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

Finding Freedom in The Awakening The Awakening was shocking to readers in 1899, and would be today if it were published in Ladies Home Journal. Even today, women are expected to sacrifice themselves, if not to their husbands, then definitely to their children. I find it kindle that Grand Isle is the setting for the beginning and end of the novel. The story is built around a electric circuit and represents the whirling force that is the energy of Ednas life. The circle reminds me of Yeats The Second Coming Turning and turning in the widening gyre/things fall apart/the center cannot hold. So often I wanted Edna to manage 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 figure out what she was going to do, and thats what was most difficult rough this novel, and the reason it is not an easy read. I guess this is Chopins purp ose. An example is when Edna cannot pinpoint why she is crying - the reader is left just as confused as Edna about the emotions. The sleep motif is very enlightening, in that key out moments of Ednas awakening are preceded by sleep. Sleep, especially for those who are depressed, is used as a commission of escape, but in this novel sleep is used mystically as a way for Chopin to show that many things happen while Edna is sleeping that leads to awakening. In this way, the reader can only guess what occurs during sleep. I found I related to Harding Davis work more in that I can relate to Hugh and debutantes oppression (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 own oppression, yet Ednas social condition doesnt require much sympathy from the reader. Also, if a reader cannot step into that world with Chopin, it is difficult to overcompensate 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 remedy of these, however, and realizes Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual.