as a canonical work of literature.

The Awakening

By kate chopin, the awakening study guide.

The Awakening was published in 1899, and it immediately created a controversy. Kate Chopin 's contemporaries were shocked by her depiction of a woman with active sexual desires, who dares to leave her husband and have an affair. Instead of condemning her protagonist, Chopin maintains a neutral, non-judgmental tone throughout and appears to even condone her character's unconventional actions. Kate Chopin was socially ostracized after the publication of her novel, which was almost forgotten until the second half of the twentieth century.

The Awakening is often considered in association with one of three distinct movements: the local-color movement, naturalism, and modern-day feminism. The local-color movement was a literary movement popular during the 1890s. Local-color writers focused on a particular region of the United States and tried to recreate its culture, dialect, and customs in minute detail. At this time, the United States was still very fragmented culturally, and local-colorists wanted to convey the "quaintness" of a minority culture to mainstream American society. The Awakening portrays the Creole culture of Louisiana in vivid detail, and other of Chopin's fictional works deal with this area of the country.

Naturalism is another turn-of-the-century literary movement. In naturalist writing, characters' motivations are strongly influenced by their environment, frequently in negative ways. Characters behave in a certain way because their environment has a direct affect on how they view the world, themselves, and other people. Naturalist writers tried to convey the grim reality of life, often with particular attention to crime, poverty, and moral vice. The Awakening is often associated with American naturalist writing because of the profound effect that the ocean has on Edna Pontellier 's interiority.

Finally, The Awakening has been reclaimed by late twentieth-century theorists who see Edna Pontellier as the prototypical feminist. A woman before her time, Edna questions the institution of marriage, has sexual desires of her own, and becomes completely independent of her husband.

The Awakening Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Awakening is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Who returns on page 102

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The Awakening Chapter 16 Help

I think this is part of the nonconformist theme of the book. Edna embarks on a path of emotional, intellectual, and sexual awakening after spending a very pleasant summer with her young admirer, Robert Lebrun. In trying to gain a sense of herself...

The sea is wild cold and limitless: Edna plunged and swam about with an abandon that thrilled and invigorated her.

Study Guide for The Awakening

The Awakening study guide contains a biography of Kate Chopin, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Awakening
• The Awakening Summary
• Character List
• Chapters 1-3 Summary and Analysis
• Related Links

Essays for The Awakening

The Awakening literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Awakening.

• Morality and Self-sacrifice
• Symbol of Clothing
• The Only Ending for Edna in The Awakening
• Womanhood in The Awakening and The Yellow Wall-Paper
• The Open Sea: The Centrality of Ambiguity in Kate Chopin's The Awakening

Lesson Plan for The Awakening

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Awakening
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• The Awakening Bibliography

E-Text of The Awakening

The Awakening E-Text contains the full text of The Awakening

• Chapters 1-3
• Chapters 4-6
• Chapters 7-9
• Chapters 10-12
• Chapters 13-15

Wikipedia Entries for The Awakening

• Introduction
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Naturalism in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin Essay

Naturalism in “the awakening”, feminist perspectives, works cited.

In literature, the naturalism movement grew as an offshoot of realism, which focused on the real over and above the incredible. However, naturalism was regarded as a more pessimistic movement that stressed the helplessness of man over nature, and it’s surrounded. To its adherents, the man was a slave to his instincts, so his actions were affected mainly by them. In the book “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, a number of issues will be identified that demonstrate the naturalist movement.

The author of this novel was more of a naturalist than of a realist, and she was very bold in writing this book because, during her time, it was unthinkable for a woman to be sexually expressive or even for her to leave her family to pursue her passions as depicted in the novel. In fact, the reactions against this book were so strong that they caused the author to be ostracized from her society. It was only after a couple of decades that everyone remembered the writing and saw the beauty inherent in it.

In the novel, the protagonist is well aware that society disregards her and her kind. To the male species, she is nothing more than a piece of property that can be handed down from one man to the next. Even after leaving her husband for Robert, Edna soon realizes that his perceptions of her are just the same as her husband.

This kind of helplessness that she possesses against her environment or her society is quite typical of naturalist literature. In naturalism, man is controlled by forces beyond him, and this is exactly what is being suggested in “The Awakening”. Even her efforts to question this way of life bear no fruit as the novel ends with no firm resolution of the matter.

As is clear from the analysis essay on naturalism, in the book, she wonders why no one seems to enjoy any rights except for children. Hence, she needs to be left alone in the process of resolving this matter (Chopin, 171). To some extent, Edna can be viewed as the tragic heroine in a naturalist novel.

She goes through so much, and when she cannot take it anymore, this lady ends her life. Suicidal ends are among typical characteristics of naturalism because they were aimed at striking a chord with readers who needed to identify with the helplessness of the characters in pieces.

In the novel, it is common to find that the protagonist is always struggling with issues of solitude, longing, and passion, which are all characteristic features of naturalism. This is especially visible when Edna listens to music, which controls her and takes over her mind. She is overwhelmed by these feelings and realizes that it is almost impossible to stop the tears from coming out of her. At some point, she nearly chokes as a result of these sentiments. (Chopin, 72).

The wave of naturalism was synonymous with a focus on personal feelings, as seen in many other parts of the book (Pitzer, 45). What is sad is that the author cannot feel any sense of hope or hopelessness after hearing the music; the only thing it does for her is it causes her to realize that she can feel and respond to something other than her pain or her feelings in life.

The entire book is indeed a demonstration of how humans tend to be slaves to their sentiments. Edna is a person who seems to lack strong will power. She is not bold enough to alter all the challenges she has gone through, and even when it appears as though she is fighting these values, the story later reveals that her acts were fruitless.

In terms of society’s expectations for women, the novel propagates yet another naturalist agenda. Here, readers are introduced to two very distinct women: Adele and Edna. One would be tempted to think that the state of affairs in that Victorian society was so biased against the women that only the rebellious ones would survive.

However, as one soon finds out, this was clearly not the best path to follow for those concerned. This society did not favor free expression amongst women, and neither did it tolerate sexual freedom. Edna chose to go about this in an abrasive and confrontational manner, a decision that costs her life.

On the other hand, Adele chooses to go about this differently. She has done this by remaining chaste to her husband while still expressing her sexuality freely. In other words, finding peace is only made possible when females embrace faithfulness rather than resisting it. Furthermore, it is possible to communicate and express oneself openly, just as Adele did when she played by the rules.

This sharp contrast, therefore, illustrates that females were not free to do as they pleased but could get some degree of freedom if they played by the rules. Fleissner (238) explains that it is sometimes possible to break away from convention when one took on the stand that Adele did. However, this only proves that society is restrictive and that one can never really enjoy their free will.

Once again, this propagates typical naturalist ideals. In fact, it can be argued that the ‘awakening’ discussion in this book occurs when the protagonist realizes that she must be careful about what she says. The awakening is not in finding what needs to be said but in finding the things that must be kept under a lid (Fleissner 239). Thus, realism in “The Awakening” is not evident.

Edna does not find her voice, as is the case in particular romantic literature. Instead, she finds out what she cannot utter. The best depiction of this occurs when she fails to find the right words to explain to the doctor why she had to leave her children.

In this sense, she cannot say certain things to him as convention dictates. Overly, this society is one in which the self must be negated and forgotten to gain an identity as a mother. Adele was able to tap into the happiness and freedom of expression that her kind can enjoy only when she canceled out her wishes and needs. Thus, the book has an evident theme of feminism.

This author was responsible for portraying naturalism in “The Awakening” because this movement tended to focus more on the moral vice. The author appears to tolerate moral vice even at a time when her society could not fathom it. She stresses individual needs and also talks about sexual freedom or freedom to communicate, especially as a woman. She brings out the frustration of not having control over one’s environment.

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. NY: Bantam classic, 1981

Pitzer, Michael. Two approaches to the concept of naturalism. Carbondale: University of Southern Illionois, 1966

The Rhythm Method: Unmothering the Race in Chopin, Grimke, and Stein” by Jennifer Fleissner, in Women, Compulsion, Modernity, excerpt on Chopin, 233-244

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IvyPanda. (2020, July 21). Naturalism in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. https://ivypanda.com/essays/naturalism-in-the-awakening/

"Naturalism in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin." IvyPanda , 21 July 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/naturalism-in-the-awakening/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Naturalism in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin'. 21 July.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Naturalism in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin." July 21, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/naturalism-in-the-awakening/.

1. IvyPanda . "Naturalism in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin." July 21, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/naturalism-in-the-awakening/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Naturalism in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin." July 21, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/naturalism-in-the-awakening/.

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New Essays on The Awakening (The American Novel) First Edition

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• ISBN-10 0521314453
• ISBN-13 978-0521314459
• Edition First Edition
• Publisher Cambridge University Press
• Publication date July 29, 1988
• Language English
• Dimensions 5.5 x 0.41 x 8.5 inches
• Print length 164 pages
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

Book description, from the back cover.

When "The Awakening" was first published in 1899 it was an extraordinarily controversial book. One of the first American novels to concern itself with themes of adultery and divorce, it was widely attacked as "vulgar" and "unhealthy." In her introduction to this collection, Wendy Martin discusses the historical background of the novel and analyzes the heroine's evolution from a role of traditional femininity to one of autonomous individualism. The essays the follow--by Elaine Showalter, Michael Gilmore, Andrew Delbanco, and Cristina Giorcelli--explore other central themes of the novel, as well as locating Chopin in the tradition of American women novelists and discussing her status as a pre-modernist writer.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; First Edition (July 29, 1988)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 164 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0521314453
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0521314459
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.41 x 8.5 inches
• #2,196 in American Literature (Books)
• #13,385 in American Literature Criticism
• #31,151 in Literary Criticism & Theory

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English literature essays, kate chopin's the awakening.

A study of the extent to which Edna Pontellier marks a departure from the female characters of earlier nineteenth-century American novels

by Emma Jones

The Awakening was published in 1899, and it immediately created a controversy. Contemporaries of Kate Chopin (1851-1904) were shocked by her depiction of a woman with active sexual desires, who dares to leave her husband and have an affair. Instead of condemning her protagonist, Chopin maintains a neutral, non-judgmental tone throughout and appears to even condone her character's unconventional actions. Kate Chopin was socially ostracised after the publication of her novel, which was almost forgotten until the second half of the twentieth century. The Awakening has been reclaimed by late twentieth-century theorists who see Edna Pontellier as the prototypical feminist. A woman before her time, Edna questions the institution of marriage, (at one point she describes a wedding as 'one of the most lamentable spectacles on earth') [1] has sexual desires of her own, and becomes completely independent of her husband. The central purpose of this essay is to assess to what extent the figure of Edna Pontellier marks a departure from the female characters of earlier nineteenth-century American novels, such as the character of Hester Prynne, of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter , Cora Munro from James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans , and the unnamed protagonist (and narrator) of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper . How does society, and its effect on women change throughout nineteenth-century American literature? Society of the nineteenth-century gave a heightened meaning to what it means to be a woman. According to the commonly known 'code of true womanhood', women were supposed to be docile, domestic creatures, whose main concerns in life were to be the raising of their children and submissiveness to their husbands. Kate Chopin's The Awakening and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper capture, in their respective works, two women who have turned down these expected roles, and, consequently, suffer because of it. The husbands of these women, entirely because they stand to represent patriarchal society, are a great deal to blame for the "condition" of their wives. In the first scene of The Awakening , after being scolded by her husband about not being a good mother, Edna responds by crying, and later with defiance, refusing to come in to sleep, according to her husband's wishes. This behaviour, as well as the journey into the sea at the end of the novel suggests that she has become awakened to the oppressive nature of her husband, and that of the institution of marriage in general. The very act of Edna's struggle, her resistance, suggests her awareness that there is a way of speaking and thinking that will accurately reflect her desires, her worldview and her 'self'. She muses on the gap between what she feels and what society decrees must be:

The Yellow Wallpaper is a story which shows the anatomy of an oppressive marriage. Simply because the narrator does not cherish the joys of married life and motherhood, and therefore, is in violation of the rigid code of true womanhood, she is classified with a nervous condition, and sentenced to passivity. Under the cover story, the compliance of a woman to her husband, is the story of a heroine rebelling against the social constructs that deny her. In The Awakening , Edna Pontellier also rebels against the social constructs that confine her, especially the notion of 'true womanhood'. She tells Robert:

This outburst tells us how Edna predicts the society around her will react to her ability, and need, to express her feelings, and relate her thoughts to others. The opinions of others are of little concern to Edna. She refuses to change herself in order to fit into the restrictive mould that society has created for her. The novel is an account of Edna's rite de passage - her movement out of ignorance into knowledge - the account of her quest to discover self; the moment when she begins to loosen and unfetter all her repressed desires. It is interesting to compare the character of Edna with that of Cora Munro, from The Last of the Mohicans . Cora is the elder sister of Alice, and the voice of reason and strength. She is one of the most admirable characters, with a mothering, selfless nature that cares only to keep her sister safe. Cora's relationship with Alice demonstrates a distinct mother-daughter pattern that manifests itself in every interaction between the two women. Throughout the novel, Cora continuously hides her sister's face in her bosom as an indication of undying protection from the ravages of the American frontier. Alice depends on Cora as her champion and defender, but, most unmistakably as a mother figure. When Alice shows doubt and fear, Cora immediately rushes to protect and soothe her. Cooper writes:

Her motherly feelings towards Alice verge on the saintly; Cora often rises above common human sensibility and takes on the role of a martyr in the manner that a mother would for her child. Edna, on the other hand, neglects her children throughout the novel. She sees them as a hindrance to her freedom, feels "relief" when they are away and irresponsibly leaves them in the care of the pregnant Madame Ratignolle so that she can be with Robert. She almost seems to have an 'out of sight, out of mind' attitude when it comes to her children. In a significant conversation with her friend Adele Ratignolle, Edna declares:

Edna is unwilling to give up her individuality for her children, although she would give her life for them. She finds it difficult to express how she feels about this, she seems unable to put her finger on it, which reminds of us a novel written by Betty Friedan, about "the problem that has no name" [6] which confined women to the sphere of domesticity and consequently, an unbearable feeling of emptiness. Edna is not satisfied with devoting her life to her husband and children, she craves more, she needs to be her own person. She wants to be Edna, a woman, instead of merely a mother, or a wife. Whereas, in The Last of the Mohicans (published in 1826), it is implied that a maternal nature is instinctive to women, even, in the case of Cora, when the younger dependent is not actually one's offspring. Cora is willing to do anything for Alice, yet there are things that Edna would not do for her children. Cora reinforces the stereotype of the doting mother, whereas Edna refuses to conform, and questions the codes of the society in which she lives. Somewhere in between these two extremes lies the character of Hester Prynne, protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter . The novel, which was published in 1850, yet set in seventeenth-century Puritan New England, tells the story of Hester, an adulterous woman who is punished for her 'crime' by being made to wear a scarlet letter 'A' on her bosom. Hester harboured an intense love for her child Pearl although the child's mischievous and imp-like qualities brought nothing but pain to the child's mother. This is demonstrated as Hester, after having her talents as a seamstress publicised, began to change the attire of her family. For example,

This demonstrates that although Hester herself would dress only plainly in order to redeem her lost purity, she wished to make her child stand out. She had such an intense love for the child that she wanted only the absolute best for Pearl. Also, Hester was simply astounded and horrified at the idea of Pearl being taken away from her when this question was brought to the governor. This is demonstrated in the lines,

Hester's speech demonstrated that her only true reason for life was the child, and that if that the one richness of her life was devoured by Puritan thought and society, she would have lost all. Her child was her heart, love, and life. It was all that she had left to lose, and she would do anything to protect her Pearl. Hester seems to love Pearl to a greater degree than Edna loved her children, and in that respect, in her devotion to little Pearl, Hester could be seen as fitting the mould of a stereotypically 'true woman' more accurately than Edna does. Yet Hester does not fit this mould perfectly. There is the obvious discrepancy of her adulterous affair with Reverend Dimmesdale, but Hester also secretly disobeyed the codes of her society by harbouring visionary thoughts:

These forbidden thoughts were of social reform, especially concerned with the role of women in society. Hester believes that,

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• Jennifer Maiden: The Winter Baby
• Ian McEwan: The Cement Garden
• Toni Morrison: Beloved and Jazz
• R K Narayan's vision of life
• R K Narayan: The English Teacher
• R K Narayan: The Guide
• Brian Patten
• Harold Pinter
• Sylvia Plath and Alice Walker
• Alexander Pope: The Rape of the Lock
• Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea. Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre: Doubles
• Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea. Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre: Symbolism
• Shakespeare: Twelfth Night
• Shakespeare: Hamlet
• Shakespeare: Shakespeare's Women
• Shakespeare: Measure for Measure
• Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra
• Shakespeare: Coriolanus
• Shakespeare: The Winter's Tale and The Tempest
• Sir Philip Sidney: Astrophil and Stella
• Edmund Spenser: The Faerie Queene
• Tom Stoppard
• William Styron: Sophie's Choice
• William Wordsworth
• William Wordsworth and Lucy
• Studying English Literature
• The author, the text, and the reader
• What is literary writing?
• Indian women's writing
• Renaissance tragedy and investigator heroes
• Renaissance poetry
• The Age of Reason
• Romanticism
• New York! New York!
• Alice, Harry Potter and the computer game
• The Spy in the Computer
• Photography and the New Native American Aesthetic

The Awakening Critical Analysis Essay

Caught in a Wake of Illusions To remain, or not to remain: that is the question. In The Awakening, a novella by Kate Chopin, the main character, Edna, explores the depth of this question as she awakens from her blind submission to society’s demands. Realizing for the first time in her life that she is trapped in a box culturally deemed appropriate for women, she struggles to break free and pursue individuality. In the processes of trying to find herself, she sacrifices society’s approval, her husband’s desires, her home, and her social standing.

Reflecting on her life Edna says, “Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life. ” These lines encompass the overarching moral of the story and emphasize that the self-awareness and wisdom that come with awakening are far more important than any comforts ignorance might provide. Therefore, it is crucial that individuals understand the implications and sacrifices involved in both yielding to and refusing social conformity. Remaining conformed to cultural standards is a sacrifice of independence and uniqueness.

This is most noted when the narrator describes, “In short, [Edna] was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual… How few of us ever emerge from such beginning! How many souls perish in its tumult! ” In other words, it is nearly impossible to come back to life as it’s been after having a taste of freedom because it would require sacrificing one’s individuality. Edna is experiencing a new state of understanding as the narrator describes, “She began to look with her own eyes; to see and to apprehend the deeper undercurrents of life.

No longer was she content to ‘feed upon opinion. ” This indicates that before Edna was awoken she did not have her own identity and merely “fed upon opinion. ” She was brainwashed by society and followed its standards without questioning. This need to sacrifice independence to seek culture’s endorsement is a high price to pay. Likewise, pursuing individuality requires sacrificing the approval of others. Once Edna discovers her feelings for Robert and the two of them are on the island she inquires, “How many years have I slept? The whole island seems changed.

A new race of beings must have sprung up, leaving only you and me as past relics. ” This fantasy both reveals Edna’s desire to be alone with Robert and personifies the only circumstance under which the relationship would be possible. Since society would not approve of their love, each of them would have to relinquish their reputation to be with one another. Right before the story ends Edna repeats Robert’s last words which were, “Good-bybecause I love you. ” And she perceives, “[Robert] did not know; he did not understand. He would never understand.

In other words, Robert refuses to be with Edna because he does not realize the importance of sacrifice and is unwilling to give up their society’s conventional traditions. Although the journey toward freedom may stir up desires for that which is unattainable, or even forbidden by society, it does not have to be the moral issue that it was in Edna’s case. Her particular adulterous yearning is simply an example of what could also be a genuine longing to do things unconventionally. Whatever the pursuit may be, going after a sense of eccentricity will elicit forgoing the approval of others.

Furthermore, prioritizing freedom and desiring to break away from authority involves a sacrifice of personal relationships and the risk of alienating loved ones. Edna faces this struggle with her husband, Mr. Pontellier because she feels like he controls her. After her first awakening experience, Edna’s husband demands that she come inside and go to bed and it is noted that, “She wondered if her husband had ever spoken to her like that before, and if she had submitted to his command. Of course she had; she remembered that she had.

But she could not realize why or how she should have yielded, feeling as she then did. This realization that her husband used to control her and Edna’s refusal to continue obeying him demarks the first steps she takes toward taking control of her own life. The second prominent example of blatant disregard for her husband’s wishes is when Edna moves into her own house. No longer wis to live in her husband’s house, she moves to her own as the narrator points out, “The pigeon-house pleased her.

It at once assumed the intimate character of a home, while she herself invested it with a charm… Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual. This validates Edna’s desire to be free from her former life and highlights the fact that she is only able to truly flourish when she is on her own. Sadly, one must be willing to give up relationships in order to fully achieve this sense of independence. At first glance, oblivion’s seductive incentives of peace and tranquility may seem inviting, but upon closer inspection, it becomes evident that living a mundane, robotic existence is artificial and lacks the vivaciousness of life. However, acting upon this realization, or awakening, necessitates giving up society’s approval and separating oneself from loved ones.

Kate Chopin gives an excellent example of these sacrifices in The Awakening, in which Edna must pay the price for removing civilization’s blindfold to establish her own identity. Remaining conformed is a sacrifice of independence, while pursuing individuality and freedom is a sacrifice of relationships and society’s validation. Although Edna must suffer in light of this epiphany, she discovers that the self-cognizance and understanding that accompany an awakening are far more important than the inconsequential luxuries that come from remaining a victim of delusions.

More Essays

• The Awakening Character Analysis Essay
• Awakening by Kate Chopin
• Essay on Theme Of Feminism In The Awakening
• Essay about The Awakening By Kate Chopin: An Analysis
• Great Awakening Dbq Essay
• A Jury Of Her Peers Critical Analysis Essay
• Second Great Awakening: Social Reformers In The Antebellum Era Essay
• The Great Awakening And Jamestown Research Paper
• Critical Analysis Of The Man With No Name Essay
• A Critical Analysis of “A Midsummer Nights Dream”

[Interview] Practical Steps to Embark on Your Spiritual Awakening Journey (feat. Steve Taylor‪)‬ The Dream Catcher Podcast

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Awakening is the greatest adventure we can undertake as human beings. My guest, Steve Taylor, says it’s a voyage of discovery that reveals exhilarating beauty and richness but may also expose us to challenges. As travelers, cultivating certain characteristics and perspectives can make our voyage more fruitful. Today, Steve will guide us on this path of enlightenment. Steve Taylor, PhD, is the author of The Adventure: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Awakening and many other bestselling books. He’s a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University and the chair of the Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society. Steve’s articles and essays have been published in over 100 academic journals, magazines, and newspapers, and he blogs for Scientific American and Psychology Today. In this conversation, Steve offers step-by-step practices for cultivating spiritual awakening and explains its impact on our lives. He touches on the eight essential qualities of wakefulness and how we can integrate those into our daily lives through rituals and practices.

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9 New Books We Recommend This Week

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

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Our recommended books this week include two very different kinds of memoirs — RuPaul’s “The House of Hidden Meanings,” about the drag icon’s childhood and path to superstardom, and Alexandra Fuller’s “Fi,” about the death of her 21-year-old son — as well as a biography of the art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner, a study of Germany’s self-reckoning after World War II, a look at what Abraham Lincoln’s era has in common with ours and a history of baseball in New York.

In fiction, we recommend a romance novel, a twisty detective story about translators on the hunt for a missing author and a stylish story collection from Amor Towles. Happy reading. — Gregory Cowles

FI: A Memoir Alexandra Fuller

In her fifth memoir, Fuller describes the sudden death of her 21-year-old son. Devastating as this elegant and honest account may be — and it’s certainly not for the faint of heart — it also leaves the reader with a sense of having known a lovely and lively young man.

“A sublime writer. … This book is a mesmeric celebration of a boy who died too soon, a mother’s love and her resilience.”

From David Sheff’s review

Grove | $28

WAKE ME MOST WICKEDLY Felicia Grossman

The second of Grossman’s fairy-tale-inspired romances set among Jewish families in Regency London finds the saucy scion of a disgraced family falling for a raven-haired criminal pawnshop owner. Based on “Snow White,” a fairy tale all about trust and betrayal, “Wake Me Most Wickedly” thrives in the space between what people hide and what they reveal.

“Rich and complex and a little discomfiting, this book prefers difficult questions and nuanced truths to comfortable reductions.”

From Olivia Waite’s romance column

Forever | Paperback, $9.99

TABLE FOR TWO: Fictions Amor Towles

Towles, known for his wildly popular books like “A Gentleman in Moscow,” collects six short stories set in New York around the new millennium. There’s also one story set in Golden Age Hollywood, a continuation of his novel “Rules of Civility.”

“There’s more here than high gloss. … Sharp-edged satire deceptively wrapped like a box of Neuhaus chocolates, ‘Table for Two’ is a winner.”

From Hamilton Cain’s review

Viking | $32

THE NEW YORK GAME: Baseball and the Rise of a New City Kevin Baker

What makes New York baseball unique, the novelist and historian argues in this insightful, beautifully crafted narrative — which concludes with the end of World War II — is its role as chronicler of cultural change. Whatever baseball’s roots in cow pastures and small towns, it came of age as an urban game.

“Baseball grew as New York City grew. … One hopes for a second volume from Kevin Baker, every bit as good as this one.”

From David Oshinsky’s review

Knopf | $35

THE EXTINCTION OF IRENA REY Jennifer Croft

Croft is an acclaimed translator, and won the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for her English translation of Olga Tokarczuk’s “Flights.” It seems fitting that her first novel is a detective story following a troupe of translators tracking down their missing author.

“Oh my mushrooms, ‘The Extinction of Irena Rey’ is incredibly strange, savvy, sly and hard to classify. I also couldn’t put it down.”

From Fiona Maazel’s review

Bloomsbury | $28.99

THE HOUSE OF HIDDEN MEANINGS: A Memoir RuPaul

The “Drag Race” superstar has already written three books, but from its black-and-white cover photo onward, this one is serious: A study in self-creation and survival that reveals a striver high on his own supply.

“RuPaul isn’t just famous, glamorous and funny; he’s interesting. … Less a memoir than a prophecy unpacked in reverse.”

From Saeed Jones’s review

Dey Street | $29.99

CHASING BEAUTY: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner Natalie Dykstra

Isabella Stewart Gardner is best known today for the Boston museum that bears her name, but as Dykstra makes clear in her luminous new biography, the Gilded Age doyenne was herself a figure to be reckoned with. A daughter of wealth who married into more, the flamboyant Gardner quickly became the queen of haute bohemia — and in the process, one of America’s most serious collectors. A lively portrait of a moment, a woman and the power of art.

“Astutely situates her subject within Gardner’s growing web of connections. … But its deeper revelations have more to do with Gardner’s emerging attunement to the emotional affirmation to be found in art.”

From Megan O’Grady’s review

Mariner | $37.50

OUT OF THE DARKNESS: The Germans, 1942-2022 Frank Trentmann

Over the past eight decades, the public debates about guilt and suffering in the wake of World War II have structured civil society in Germany. Trentmann tracks the evolution of this moral awakening with a remarkably rich history of the country that runs from the Battle of Stalingrad to the War in Ukraine.

“Recognizes the costs and complexities of the quest for moral security. … As Trentmann captures, the post-1945 transformation has been remarkable.”

From Peter Fritzsche’s review

Knopf | $50

OUR ANCIENT FAITH: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment Allen C. Guelzo

In this beautifully written exploration of Abraham Lincoln’s thoughts on democracy, Guelzo argues that the president, who fought autocratic forces in the South while restricting civil liberties in the North, can help us figure out how to sustain a free society in the face of rising illiberalism today.

“Guelzo points out the ‘uncanny’ similarities between Lincoln’s time and ours. … Reveals the fragility of democracy in such moments. But its precarity can also be a strength.”

From Parker Henry’s review

Knopf | $30

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

Salman Rushdie’s new memoir, “Knife,” addresses the attack that maimed him  in 2022, and pays tribute to his wife who saw him through .

Recent books by Allen Bratton, Daniel Lefferts and Garrard Conley depict gay Christian characters not usually seen in queer literature.

What can fiction tell us about the apocalypse? The writer Ayana Mathis finds unexpected hope in novels of crisis by Ling Ma, Jenny Offill and Jesmyn Ward .

At 28, the poet Tayi Tibble has been hailed as the funny, fresh and immensely skilled voice of a generation in Māori writing .

Amid a surge in book bans, the most challenged books in the United States in 2023 continued to focus on the experiences of L.G.B.T.Q. people or explore themes of race.

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .