The Awakening Analysis

Sergio Rios

The Awakening, by Kate Choppin, explores Edna Pontellier’s desire to find and live fully within her true self. Her devotion to that purpose causes friction with her friends and family, and also with the social standards for women at this time. Her relationship with Robert Lebrun opens her eyes and changes her relationship with not only her family and other women, but she changes her relationship and the way she interacts with, and sees men. The Awakening is filled with symbolism, illustrating how Edna sees things throughout the story.

As Edna falls in love with Robert, she begins her awakening, making the way she sees life itself differently. As her love for Robert grows, it makes the way she feels about other men change. Edna got to have so much fun with Robert. She did things with him that she never got to do with her husband. I believe that it’s beautiful really. Edna comes to her senses and accepts the fact that her marriage to her husband is dead. Even during Roberts absence she takes initiative to move out. That illustrates how completely done Edna is with her husband. She begins a sexually influenced relationship with Arobin. I do understand that without Robert to awake her, she would have never started that relationship with him. When Edna feels she is building up strong feelings for Arobin, she gets upset because she wants so badly to be with Robert. She feels she is betraying him. This shows how special Robert really is to Edna.

Throughout the story there are many symbols that Edna encounters. Each symbol represents a specific aspect in her life. One example was the piano playing. Music is an important symbol in text, both Adele and Mlle. Reisz play the piano. Each woman functions to underscore a different aspect of the narrative. Adele is considered a musician by Leonce, but she does not play for art, instead she does so to keep her husband and children cheerful and to set time for parties. Mlle. Reisz, on the other hand, is...