In the exposition of, "The Awakening," the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, is introduced along with her husband, Leonce, her kids, and her friends Madomoiselle Reise and Robert Lebrun. This story takes place in Grand Isle and New Orleans from 1899 - 1900. The conflict is that Edna is dissatisfied with her life as being a "possession" of her husband and sets out to become more independent. In the rising action, Edna is on her journey of self-expression and freedom. She begins painting, betting on horse races, and living separately from her husband and kids as well. I believe that there were quite a few turning points in the story, but the climax would have to be at the very end of the novel when Edna walks along the beach in the Grand Isle and towards the sea, leading to her committing suicide.
I think that the main theme of the novel would be that independence comes at a price because the whole novel is based off of feminism ahead of its time. I think that Kate Chopin decided to write about this because back in the 1800's, almost all men were against females and males having equal rights. There have been a couple of feminist movements during that time, which could've also inspired the idea to write, "The Awakening." The title might suggest an "awakening" for women standing up and fighting for their independence as well.
The protagonist is a dynamic character because in the beginning of the novel, Edna slowly started to become dissatisfied with being just a "possession," rather than an equal human towards her husband. Throughout the novel, she became more and more independent starting with painting and getting to he point where she could live all on her own. Edna Pontellier is a round character because although she becomes more positive, but because she became more free, she also became lonely and sad. She can be sarcastic or even a bit flirtatious at times, too.
One significant symbol in the novel would be birds and how Edna is compared to a bird. This is ultimately significant because the husband and the doctor in the book believe that birds are supposed to "protect and shield," not "fly." Edna experiences several "awakening" throughout the nobel as she tries to express herself more and become more free. The husband becomes frustrated because Edna should be listening to him, not being independent from him. This reveals how little men actually believe in feminism. They want their women to be lower than them, not standing on equal ground. To the husband, he believes that Edna should stand her ground in the house, not become equal with him.
I chose this novel after searching for it on the internet because it was about feminism and I wanted to know more about how feminism works. Feminism is a large topic nowadays in our society, but many people thought so little about it back then. It was refreshing to see how feminism was changed from the past to the present. I kept wanting to read it because of the way Edna was portrayed. She was adventurous and just a little bit reckless, but depicted as a feminist, nonetheless.
In our society, there are many people who are supporting feminism than back in the 1800's. there are a lot more people, both men and women, protesting for equal rights for both genders, but then again, there are still many people that are against that idea. Two reasons could be that they either don't understand what feminism actually is, or they believe women or men to be inferior to the other. I do believe in feminism because regardless of gender, everyone should have equal human rights.
One idea from this book that I'll remember will be how you can't sit around and expect to get what you want; if you want equality, then you'll have to work for it to convince society that equality is part of being human. This is important in our society because there have been protests and crimes because of how people think of equality. Whether it be LGBTQ or feminism or race, some of society (the people) will be against equality and fight back. One quote from "The Awakening" is, "The years that are gone seem like dreams - if one might go on sleeping and dreaming - but to wake up and find - Oh! Well! Perhaps it's better to wake up after all, even to suffer rather than to remain a dupe to the illusions all one's life."
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