Friday, April 22, 2011
Redemption 1: Edna and her narrative in The Awakening
Edna has never failed to invoke heated discussions in any of my novel classes. She is a character that you love to love and love to hate. She has always been an example of a strong female character. Is it wrong to be happy? Isn't that what every individual in this world seeks for? But in pursuit of her happiness death overtakes her. So my question to you people, does she choose death or death chooses her?
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each and every individual has the right to choose the manners that will make them happy. its not wrong to be happy. life should be a happy one, isn't it? however, if the happiness that we pursue causes hurt to the others, will we be happy at all? everyone in this world seeks happiness, somehow or rather, they can't seem to notice the happiness that they already had.. what i mean is that, in pursuing something that is beyond our reach, we fail to appreciate what we already had and there are many people that would give up anything to have what we had..
ReplyDeletein the awakening by kate chopin, i think edna chooses death because the novel ends with Edna allowing herself to be overtaken by the waters. She knows how to swim eventually yet she allows herself to drown.. in the 19th century, when kate chopin wrote this novel, the women in the society hardly take active roles in her own happiness and their personal priorities. therefore, this leads to the little choices that women had at that era. to the women at that time, death is the most effective way out of problem...edna chooses death.
I don’t want to be right if it is wrong to be happy. As for me, we have all the rights to make our own decisions to be happy provided we are not against the God’s rules.
ReplyDeleteThe society in which Edna lives does not allow her to lead the life she desires. I believe that Edna dissatisfy with her role as housewife. Women in the 19th century desperately wanted to get out of their housewife role and make their own choice. What the 19th century society expected from them made this goal very hard to accomplish. Women are expected to stay in marriage and divorce is very seldom. In the case of Edna, she too was ‘caged’ under the societal expectations. As we know, Edna did not suffer from any sickness. She deliberately chooses death due to the conflicting feelings of society and herself. Her personality and wishes do not fit into what is considered to be appropriate for a woman living in that society.
Once Edna embarks upon her quest for independence and self - fulfillment, she finds herself at odds with expectations and conventions of society, which actually requires a woman especially a married one to subvert her own needs to those of her husband and children. In the end, everything was too over whelming for her and she swims out to sea. She swims, so one can wonder how someone who can swim actually dies. She could have just given up and allow the sea to envelope her and ends her life. So she could have chosen death .
ReplyDeletePREMITHA J38862
ReplyDeleteHuman’s natural state of being is to be happy. So, it is not wrong to be happy and of course happiness is what every individual would seek for. But the question is how we choose to be happy. For some people happiness means excitement, passion, freedom, joy, inspiration and anything which would make them happy.
Whereas Edna, she chooses freedom to describe her happiness and therefore she chooses death. Edna failed to face the reality and chose not to live in life surrounded by societal norms where she could not be herself.
Besides, Edna becomes increasingly disappointed with her marriage and breaking her traditional roles as wife and mother to her two children. She also wanted to free herself from society. Unfortunately, Edna’s make over on the journey of her life towards freedom and her thoughts that society will not accept her new self leads her to choose death instead of learn to live with the wider society. In the end, Edna found freedom by ending her life in the sea.
I personally feel that, it is not wrong to dream big but we also need to be realistic with what is more achievable and suits our lifestyle.
Thanks Dr Ju
In The Awakening, Edna wants to find the passion, love and freedom she lost since she married to Mr. Pontellier. Her passion to Robert evokes her to choose independence life instead to stay in the gold cage that provide by her husband.
ReplyDeleteAll her effort to be independence turn out to be her disappoinment when Robert left her because cannot bear the pressure to rebel the convention norm society. She had been waiting for Robert to stand up with her but at the end she find out that she is all alone.
In the end, she found dead can help to free her from her struggling and she is too far to go back to her old life.
HEMA J38837
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that we as a human being have all the rights to be happy and make our life as happy as possible. Every individual will feel the happiness in different way. Some will show their happiness in a positive way and some will show in a negative way. As for the character of Edna, in the novel Awakening, she found happiness in her death. She does not have a happy life and her husband can't fulfill her desire. She finds her real happiness in her relationship with Robert. The relationship of this man had made her forget her responsibilities as a wife and a mother of two children. Edna can't take the failure of her love life towards Robert. She has chosen to end up her life to find the real happiness in life. I feel that she is a selfish woman who thinks of her own happiness and desire. She should have a second thought before ending her life because she has two lovely children. She thinks that only death can give her the real happiness in her life. I strongly feel that she chooses the death and not death chooses her. We as a human being has the power to change the fate if we have the full confidence of ourselves. We should look at every parts of our lives in a positive way and we don't have the rights to end up our lives because life is a precious gift of god.
Thanks Dr Ju.
MOGANA(J38844)
ReplyDeletePn Juridah’s comment on Edna as a character 'that you love to love and love to hate' makes me to agree with her strongly. In the beginning as I went through the novel I started portraying Edna as a main character who tried to express herself freely and her motion in enhancing her rights really made me to have distinguished impression towards her. In converse, it was disbelieving for a strong female like Edna to choose her death. Yes, according to my understanding I feel that Edna has chosen her death. Edna is a person who can go through anything, if necessary. Her realization and her admirable effort in making herself as an elusive person during the Victorian era has gone to waste as she decides to end her life. Edna has been denied by her father, Robert and most prominently the right to be what she wishes for. At last she could not face the reality. She doesn’t want to get along and possessed by the culture and tradition. She chooses death, by thinking it’s the only way to escape and remove herself from the tradition.
Hi Puan, First of all my million thanks to you for this opportunity. Back to the issue, i’m pretty sure that 100% of people would say that it is not wrong to be happy and one definite thing that is for sure, everybody needs love as a basic human need. We are not born into this world to be alone. Love has always been a game, a game of chance; if you never try you can never win. It happen to Edna, she’s trying to seeks for her true love but after she has been a somebody’s wife. It’s not wrong to do so but it’s too late. We should not sympathize, because she was the one who set her own trap. She did not love her husband when she married him, but SHE never once ADMITS that it was a bad decision. To answer the question of Edna’s death, from the deep of my heart i would agree with people who said that “Edna chooses her own death”. She attributes all the problems of her marriage to the way IN WHICH SOCIETY HAS defined the roles of men and women. She does not ACCEPT ANY OF THE BLAME, AS HER OWN.She made bad choices and could not even admit them. She was also unreasonable in her means of dealing with her frustrations. Suicide is not a way of dealing with problems. Any alternative would have been infinitely better. Edna Pontellier did not commit suicide because her eyes had opened and she could not bear to live the life she saw. She committed suicide because she was a weak woman who became frustrated, when she could not cope with her problems. She committed an act of the greatest cowardice, and it is not something that should BE VIEWED with compassion. Edna Pontellier as she struggles to find her identity. Edna knows that she cannot be happy filling the role that society has created for her. She did not believe that she could break from this pattern because of the pressures of society. As a result she ends up taking her own life.
ReplyDeleteI do not hate Edna. I feel sorry for Edna. How can we know exactly what she was going through unless we ourselves were in her shoes. I feel sorry for Edna because she is married to the wrong man. Chapter 3 gives us a lot of insight in their troubled marriage. Mr Pontellier does not understand Edna. He mocks her and does not appreciate her as a wife and the mother to his children. He is sensitive only when Edna ignores him – “He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation.” He fails to see that Edna is not happy. If only Mr Pontellier was more sensitive, Edna would not have strayed from their marriage. He never tries to talk not just to her, but about her. What kind of husband belittles his wife and makes her feel valueless? What kind of husband only comes back to make his wife cry in the night without a tinge of guilt that he is making her wretched? Some women still can do things that they like after marriage but not Edna. She has to play the role of a perfect mother-woman. She has to entertain guests and put up a show for them. In short, she is not her true self in her marriage.
ReplyDeleteI also feel sorry for Edna because her “awakening” comes only when it is too late. She only realizes her true self only after her marriage, only when she knows that there is not much that she can do to change how things are. It is not wrong to be happy but in Edna’s case it takes so much sacrifice to find her happiness. Her happiness comes at a much higher price – her children’s happiness and her reputation is at stake. At first Edna appears as a strong female character. She chooses to move to the “pigeon-house” and dares to express her feelings to Robert Lebrun. She even dares to explore her sexual desire with another man, Alcee Arobin. I personally think that what Edna wants is cares and attention from a man. Alcee Arobin is there for her. However, Edna feels more connected to Robert. Edna is broken-hearted when Robert leaves her with just a simple goodbye. When Robert rejects her, she loses all her strength, determination and hope. She finally becomes “the bird with a broken wing who was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water.”
In her first encounter with sudden terror in the water in Chapter 10, she fought back to get to the land – “But by an effort she rallied her staggering faculties and managed to regain the land.” In the final chapter however, she did not look back but just went on and on further from the shore until exhaustion overpowered her. This tells us that she has succumbed to her guilt, her misery, her lost of faith. Yes, with a heavy heart I say that Edna chooses her death. In the water, she has reached the stage where she thinks that she just cannot fight anymore. She is not such a strong character anymore. She isn’t an “artist” after all.
I would like to end my comment with a wise advice from a friend. We all seek happiness in life but sometimes in desperation, we seek happiness at the wrong place. When you expect other people to make you happy, you will get frustrated when they let you down. Happiness comes within oneself, perhaps it comes through making other people happy. Just believe that happiness will come in the end.
PUTERI MARINA MOSTAFA
J38845 (BPTESL SEM6)
I believe that Edna chooses death. First, Edna had awakened, found her selfhood and happiness, she finally found the man she loved – Robert. Robert wants her to be his wife which all the social conventions in place would deny her identity. Edna could not face this reality and chose not to exist. Her life has become inseparable from the role her husband, lover, and society choose for her. She has been denied by her father, husband, and Robert, the right to be what she wishes, and must place her sense of self inside their roles. Edna cannot do this, her sense of self was too hard won, too important to her now, to accept the role of wife and mother alone. So, she chooses death.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, women who commit suicide at that century, especially by drowning felt that the world lacks of women' needs and desires. The sea may symbolize a happiness ending. Thus, Edna chooses death to solve her problems and fulfil her needs. The death that Edna chooses can be defined as liberation from the cage of marriage, societies’ rules and family.
Gan Siaw Fui
J38855
Semester 6
There are many important paths that we must follow on our journey through life. We follow the path without questioning its intent. The path informs us when we should learn to talk, to walk, to marry, and to have children. We are told that we should never stray from it,because if we do,society will make it certain that we are bound for damnation.
ReplyDeleteObviously a woman has all rights to marry the man of her heart. But its not appropriate for a woman to be 'happy' by having an affair after she is married as her husband is still loyal to her. If she feels neglected she could have discuss the problems with her husband which she did not.
On the subject of death..I would say Edna Pontellier struggles vigorously to escape the shackles of society. With the final realization that she will never be entirely free, Edna takes her life.
Edna had found true love with Robert and a sexual intensity that she could never find again. The depth of true love MUST be a part of our sexual experience to truly satisfy. Trying to recapture that experience through sexual gratification alone was impossible for her. It had driven her so strongly that she gave up her children to search for it. This goes against all social expectations even today! When JUST the sexual experience did not bring the depth of her relationship she had experienced with Robert, it deeply grieved her to the point where she could not go back and could not go forward!
All she could think of during her lifetime was Robert. It's called 'dieing from a broken heart' and that made her find the darkness through death!
SIVASANGHARI A/P NADARAJAN
J36340
BP TESL SEM 8 (UPM PJJ)
For me i strongly believe that Edna chooses death.Edna is the protagonist of the novel, and the “awakening” to which the title refers is hers. The twenty-eight-year-old wife of a New Orleans businessman, Edna suddenly finds herself dissatisfied with her marriage and the limited, conservative lifestyle that it allows. She emerges from her semi-conscious state of devoted wife and mother to a state of total awareness, in which she discovers her own identity and acts on her desires for emotional and sexual satisfaction. Through a series of experiences, or “awakenings,” Edna becomes a shockingly independent woman, who lives apart from her husband and children and is responsible only to her own urges and passions. Tragically, Edna’s awakenings isolate her from others and ultimately lead her to a state of total solitude.
ReplyDeleteher thoughts of her children inspire her to commit suicide. She realizes that her children's live will always be affected by society's opinion of her.
CHUA WEI THING
BP TESL ( J 38851 )
PJJ UPM
When Pn. Juridah introduces the novel ‘ The Awakening’ for our course, I was eager to know how Kate Chopin portrayal feminisme issue in this novel and wander how this novel caused a critical furor that ended the author’s literary career.
ReplyDeleteAfter I read this novel, I was shocked not only the way the author portrayal a young woman in rebellion against her husband, furthermore Kate Chopin’ s frankness in dealing the subject of sexuality and the protagonist’s love for a younger man.
I was asking myself these questions , Is it appropriate for Edna to seek happiness by neglecting her two sons ?, What type of mother is Kate Chopin is trying to portrayal through Edna ? Is Edna being selfish in the way of achieving her own desire by neglecting people who are connected with her ? I feel that may marriage still work for the sake of their children. Does Kate Chopin is trying to bring new dimension in the feminism issues ?
So when Pn. Juridah asks questions based on the tradegy that occured on Edna, I felt Edna choose her own death based on number of reasons. Because she is unable to figure out how to live with the complexity of the freedom she has longing so hard to establish for herself. Edna had few alternatives when she firmly decided to live outside of the usual patriarchal order. Since Edna couldn’t formulate one and she doesn’t want to go back her old world and avoid to exist if existence meant living in the societal cage where every men wanted her to reside. Through her awakening , she realizes that when Robert left her second time, he will not follow her in her rebellion against the codes of her society and he is also wanted to posess her just as her husband did as result she would live a solitary and lonely which will be worse that death.
Her identify will be intertwined with the maternal nature that other insists that is her world if she continues her life in the old world. Her identify also had been denied by the her father, husband and Robert , the desire of what she wanted and she need to put her sense of self inside their role and she sees that no way for her to keep the freedom of her soul and Edna was unable to do this , now her sense of self was to hard to be won. Her sense of self makes her impossible to be wife and mother again as defined by her society and she also find that the role of mother and wife makes her difficult to continue the sense of independent which she didn’t want to be .
She made her choice that she doesn’t want to live in a world that forces her to value herself first as a mother and second as human being. It is incompatible for her and moral implication of her role are so deeply a part of Edna’s psyche that unable to remove except through death. Edna made her choice dying a quick death on her own rather that killing herself a new everyday in a society where the domainance associated with domestic submission and isolation related with conventional abandonment for personal independence.
One defines happiness differently. And in the effort to achieve that happiness, one might cause the opposite effect to people who love him/her.
ReplyDeleteIn Edna's case, her pursue to happiness started out as a form of independence from her family. She might be a strong feminist if we see her from one point of view, but besides being a woman, she is also a wife to her husband and most importantly a mother to her children. And those two roles, come with a lot of responsibilities whether you like it or not.
It is not wrong at all to seek for happiness. But if being happy means hurting everyone who loves you, would you still be able to feel the happiness?
When Robert left her place, Edna was stunned and felt like a loner. In the end she chose to be free. Free from all the people that judge her, and free from all the responsibilities she had to endure.
She went looking for her "freedom". Starting from fleeing to the beach, walking along the beach naked and in the end gave herself to the ocean. She chose death as death for her means liberating herself from the society, her unrequited love and her family. To us readers and also the society, her action might be that of a coward, but to Edna that is her definition of happiness.
Thank you.
-NUR HAFIZA HASAN
-J 38860 (BPTESL Sem 6)
Dear Pn Ju,
ReplyDeletein my opinion, i think Edna chooses death.
probably, to Edna, death is freedom from everything that she suffers in her life.
i would not say whether i agree with her choice because every individual has the right to make their own decissions.
however, i was thinking... since she has the guts to die, why not she has not guts to live on?
though she losses herself in her relationships with men, but that doesn't mean that she has lost everything in life.
i pity her children for losing their mother at such young age. with the presence of her children in life, i believe that if Edna has not chosen death, she could live a happier life. besides men, there are many thing that she could love, especially herself and her children.
Edna is a brave woman to me because i think there were not many women in her era would take any step futher to chase after one's dream (they might hope and dream but never dare to take any action).
anyhow, one should appreciate life that is given by god and our parents.... no matter how hard is our life, stay strong and overcome everything.... and also know that, before we want to love anybody, learn to love ourselves first.
p/s: opps, i just realized that i posted at the wrong label. (:
oh ya, forgotten something....
ReplyDeletebabypurplesky is BABY TEH LING CHEE (J38846) from BPTESL sem 6 2010/2011
Logically, Edna’s action to commit suicide at the end of the story can be considered as she chooses death because she walks into the ocean herself without being forced. Only tragedy, sickness and accidents can be categorized as chosen by death or in another word, fate.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Edna’s heart is too wild to adapt to her role as a mother, a wife and a proper society member. She fails to consider the needs of anyone but herself and she fails to act accordingly to the norm of the society. Perhaps her past and history affects her behavior and makes her the Edna who fails to develop and grow as a normal society member. In fact, I would like to say that the character of Edna develops towards insanity throughout the story, from complicated relationships with various men at young age to marriage (which she thinks she is happy and contented with) to falling in love with Robert, to sleeping with someone else’s husband (Arobin) and to committing suicide. In our society, those who try to commit suicide but fail are referred to psychiatrist.
Perhaps Edna’s decision to commit suicide is an act of submission to thoughts of her son’s reputation and to a sense that life has become too difficult or as an act of final rebellion of refusal to sacrifice her integrity by putting her life in the hands of controlling powers.
Maybe I am too realistic, but living is a reality. And to live, we have to be optimistic. We don’t choose death. Until death comes to us, we try to live to the fullest extent.
Sia Nga Yea
J38864
It is undeniable that every person has the right to seek for happiness in life. The ending of our life is unexpected therefore we need to live as happy as we could everyday. Now the only matter is that how do we define happiness. Does it mean that when we are satisfied with whatever we did then only the happiness come? Well the choice is always there for us to choose.
ReplyDeleteIn ‘The Awakening’, Edna is continually developing and growing, evolving and progressing. She is attracted to what is forbidden and begins her quest for personal satisfaction regardless any consequences that she may face. Her fantasies ride upon the shoulders of sexual and physical gratification and not on pleasing her husband or being a good mother. She is virtually powerless to any kind of seduction. Temptation of things forbidden is always on Edna’s mind.
We cannot blame Edna fully for her drastically changes. She just tries to find her own happiness. She is a woman trapped in the bounds of her society, her culture and her time. Edna marries a man her father approves of, has children her husband approves of and mimes a life society approves of. So everything had been setting for her without objection.
In my opinion, Edna chooses death. There are several reasons why she rather dies than carry on with her live which means nothing to her. Firstly, is the matter with her marriage. Her marriage to Leonce was “purely an accident”. Her father and older sister opposed her marriage to Leonce and this opposition naturally spurred her to marry him. She knew that her love for the tragedian was not of this world, and so she might as well be practical and dignified as the wife of a devoted husband. She put her romance away.
Secondly is the matter with her husband, Leonce. He is the typical blind husband who considers his family merely an extension of his material wealth. He sees his wife and children as prized possessions and does not engage with them very much. He does not understand Edna at all.
Thirdly is regarding to her children. Edna’s thoughts of her children inspire her to commit suicide, because she realizes that no matter how little she depends on others, her children’s life will always be affected by society’s opinion of her. Moreover, her children represent an obligation that unlike Edna’s obligation to her husband is irrevocable.
Another important reason why Edna chooses death is because of the man she falls in love with, which is Robert. The passion that Robert feels for Edna is not strong enough to join the lovers in a true in a true union of minds, since although Robert’s passion is strong enough to make him feel torn between his love and his sense of moral rectitude, it is not strong enough to make him decide in favour of his love. The note Robert leaves for Edna makes clear to Edna the fact that she is ultimately alone in her awakening. Once Robert refuses to trespass the boundaries of societal convention, Edna acknowledges the profundity of her solitude.
With the broken heart and the willing to be free from all the matters arise, Edna finally chooses death. She goes immediately to Grand Isle, for a quick swim, naked, but strikes out far into the ocean and gives herself over memories of her past life, and to drowning.
Thanks.
ZIZIE ARDINA LIM ABDULLAH
J38867
BPTESL SEM 6
* Dr. Juridah, I had been posted the same comment on 7th May 2011. I just realize that it had been vanished yesterday.
I believe that everyone long to live a happy life. It is not wrong to live life happily but what matters the most is how we want to maintain a happy life in such a way that can please ourselves. There are always consequences lay behind every decision that we made and there are always some sacrificial big and small after the decision.
ReplyDeleteIn The Awakening, Edna chose to follow her thoughts to life beyond boundaries set in the society at her time. She was unhappy with the life she was leading by being a devoted wife of a highly respected man and to be a loving mother of children who demand her full and constant attentions. She lived a life where she had to shouldered responsibilities to maintain a public image and be a family centered woman where she ought to deny herself in her private life in searching for pleasures in her desires, thoughts and aspirations. Soon, she discovered that she cannot be the person the society expects her to be and thereafter seeking her way out to resolve the problem by changing her life. When she finally awakened, she faced a lot of conflicts as she founds that the happiness that she chose to have in her life demands many sacrificial and she felt a sense of boredom which lead to loneliness which she couldn’t bear the most. When she was very courageous and determined to deal with the challenges she met, the people who she associates with had discouraged her when she realized that the “new and happy” Edna was genuinely unacceptable by the society and there can be no true union of her public and private selves. There were numbers of disappointments from her family, friends and also the society. When she was pursuing her needs of mutual love, Robert who she felt in love with had eventually left her because he didn’t have the courage to go beyond the culture and social acceptances and to life with Edna.
Being discouraged by all the disappointments, yes, I think Edna chose death. She couldn’t bear and accept the consequences after her decision to pursue freedom as she realized that the changes she made were restrained by the culture of the society in late 1800s. The world in which Edna lives was bounded too much by social convention to accept long-term nonconformity. The public is not ready to embrace the private Edna, and Edna is unwilling to yield to public sentiment. She refused to surrender to the fate she has by turning back to her old life and thus chose death to be the only way out to get freed in her definition of happy life. Putting away all her clothes, her actions symbolized a freedom that she would never cover her true self and be free ever since. She let death to overtake her.
Yap Geok Peng
J38869
BPTESL sem6