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Research Paper

Exam. Roll No. 22084511047

UPC: 2033100019

2nd June 2025

The Awakening of a woman: Marriage and Motherhood

In Edna’s Life

Abstract

This research paper studies the character of Edna Pontellier from the novel The

Awakening by Kate Chopin. The main focus of this paper is to understand how marriage and

motherhood are shown in Edna’s life and why she feels unhappy in these roles. Edna is a

woman who is married and has children, but she does not feel free. She wants to find her real

self, live by her own choices, and not just be someone’s wife and mother. This paper looks at

the big problem of how society expected women to follow strict rules and not think about

their own happiness. The paper tries to answer some important questions. How are marriage

and motherhood shown in the story? Why is Edna’s love for Robert Lebrun not accepted?

What happens when Edna tries to live her own life? Why did society make women follow

rules without giving them freedom? These questions help to explore how difficult it was for

women like Edna to live freely. This paper also connects Edna’s story to real-life situations.

Even today, many women face pressure to be “perfect” wives and mothers. The study shows

how important it is to understand women’s pain when they are not allowed to be free. Edna’s

story helps us to see why women should have the right to choose their own life. This paper

shows that The Awakening is not just an old story but still has a strong message for today’s

world.

Introduction

The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1899) that tells the story of a woman named Edna

Pontellier. She is a wife and a mother, living in a big house with her husband, Léonce

Pontellier and have two children of ages four and five. Everything looks perfect from the
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outside but from the inside, Edna feels sad, and she just wanted to escape from her role as a

wife and mother. Everyone around her wants her to be a good wife and a good mother but no

one asks her what makes her happy. She does not fit into these roles comfortably and begins

to rebel against it. Edna who is not a mother-woman unlike the women Mrs. Pontellier’s

beautiful and feminine friend, Adele Ratignolle, she fits the role perfectly. Adele likes to

speak about her pregnancy and childbirth whereas Edna does not like. Married women were

considered to be the legal property of their husband. In chapter 1 of the novel how Mr.

Pontellier looks at his wife as a piece of property. A married woman had the rights over any

inheritance acquired only before marriage, but after marriage, all of her inheritances belonged

to her husband. Edna has many thoughts and feelings. She wants to do things like painting,

swimming and loving freely, but in her time, women were not allowed to do whatever they

wanted.

Statement of problem

This paper will investigate how Edna wants to find herself outside of these roles.

Women are also human beings. They also have dreams and hopes other then the household

chores. Edna’s inner conflict grows because she wants more than just to be someone’s wife

and mother; she desires freedom and independence of choice.

How are marriage and motherhood represented in The Awakening?

Why Edna’s true love for Robert Lebrun, the man she loves is not justified?

What happens to Edna when she tries to live her own life?

Why were women supposed to follow society rules and fulfill societal expectations?

These questions seek to enhance the understanding of the factors that exist in The Awakening,

by analyzing the marriage and motherhood.

Purpose of the study

The paper will study deeply how The Awakening shows the problems of marriage and

motherhood. It will show how these roles can make a woman feel like she is in a cage. The

paper will also show how Edna tries to become free. This paper will look at her feelings, her

actions and the meaning of her journey. The study also wants to show how women, like

Edna, are not weak or bad. They are just trying to find peace and freedom. Edna’s story is not

just a sad story, it is a story of strength, hope and the fight for freedom.

Significance of the study

In today’s world, still many women face same problem as Edna. This is very

important to understand how society want a woman to be like their expectations, to follow

societal rules. They are not allowed to do whatever they want, judged for choosing their own

path. Society says that they are not capable of becoming a good mother and wife.

By reading The Awakening, we can see how painful it is when a woman is not allowed to be

free. This study will help people think more kindly about women's choices. It will teach us

that woman, like men, should have the right to live freely.

Literature Review

Critics like to analyze Kate Chopin’s The Awakening as a form of struggles with the

traditional idea, woman’s search for self-expression (Showalter). Edna’s emotional act

highlights how marriage was seen as a duty than a choice. The Awakening has been discussed

as an early feminist text (Walker). Edna’s awakening is not only about love or art, but also
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about understanding that her identity cannot survive under the rules of society. Chopin’s

work can be seen as powerful imagery, like the sea, which symbolises Edna’s desire for

escape and rebirth (Gilbert and Gubar). Women writers often showed women who felt

trapped by society or emotionally weak. Edna’s denial to live reflects a deeper need for

women’s emotional and personal independence (Papke). Talks about how social rules and

expectations crush women’s dream. During that era, strict social rules were there to control

women’s lives, marriage and motherhood (Dyer). Edna’s affair with Robert shows her search

for emotional and physical freedom. Joyce Dyer explains; Edna’s body becomes her way of

finding power in a world that ignores her voice.

Methodology

This research will use a qualitative methodology based on literary analysis. Close

textual analysis is employed to read The Awakening and examine the novel’s language,

symbols, and story structure. Every sentence in the book was read carefully, also where Edna

talks about her feelings were marked. By carefully examining important symbols like the sea

and birds, and key moments in Edna’s journey, the research will explore how marriage and

motherhood are shown as limiting roles. The study will also focus on how Edna’s emotions

and choices reflect her inner struggle for independence. Primary and secondary sources are

used like JSTOR, Google Scholar, articles, essays and critical analysis of Chopin’s work. By

analysing and understanding the work through these sources, it helps us to understand why

The Awakening is still important today.

Result

After reading The Awakening carefully and thinking deeply about it, this study found

many important things about Edna Pontellier’s life, feelings and actions. These findings help

us to understand how marriage and motherhood affect ad how she tries to find freedom.

Love and Marriage

Since her adolescence, Edna has imagined romantic love that was beyond her reach.

When she awakens to her sexual and romantic desires, she seeks the company of Robert

Lebrun, which was not permissible. The Ratignolle marriage is shown to be perfect as Mr.

and Mrs. Ratignolle understand each other perfectly.

If ever the fusion of two human beings into one has been accomplished in this sphere,

it was surely in their union. (Chopin, p.106).

Edna does not feel real love or care from her husband, Leonce. For him, she is like a helper

not a partner. He expects Edna to be a good wife and look after the house and children. With

Robert, she feels happy and free. But this love is not justified for society. Edna is already

married and, in her society, married woman is not supposed to love another man. People

would say she is doing something wrong or shameful. This makes her love with Robert

something that society cannot accept. Also, Robert himself feels scared of this love. He

knows that Edna is married. He also knows that people will not understand their relationship.

Even though he loves her too, he leaves her and goes away to Mexico.

Liberation and Loneliness

Edna starts to realize that she wants more than just to be a wife and mother. She wants

freedom, love, passion, and the right to make her own choices. She begins to break away
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from her duties as a wife and mother. She stops receiving guests, skips family

responsibilities, and openly expresses her thoughts and feelings. She even moves out of her

husband’s house into a small place of her own called the Pigeon House, symbolizing her wish

to live independently. These experiences give her temporary excitement, but not lasting

happiness, because no one fully understands or supports her wish for freedom. She realizes

that even love, even moving away, cannot protect her from the pressure to conform to what

society expects of women. When Robert leaves her again, Edna feels a deep sense of loss and

hopelessness. She understands that true freedom is impossible for a woman in her situation.

She remembers Madame Ratignolle’s words: “Think of the children.” But she knows she

cannot return to a life where she must give up her identity for others.

Society rules and their expectation

In Edna’s time, women were not free. They were expected to marry a man, take care

of children, manage household work, stay quiet and follow their husband’s instructions as a

slave. They were not allowed to express their dreams or desires. If a woman tried to do

something different, people would call her bad or selfish. Society believed that a woman’s

job was only to serve her family. Women were taught to obey their husband like they obey

God. Edna tries to break these rules. She wants to live differently. But this makes her feel

alone and unwanted. Society does not understand her.

Motherhood feels heavy and confusing

Edna loves her two little sons, but she feels that being a mother takes away her own

freedom. Society tells her that a good mother must always put her children first. But Edna

wants to think about herself, too. She feels torn between love for her children and her wish to
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live her own life. This makes her feel trapped. Motherhood becomes a heavy responsibility

that makes her feel small and stuck.

The Symbol of the Sea

The sea is important in the story. It appears many times, and it shows what Edna

really wants. The sea is big, open, and free. It is a place where Edna can forget all the rules

and be herself. Swimming in the sea gives her a feeling of peace and power.

The voice of the sea is seductive... inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude"

(Chopin 220).

This sentence reappears in the text after chapter 6 where Edna's journey towards her

awakening had just begun. The symbol of the sea is at its most powerful now standing for her

power, awakening, freedom, chaos, etc. She discards her bathing suit, and naked- almost

freeing her from constraints and masks of any kind- she begins to swim. It is like the waves

are telling her, “You can be free too.” The sea becomes a symbol of hope and escape.

The symbol of the Bird

In the initial chapter, a caged parrot and a mockingbird introduce the theme. The

parrot creates a nuisance and disturbs Mr. Pontellier, she was reading the newspaper. The

caged bird symbolizes Edna's captivity in societal conventions. As Edna begins to awaken,

we find no caged birds, but birds in flight. The flying bird symbolising the freedom and

struggle.

A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, and circling

disabled down, down to the water (Chopin, 220).

The bird with a broken wing symbolizes Edna’s struggle for freedom — she tried to escape

society’s control, but she is wounded and unable to fly. The bird falling into the sea mirrors
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Edna’s own feelings of failure, despair, and helplessness. She cannot survive in a world that

won’t let her be herself.

These findings show that Edna is not just a sad or confused woman. She is a woman who

wants to be free. She wants to follow her heart but the world around her does not let her. That

is why she feels lost and lonely.

Conclusion

The story of Edna Pontellier in The Awakening shows the deep pain and struggle that

many women face in their lives. Edna wants to live a life that is true to her feelings. She

wants love, freedom, and independence, but society does not allow her to have these things.

People around her expect her to be a perfect wife and mother, and when she tries to break

those rules, she is judged and left alone. Her rejection of the role as wife and mother is not

because she lacks love for her family, but because she wants to find herself outside of these

roles. This awakening makes her realize that the life society expects her to live — a life of

self-sacrifice, obedience, and dependence - is not for her. Edna’s journey teaches us that

women are not just caretakers or homemakers. They have their own dreams, wishes, and

emotions. She tries to change her life by moving out, by falling in love, and by making her

own choices. But in the end, she finds that no matter how hard she tries, society will not let

her live freely. This makes her feel hopeless and lost. The symbols of the sea and the bird in

the novel help us understand her emotions better. The sea calls her toward peace and

freedom. The bird, with its broken wing, shows how Edna wants to fly but cannot. These

images show her inner conflict in a beautiful way. The Awakening is not just about one

woman’s sadness. It is a story of many women who feel the same way. Even today, women

are expected to follow rules that may not match their hearts. This novel helps us see the
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importance of freedom, respect, and equality for women. Edna’s story ends in silence, but it

speaks loudly about the need for change. It reminds us to listen, to understand, and to support

women in living their truth.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Edited by Margo Culley, 3rd ed., W.W. Norton & Company,

1994.

Dyer, Joyce. “Symbolism and the Woman Question in The Awakening.” New Essays on The

Awakening, edited by Wendy Martin, Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 125–

149.

Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and

the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. Yale University Press, 1979.

Martin, Wendy, editor. New Essays on The Awakening. Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Papke, Mary E. Verging on the Abyss: The Social Fiction of Kate Chopin and Edith

Wharton. Greenwood Press, 1990.

Showalter, Elaine. “Tradition and the Female Talent: The Awakening as a Solitary Book.”

New Essays on The Awakening, edited by Wendy Martin, Cambridge University

Press, 1988, pp. 33–55.

Walker, Nancy A., editor. The Awakening: A Norton Critical Edition. W.W. Norton &

Company, 1994.

Toth, Emily. Unveiling Kate Chopin. University Press of Mississippi, 1999.