Self discovery refers to a person who tries to how they feel about something or someone. I think Kate chopin wrote the book The Awakening to teach women that they don’t need no man for anything, they can break the standards that society puts on women and to show anything is possible . Transcendentalism was a movement made to make people lives better. The transcendental elements that are crucial to Edna’s self discovery that are individualism, live life to the fullest, and nature is sacred.
The first transcendental element that are crucial to Edna’s self discovery is individualism . Edna shows individualism when she distance herself from everybody and starts doing her own thing. Edna was tired and just wanted to be alone and she wanted to do her own thing. In the book it says “ She completely abandoned her tuesday at home and did not return the visits of those who had called upon her. It also says “ she made no ineffectual efforts to conduct her household “ (pg 95).
Edna needed a break from everyone. She was drained . When it says “ she made no ineffectual efforts to conduct her household “ that means she didn’t make an effort to do her wifely duties, she did not clean or do none of the things she usually did around the house . She neglects her “mother women “ duties and moves into her her space / own house . She will soon come to conclusion that nothing can change . She feel hopeless , she chose to die as an escape from the society she lives in
In chapter XXXII it says , “the pigeon-house pleased her .
it once assumed the intimate character of a home. Edna is growing independence , strength comes neglect society expectations. Edna ignores the expectations of those around and she acts in her own accordance to her own opinions. Edna does not care about what nobody thinks of her . Her beliefs that independence leads to her death at the end of the book. . Edna experiences her indepences as no more than an emotion. When she swims for the first time by herself that shows her independence. When she decides to leave her past life style also shows her independence.
Edna However is not a mother women or a housewife. She does not worship her husband or idolize her kids. Edna never pays attention to that she neglects her job as a wife until she falls in love with robert and then she leaves her marriage. After what she did with robert Edna is ready to leave her marriage and push her husband away even more because she realizes her husband is holding her back from her needs and much more in life. Leonce tries to make act like women who obeys their husbands , he instigate edna’s desire for independence from him . In the book Leonce says, “I can not permit you to stay out there all night . you must come home instantly “. Edna says back “ i mean to stay out here. I do not wish to go in, and I do not intend to “(pg492). This shows that edna is carefree/ does not really care about what anybody has to say about her. People opinions don’t matter to her. She is going to do whatever she desires/feel like doing.
The second trendental element that are crucial to enda’s self discovery is living life to the fullest . Edna shoes living life to the fullest when she sees through society . She notices that everybody is expected to conform to a particular group but that doesn’t mean she has to . She lives her life to the fullest . In this era women are expected to cater to their husband and basically be maids to their husbands. In the book it says “ in short mrs. pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being , and to relations as an individual to the world within and about her page 25 chapter VI”. This line from chapter VI is describing edna’s process of the awakening. In the book edna separates herself from robert and frees herself from society rules. Edna is already kind of living in her own world. She does not fully understand her love for robert. Neither does she know the love that she has for robert will affect her life. Edna is repressed because she doesn’t want to be in her marriage. She is also repressed because she does not want to be a mother women . The mother women life just is not for her . “it was not a conditions of which , and she could see in it but appling and hopeless pg 63”
The third transcendental element that are crucial to edna’s self discovery is nature is sacred . The meaning of nature is sacred is a natural or a large area of land or water. For example in a hill , forest , groves , trees , rivers , and lakes. In the awakening the birds shows victorian women in general. In the awakening birds, the sea, art, symbolize nature. Art symbolize freedom . Birds symbolize the ability to communicate. The sea symbolize freedom, and escape.
Edna killed herself at the end of the book which symbolize her freedom. Edna tells her friend she is going for a quick swim after dinner. She drowns herself in the ocean. The theme of this book was society accepted women who honored their husbands and who was a mother women to their children. Edna life was kind of miserable because she wanted to be accepted . In the book it says “ the tears came fast down Edna’s face …such experience such experiences were uncommon in a marriared women life” She finally decides that what she wants is more important than what other wants from her.
The Purpose of Kate Chopin’s Writing of the Novel Awakening. (2022, Feb 20). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/the-purpose-of-kate-chopin-s-writing-of-the-novel-awakening/