Summary on The Awakening by Kate Chopin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary on The Awakening by Kate Chopin - Essay Example The Awakening tells the saga of Edna Pontellier, a married woman and mother of two, who lives in the 18th century Victorian era. During that time, the world in itself was patriarchal and suppressed the species of women altogether, thus not providing women with the chance to neither express themselves, nor even think about their needs and wants. Edna faced similar situation in her life, as she had to conform to the society’s envisioned role for her, and take care of her family rather than acknowledging her needs and desires. However, throughout the book, Edna’s character undergoes significant change and she develops into something more than a mere puppet of the society. Though Edna stops conforming to the general role of women cast by the society, and although she engages in a lot of rebellion, in the end she commits suicide, and it is left for the reader to think of this act as either representative of cowardice or her last rebellion. Edna’s character transforms when she finds herself vacationing with her family in Grand Isle, where she meets different people, each of whom have something new to teach her. Thus, in the process she learns three new languages, namely, verbal, artistic and sexual languages. She learns about the verbal language, that is, expressing herself through words from the Creon women of the place. They make her understand that she need not be frightened to acknowledge her needs and desires as well as to express them. They teach her to be more expressive and in sync with her inner feelings, this develops her character in the sense that she can name, define and further understand every single one of her emotions. In terms of the artistic language, Edna perfectly understands and acknowledges what Mademoiselle Reisz is trying to teach her. She stops associating the latter’s piano playing with mere solitary images that her mind invokes in accordance with the