Overestimating her strength

Gustavo Quintero
English 48B
February 27, 2008
Journal# 32 Kate Chopin


Quote:
"...overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out where no woman had swam before"(Chopin 556).


Summary:
Edna after taking many swimming lessons from everybody has finally overcome her fear of swimming and is swimming by herself. For the first time she is swimming without the aid of anybody.


Response:
I have to say that I have mixed feelings about Edna in, "The Awakening". I first I am glad that she is able to awaken to these new feelings and expressions as she has never been able to before but at the same time I feel she is trying to hard. What I mean by this is that she seems to be trying to get everybody's attention just a bit to hard. During the Victorian times that Edna lived in she is very much oppressed and expected to maintain her role in society. Her role is that of a mother. She is not expected to sway at all from this role. Throughout this novel we are confronted with gender roles, in particular female roles, that are set in stone. For example the woman are expected to stay faithful to their husbands and take care of their children and household. the men on the other hand are almost encouraged to have sex outside of the marriage. I personally do not fell this is right but I did grow up in a much different time than that of Chopin's novel. Edna begins to flirt with just about every young male character in the novel, while her husband continues to visit the "clubs". This newly found sexual freedom that Edna has found helps her open up in other parts of her life. She begins to take on painting, gambling and rebels against her husband. While all this is great for freeing Edna from her oppression it seems like she is trying to do way to much all at once. All of these awakenings follow up one after another. All leading to her eventual suicide. I am not saying that she should have accepted her role in society rather Edna should not have had her "hands in so many cookie jars". The one thing I do have to respect Edna for is her ability to see what her gender role was and to completely change it. She reminds me of Sylvia as the Geranium. At the beginning of the novel she is wilted and dying, by the end she has come full circle and has blossomed(although in this case the Geranium perishes).