growaw Growth of Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopins The Awakening :: Chopin Awakening Essays

The Growth of Edna in The Awakening In Kate Chopins novel The Awakening, Edna Pontellier is forced to filter to fit in with everyone and everything around her. Born and raised in Kentucky, Edna is utilise to the Southern society, but when she marries Leonce Pontellier, a Catholic and a Creole, and moves to Louisiana with him, her environment change a with child(p) deal. This makes her feel extremely uncomfortable and wooly she feels as though she has lost her identity along with a slap-up deal of her pleasure. In order to regain this identity and to try to follow out who she truly is, Edna tries her difficultest to conform to the Creole society. Though Edna tries extremely hard to accept this Creole society as her own and to become luck of it in order to claim her identity, she fails to find both her true happiness and her identity, which, in turn, causes her to commit suicide. A great deal of Ednas unhappiness is overdue to the fact that her husband is very firm with her , he treats her with a great deal of authority and coercion, as is requested by Ednas father, and he potently believes that she should conform to the Creole society. In accordance with society, Leonce believes that Edna should be the stereotypical homemaker who does everything she possibly can for her husband and her children. However, when Edna does something that contradicts this well-established Creole social code, Leonce reveals his disappointment. For example, when Edna is sunbathing at the strand on Grand Isle, her husband approaches her and says, What folly to bathe at such(prenominal) an hour in such heat You are burnt beyond recognition. Kate Chopin adds that Mr. Pontellier olfactions at his wife as one looks at a worthy piece of property which has suffered some damage. Over time, the negative attitude that Leonce has toward Edna causes her to look for security, happiness, and love in other people and places. It is then that she meets, and eventually fall in love wi th, Robert Lebrun. Throughout the novel, Edna encounters many awakenings of her own. One very epochal awakening occurs when she recognizes her unrequited love for Robert Lebrun. Edna realizes that Leonce no longer matters to her and that she would be such(prenominal) happier if she were with Robert. Thus, Robert becomes the one person and the virtually unattainable goal Edna lives for consequently, when he at long last leaves her, she is devastated.