The Awakening: America Was Not Ready For Edna Pontellier Essay example

The late nineteenth century was a time of great social, technological, and cultural change for America. Boundaries were rapidly evolving. New theories contend age-old beliefs were springing up everywhere, such as Darwins natural selection. This post-Civil War epoch also gave men and women opportunities to work side-by-side, and in 1848, the first womans rights conference was held in Seneca Fall, New York. These events leading up to the twentieth century had polished the focus for the new, independent woman to be introduced. Women at all levels of society were spry in attempts to better their lot, and the New Woman, the late nineteenth-century equivalent of the liberated woman, was much on the unexclusive mind (Culley 117). Women were finally publicly discussing mystic matters and gaining on their male counterparts socioeconomic status, and in 1899, in the midst of the womens movement, American society seemed ready for Kate Chopins newest invention, Edna Pontellier. Mada me Edna Pontellier, wife of wealthy and much respected Leonce Pontellier, had the perfect life. Vacationing in Grand Isle, living in a mansion, raising her two boys, Edna seemed unworried and well cared for. But one cannot see anothers private distresses from the outside. Entrapped by the sequestering tomb of the mindsets of her time and starved for freedom and expression, Edna was willing to turn up her life to break free. Because of these traits, Edna exemplified the ideal New Woman. She had freedom of choice, courage, passion, and was fearless. Edna Pontellier was the fiber model for women striving for the same social ideals they wanted to be her. each this, and Chopins ethos with her well written plethora of short stories and her prospero... ..., 2002. p1-237.Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin A vital Biography. Baton Rouge, Louisiana Louisiana situate University Press, 1994. Print.Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol. 14. Detroit Gale Research, 1984. p5 5-84.Buhle, Mari Jo. Women and American Socialism, 1870-1920. Urbana U of Illinois P, 1981.Culley, Margaret, ed. The Awakening An Authoritative Text Context Criticism. New York Norton, 1976. Koloski, Bernard, ed. Preface. Approaches to Teaching Chopins The Awakening. By Koloski. New York MLA, 1988. Robinson, Lillian. Treason Our Text Feminist Challenges to the Literary Canon. Falling into opening Conflicting Views on Reading Literature. ed. David H. Richter. Boston Bedford, 1994.Seyersted, Per. A Kate Chopin Miscellany. Natchitoches Northwestern State UP, 1979. Toth, Emily. Kate Chopin. New York Morrow, 1990.