Awakening In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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The Awakening What is the true meaning of “awakening” and does Edna truly find herself? Throughout the book, there are plenty examples of different kinds of awakenings, from her awakening when she tries to paint, Edna waking up to the realization that she can appreciate music, and to the fact that her life has been unfulfilling up until a certain point. Before Edna starts to discover herself, she is caught between longing to explore herself, than that of the women at Grande Isle at the beginning of the book there is a stereotype of the perfect mother, and how Edna is significantly different from that stereotype. In the quote “They were women who idolized their husbands, and esteemed it a holy, privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.” For Edna this isn’t a fulfilling role and she does seem to love her children but she finds peace and comfort outside of the home within her…show more content…
In the quote “The very first chords which Madamemoiselle Reisz struck at the piano sent a keen tremor down her spine; perhaps it was the first time she was ready, perhaps the first time her being was tempered to take an impress of the abiding truth”. In my opinion Edna has come to the realization of freedom and where she finds happiness in life. The author Kate Chopin also describes Edna Pontellier not as a strong willed or thinking person. For example in the quote “She was like a tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who all of the sudden realizes its power and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with over confidence”. As she swam she seemed to be reaching out for the unlimited or impossible to lose herself in. This tells a lot about the deeper elements of her awakening in my opinion it also foreshadows her suicide because eventually she does lose herself. After this in my opinion she is no longer the old Edna but has sense of
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