Kate Chopin The Awakening
Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening is an excellent story of a woman's quest for freedom in her society. Her decisions in life challenge the social barrier, and defy conventional family roles. Edna is unfulfilled as a wife and mother even though she and her husband are financially safe. Her husband, Leonce Pontellier, is a good husband and father but he only pays attention to his own material interests. Because of his distraction to material belongings he has failed to recognize the fact that his wife's needs are not being met. Some of Chopin's characters are not fully developed. Some of these undeveloped characters are important because they represent specific themes. The lovers and the lady in black are both very important undeveloped characters, despite the fact that they are completely oblivious to the rest of the world. The lady in black is first mentioned in Chapter I. Mr. Pontellier is surveying the cottages when he notices that "a lady in black is walking demurely up and down, telling her beads." (6). In this example the rosary beads suggest that the lady in black is religious. This character is a symbol of religion. While everyone else is relaxing, she is busy praying. It is also worth noting that th
Throughout the novel the lady in black and the lovers are used to represent the stages that Edna has gone through in her life. The lovers represent Edna's loving, passionate stage where she found her self, in love, young and innocent. Throughout the novel Edna yearns for a loving passionate relationship, which she is unable to have in her conformist society. By the end of the novel Edna has distanced herself from the society and has found different beliefs about life than those that society tries to define for her.. By the end of the novel she has learned of how much she needs love in her life and how much society cannot give her that love, that she needs to continue to live life. After their initial introduction the lovers and the lady in black are always spoken of together. Chopin doesn't mention the lovers without then speaking of the lady in black. Coming back from the beach the lovers are "leaning toward each other as the water-oaks bend from the sea. There was not a particle of earth beneath their feet" and the lady in black was creeping behind them (37). In another example, the lovers, on their way to mass are, "already strolling along toward the wharf," while "the lady in black, with her Sunday prayer book, velvet and gold-clasped, and her Sunday silver beads, was following them at no great distance" (55). In yet another example Chopin writes, "The lovers were all alone. They saw nothing, they heard nothing. The lady in black was counting her beads for the third time" (57). Having them together show the ways in which they contrast one another. The lovers never feel anything in life except for the love they experience through one another, while tube lady in black
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1135
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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