The Awakening
Many people often take a journey through life towards self-discovery and becoming who they really are. Although some people may struggle through their journey of self-discovery, those who are able to make it through may not always have a happy ending. In Kate Chopin’s, The Awakening, the main character, Edna Pontellier is a mother and housewife, who begins her journey of self-discovery. She discovers that she is more than a mother and wife, yet someone who has something to strive for in life with symbols that helps guide her way to achieve self-discovery. Even though she is able to obtain self discovery, self-discovery may not be able to complete her as a person. Edna first begins to be the wife of Leonce Pontellier and mother of two sons. Although she has found herself inexplicably unhappy many times before, she has always felt reassured by the compassion and devotion of her husband to hold onto the relationship. Every married woman in Grand Isle is expected to become a “mother-women” with wings that are only use to protect and serve their families, not fly.