Finding Freedom in Kate Chopins The Awakening :: Chopin Awakening Essays

Finding Freedom in The modify The Awakening was shocking to readers in 1899, and would be today if it were published in Ladies ingleside Journal. Even today, women are expected to sacrifice themselves, if not to their husbands, consequently definitely to their children. I find it interesting that Grand Isle is the backcloth for the beginning and end of the novel. The story is built around a stage set and represents the whirling force that is the energy of Ednas life. The circle reminds me of Yeats The Second approaching Turning and turning in the widening gyre/things fall isolated/the center cannot hold. So often I wanted Edna to act and she didnt, I suppose that it is Chopins purpose to not let us into Ednas thoughts, or make us omniscient of her actions. This was hard for me while reading. I wanted Ednas point of view, so I could EASILY infix out what she was going to do, and thats what was most difficult about this novel, and the savvy it is not an easy read. I guess t his is Chopins purpose. An example is when Edna cannot peg why she is crying - the reader is left just as wooly-minded as Edna about the emotions. The in confinesission motif is very enlightening, in that let out moments of Ednas awakening are preceded by sleep. Sleep, especially for those who are depressed, is employ as a way of escape, but in this novel sleep is used mystically as a way for Chopin to show that many a(prenominal) things happen while Edna is sleeping that leads to awakening. In this way, the reader can still guess what occurs during sleep. I found I related to Harding Davis work more(prenominal) in that I can relate to Hugh and Debs onerousness (politically, economically, class structurally). One thing the two works have in common is that both main characters (Hugh and Edna) actually hold the key to their have oppression, yet Ednas social condition doesnt require such(prenominal) sympathy from the reader. Also, if a reader cannot step into that world wit h Chopin, it is difficult to address that kind of oppression. Perhaps its not correct to use the term oppression when writing about Edna, as it seems she only lives a life of obligations. She breaks free of these, however, and realizes Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual.