An Analysis of the Image of Edna Pontellier in The Awakening from the Perspective of Feminism

Abstract

Kate Chopin occupies an important place in the history of female literature. She is the forerunner of feminist literature. The Awakening is Kate’s one of the most famous works, which is about a dissatisfied wife’s resistance to her husband and society. This paper, mainly from the feminist perspective, analyzes and interprets Edna’s main characters in Kate’s The Awakening. First, it introduces Kate’s feminist thought, and the historical and cultural background of her works. Then from the feminist point of view, the thesis analyzes the heroine’s identities as wife, mother, and self, and how to pursue her independence, and she was not accepted by the society and finally went to her doom. No individual can exist independently of social rules. We are the representatives of social culture. Chopin’s work challenges the patriarchal social order through the heroine.