The Awakening Response

I am not sure why this did not post the first time but here it is again.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin is the story of a woman, Edna Pontellier, who begins to understand what it means to be independent and to be her own woman. Edna is a typical society wife until a summer at Grand Isle shows her that there is more to life than obeying her husband, being a society woman and raising her two children. When Edna returns home from her vacation, she begins her new life in which she places herself before her children or her husband, going against everything society has told her to do.
The reader is able to empathize with Edna and her situation. Although women today are not faced with such a black and white world, one in which a person much choose to either live for themselves or their family, most people can understand what it is like to have society "say" that one path is correct while being internally conflicted with that path. The book is undeniably feminist in that it forces a woman to either choose to live the lifestyle that makes her happy and forsake her family or to be a mother and a wife while ignoring her own desires. The reader also identifies with Edna because she is not a perfect person; she has flaws as a mother and a wife even when she is trying her best to please everyone. Edna's relationship with Robert gives the novel depth because it is not only a feminist work but also a love story and it shows how one experience can change a person's view of the entire world.
As the novel progresses, it is easy to become disappointed in Edna. At first Edna is a freethinker who wants to find ways to be happy while continuing with her responsibilities, but as Edna begins to put her happiness above her children, she crosses the line into selfishness. Edna's affair with Alcee also makes the reader less empathetic, Edna ignores both her commitment to her husband and her love for Robert and gives in to a moment of desire. Edna's greatest moment of freedom and defiance is at the end of the novel when she kills herself. Instead of punishing herself for her selfishness, Edna takes yet another stand against society and commits an act of which she knows the society she lives in will not approve.
The Awakening is worth reading because an reader from any background would be able to relate to Edna in some way, particularly if that reader were a woman. The book has historical significance as well. In the late 1800's when the novel was written, women were beginning to advocate their rights. Edna embodies this movement as a woman who explores her rights through experimentation in art and with her sexuality. The Awakening gives a very vivid and historically accurate description of the turn of the century and an account of the lifestyles and feelings of women during that time.
The novel shows the timelessness of society's impact on individuals. Though the particular issues may be different, men and women of today are still faced with the conflicts between what they feel is best for themselves and what society seems to be telling them to do. Some readers may find Edna's actions extreme and unwarranted but most will understand where she is coming form and the feeling of being stuck between two unfavorable situations.
The novel has several connections to the media. The first is that when the novel was introduced it was seen as propaganda for the women's rights movement and many critics condemned the novel as a work meant to disrupt society. Edna embodied everything that society was afraid might happen if women became independent. Another significant connection to the media is the fact that in this book, every aspect of society acts as the media, attempting to sway Edna in a certain direction. The media is usually thought of as a tool to get a person to think a certain way or do a certain thing, in Edna's case everyone she knew and everything she saw told her to ignore the impulses she felt and focus on being a good and respectable wife and mother.