The purpose of this essay is to investigate how personal relationships in a Creole society, including the one with art, might influence the main character Edna Pontellier's search for personal freedom in Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899). The essay discusses, on the one hand, Edna's female relationships with Adele Ratignolle and Mlle. Reisz, and on the other hand her relationships with the three men Léonce Pontellier, Robert Lebrun and Alcée Arobin. In the novel Edna struggles to be a "mother woman" like Adele but also the opposite, that is to try to become an artist and an independent woman like Mlle. Reisz. Because of Edna's different relationships she starts to question her life situation. This essay concludes that Edna has ambiguous feelings within herself and that these feelings derive from the different personalities that she socializes with.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hh-23260 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Brandt, Annika |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för humaniora (HUM) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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