Edna Pontellier's failed quest for freedom in The Awakening

¶ … Awakening

Edna Pontellier- a failure

Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" is a novel, which projects an entirely different perspective of women during the late nineteenth century. It is generally considered as a daring attempt to portray women as a self-reliant and independent being in a male dominated society. Through the character of Edna, the protagonist of the novel, the author tries to create a revolutionary change in the society. In the novel the author walks us through the different phases of Edna's life culminating in her committing suicide. Let us study the character of Edna and analyze if she was successful in achieving her objective of freedom and independence.

A view Edna's life as a failure from the perspective that she succumbs to the rejection from Robert and chooses to end up her life. The main feature of the novel is Edna's quest for freedom and liberation form the traditional outlook of society. Certainly Edna did achieve a certain degree of freedom by compromising on moral considerations. Edna's bold attempts at her freedom however do not reflect a success in her life. The very fact that she is not able to face society and stand up to her wishes indicates that her life was a failure. When it comes to analyzing how best the independence that she gained helped her with her life we are certainly faced with doubts. That Edna is not emotionally developed to handle a crisis situation, which results when Robert leaves her, puts the whole idea of independence to question. It only seems to attest the fact Edna isn't matured enough to handle life's exigencies. In fact she is kind of trapped between two extremes of life unsure as to where exactly she belongs.

We can only draw two conclusions from her suicide. Either Edna intended to show her rebellion attitude or she succumbed to social pressure. Either way her decision was a wronged one and is an acceptance of defeat. That fact that Edna chooses to end her life seems to indicate her acceptance of the reality of life. The tragic end to the novel emphasizes the predominance of reality over wishful thinking. Also the fact that after all her striving for independence and selfhood, in flagrant violation of societal norms, she could only come up with such an escapist idea and commit suicide tells us that her inner personality hasn't evolved enough. In spite of her revolutionary nature she is still the fragile personality, which crumbles when confronted by a hostile society.

Edna's is a typical case of misplaced identity. She is caught up with Self-doubt and inner conflict. She begins to seriously doubt herself when confronted with people who are still attached to accepted social ideologies. This identity crisis manifests when unlike her, Robert (her lover) is unwilling to cast away social norms. We can pity Edna as she is betrayed by Robert in the sense that he is unwilling to break social customs. Instead of overcoming the problems posed by the society Edna allows society to dictate her, which is an admittance of failure.