Taking Sides on the Awakening

[RodrigoCC]

I believe that Edna can be seen as a feminist but in this time period that attitude was going out of society's range. This story is about Edna and how she wants to break out of society's norms. She starts off by not being completely loyal to her husband and it rockets off from their. She can't take the life on her own and she commits suicide.

[cjkb90]

In my interpretation of the novel, Ednas suicide is an act of extreme bravery, not cowardice. Although I agree that she ran away from a life of commodities, its noteworthy that she did not want the things she had, and therefore she was not happy. Suicide is the only way for Edna to decide her own future, since no matter what she did in her life, it would be Leonce,Robert, or some other man who would run her life. By killing herself, Edna is making a statement against the chauvinistic oppression of women.
Also worthy of attention is the fact that in a previous chapter, she had looked back and become scared after swimming too far away from all her friends. This time however, she did not depend on any other person, male or female, to choose her destiny, and so it is the ultimate act of liberation.

[sofiastaburuaga]

I think edna achieved her "freedom" that she wanted so much. she wanted to go against the rules imposed by society. She had a very strong spiritual and intellectual awakening when she realized that she was living a forced life. a life that she didn't want to live. she wanted to be free and not be treated as another man's property. edna leaves her husband and moves out to another house and starts to paint and showing her art work to galleries. she becomes a stronger and more independant woman. she also says that she loves her kids but that she wouldn't give her life for them. Edna falls in love with robert lebrun and while he is in mexico he fills the hole she has inside by starting a relationship with alcee arobin which was based on lust and desire. when robert came back he left ms. pontellier because he loved her. the only thing in the world she wanted was to be with robert but she knew that it was impossible. she end up drowning in the sea because she has lost the thing that she wanted the most. in a way that was a coward thing to do because she had friends and family that loved her. she left her kids motherless. it was in a moment of insanity and she couldn't back. it was very selfish of her part. she ended being like the bird at the end of the novel which had a broken wing and fell into the sea. she had her freedom but she couldn't use it because she committed suicide, it was pointless.

[mariaceleste]

Edna did gain freedom from social constraints. However, I think that her suicide was somewhat, as others have said, egocentric because I think that when one person ?awakens? they must compel others to do so too. So I don?t know whether I would consider her suicide a triumphant act. It did however offer her the freedom she sought so desperately, so I think we can condone her egocentrism.

[juanmax]

Edna knew all along that she was a victim in a chauvinistic society. In the end, she feels overwhelmed by the strong pressures society is putting on her and she commits sucide. She is too weak to keep fighting for what she believes in and stands for. Women, especially in those times, could not rebel from society easily. When any rebellious women showed up, they had to be ready to face the might of a society dominated by men. In the end she is hopeless because she knows there is no way out to her problems. She could either conform to society or be ostracized by civilization for thinking and acting against society's accepted norms. Edna Pontellier does not awaken in the end of the story, that happens way before. The end simply shows the inevitable outcome of such rebellion.

[idaeaton]

They only way in which Edna was ever going to be able to find freedom was by committing suicide. Edna was presented with many gifts in life. She was given a "caring" husband, beautiful children, and a stable-luxurious life. When she felt empty she sought for approval in another man's heart. She fell in love with Robert and so did he. When she wished to cease her sexual desires she looked for another man to satisfy her needs, with no emotional feelings linking them. However, she soon realized that the problem were not the people that surrounded her, the problem was that she didn't feel happy because society was holding her back, putting her down, and indirectly forcing her to live a life she no longer wanted or didn't ask for in the first place. The only way out was to kill herself. Judge her and labeling her as "insane" does not seem fair. If the man she married, if the man who fell in love with her, were not comprehensive enough to love her unconditionally and accept her despite her defects, why would society approve of her? Keeping in mind the time period, if society didn't approve her, nobody did. She would have to live in plain misery, be ostracized the rest of her life or finally be able to fly and taste the freedom she always kept in a cage.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ September 06, 2007 10:34 PM: Message edited by: idaeaton ]</font>