Edna's Quest

Edna’s Quest
The female hero is sometimes hard to identify in nineteenth century literature, novels that portrayed a woman going against the social normalcy of the time were suppressed and disappeared from print forever. In the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin however, a true female hero is introduced. Edna Pontellier is a woman who was willing to rebel against society’s restraining presence and try and live her own life, something that does not only take strength but courage as well.
At the beginning of the novel, Edna exists in a sort of semi-conscious state. She is comfortable in her marriage to Leonce and her relationship with her children but is not particularly happy with her life. Her journey to completing her life and finding the courage to rebel against the society starts on Grand Isle. The people she meets there awakens her desires for music, sexual satisfaction, art, and freedom that she can no longer bear to keep hidden. It opens up her eyes to...