The Awakening Paper - Feminist Perspective

Jesus DeJesus

February 19,2013

AP Literature 2nd Period

Critical Analyzing: The Awakening by Kate Chopin and A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

By analyzing these two well-known arts of literature in a feminist perspective, or point-of-view of females, one can notice a pattern in women's desire for freedom that men have in depicting their sexual desires. During both of these literary time periods women felt obligated to do what was their role back then: cook, clean, maintain children, etc, but Edna Pontellier from The Awakening felt different, as well as Nora Helmer from A Doll's House. Mrs. Pontellier felt extremely confident in the way of how she was pursuing her freedom and did not approach her human behavior of neglecting her children. This psychological perspective can be added with A Doll's House in Nora's obsession for material possession and implies "that she has the courage to kill herself if it means she will absolve Torvald of the need to cover up her crime."
The story starts off by showing how Mrs. Pontellier was married and had children. In early1900s, Edna Pontellier is a women that was well-respected around her town. Her husband was very materialistic and provided random gifts to the children; Edna's friends even claimed that Edna had "the perfect life" (20). When reviewing this in a feminist perspective way around this time period one can notice that being pampered the way Edna and her children were needed a faithful commitment to her husband Leonce Pontellier. Kate Chopin introduced one of Edna's friends Adele Ratignolle as a flat character in which stayed the same from the beginning to the end of the story. Mrs. Ratignolle is a prime example of how women were viewed by society back then, which was to do whatever it took to make her family happy and raise her children with love and care. Edna Pontellier did not believe in the natural force of society of being a stay-home mother.
This force was coming from her sexual desires which is...