The Awakening
The society of Grand Isle places many expectations on its women to belong to men and be subordinate to their children. Edna Pontelliers society, therefore, abounds with “mother-women,” who “idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it to a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals”(10). The characters of Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz represent what society views as the suitable and unsuitable women figures. Mademoiselle Ratignolle as the ideal Grand Isle woman, a home-loving mother and a good wife, and Mademoiselle Reisz as the old, unmarried, childless, musician who devoted her life to music, rather than a man. Edna oscillates between the two identities until she awakens to the fact that she needs to be an individual, but encounters the resistance of societys standards to her desire.
Kate Chopin carefully, though subtly, establishes that Edna does not neglect her children, but only her mother-woman image. Chopin portrays this idea by telling the reader “…Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The mother-woman seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle”(10). Edna tries on one occasion to explain to Adele how she feels about her children and how she feels about herself, which greatly differs from the mother-woman image. She
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