The Awakening

Kate Chopin's, "The Awakening," undoubtedly stirs controversy, which is indeed the point. Motherhood, although not the only controversial topic depicted, is the most heated in the novella, in my opinion. And maybe it is only because I can relate to Edna's personal struggle as a woman and mother trying to find herself.

The difference is, my struggle is/was nowhere near as difficult in today's society, as it was for Edna in the late 1800's. Motherhood was, and still is to a degree today, forced upon you in those times and came with unspoken, but also written, rules that had real and damaging consequences if you didn't conform. Much like slavery and just like Lily Bart in " The House of Mirth," women are not looked at as individuals with autonomy. We were looked at as property, just like slaves(and Lily Bart).

What's interesting is, if you were to ask anyone today if it were okay, or at least politically correct, to say that African American's are property and not individuals who deserve a free life, you would be shunned. Because we have learned that it is not okay and immoral. And the thing is, if you were to ask that same question regarding women, you would receive the same response.

Therefore, with this insight, why does it appear to be okay for people, especially women, to take from this book, that Edna was selfish, bad, immoral and being a terrible "mother," as if she had no rights as a human being to live her life as she saw fit? It was perfectly okay for a man to act in this manner and also African Americans, who were legally(and I stress legally only)allowed, according to the written law to be "free" and not property. Slaves, technically, had more rights than women.

So people at that time, since then, and still today, criticize Edna's character as acting inappropriate, immoral and wrong in every way, because she was the "mother" of the children she never wanted and was forced(due to lack of birth control and the role society forced upon her)to have. But these same people, and much more so today, are more than happy to declare their feelings that African Americans should be free, have the same rights and/or at least should not be "property."

That is completely contradictory and very ignorant and disturbing, for women especially, to say that it's okay to be property and forced to follow social rules, but not slaves. I could almost understand that kind of ignorance then, but certainly not now, after all we've learned through history.