The Awakening: Portrayal of Women in 19th Century

To begin, a constant theme in this novella is 19th-century gender norms for women. The strictness of these social standards caused Edna to rebel. Women of this time were expected to be the perfect wife and loving mother. They were under pressure to always obey their husband and listen to the demands of society. This was especially the case in situations of wealthy households. Etiquette contributed a lot to the social conventions of the time. In the 19th century, social rules for women were restrictive for the limited freedom and choice they gave. Etiquette was vital for a member of the wealthy society, serving as a device to measure class.

In order to try to maintain social status for her family, Edna follows traditional etiquette for the time. Due to her wealthy marriage, Edna Pontellier is absorbed into the rich society of New Orleans. Throughout the course of the novella, Edna struggles to find fulfillment in her life. She is not completely devoted to her husband and her children but instead finds herself misplaced in her female role since she is constantly failing as a housewife and mother to her children. With the realization that she is failing as a “mother-woman” and that in her marriage to Leonce she can never be a “modern woman”, Edna finds that she has only one choice left and that is to break free from her patriarchal role and embark on emancipation. Until this point, Edna has done what she felt was expected of her since childhood. She had been conditioned by her father to follow the rules of patriarchal society and had accepted her position as a wife and mother. Her failure to marry a man interested in a marriage of equality has made her believe that it would be easier to simply conform. But she neither can nor will conform to her husband’s will any more. What has happened is that she sees herself acting just like the many mother-women residing on Grande Isle that summer, taking care of husband and children, and she does not like what she sees. She feels pity for these women and their ability to totally efface themselves. Edna therefore finds surprisingly that she must resist for the first time, she is really defying her husband, just like she once defied her father by marrying a man he did not approve of. She again feels the need to be the kind of woman that she chooses to be, and feels that reality is again coming back to her as she awakens.

To conclude, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening portrays a woman that struggles to find her female role in the 19th century  American south. Edna’s search is filled with hurdles and confusion. Her first hurdle is her upbringing which taught her that a woman’s place is below the man and that the patriarchal rules must be followed. She has a hard time accepting that she is meant to be the possession of husband and children and that she cannot be a person with her own ideas and desires. However, she has a big part in why she ends up in the role of the “mother-woman”. Her own impulsive, dreamy and somewhat childish ways obstruct her from thinking rationally and realistically. Edna, therefore, finds herself in a female role which she resents, being everything she tried to avoid. Having no other choice than to push reality aside she becomes very unhappy. When she can no longer ignore her unhappiness she starts to awaken. The portrayal of this young woman’s search for a new female identity is filled with realizations.