In the book The Awakening, the main character, Edna Pontellier, is a women looking for self fulfillment and understanding. In a lot of ways I think Kate Chopin is telling a story about her self.
The book starts off with Edna and her husband, Mr. Pontellier, on vacation at Grand Isle, a vacation spot for the rich. One night Mr. Pontellier left to have a drink with some of his guy friends, even though Edna did not like the idea. He showed up at the house that same night drunk, and fell asleep while his wife sat and crying on the front porch, because she never gets to see him and when she does he goes off and gets drunk. This was not the first time that her husband had done this to her, leaving and coming back drunk.
While spending time with her friends, she started to realize what her position was in the world, and she did not like it because she didn’t really know who she was. Also she started realizing that she did not have to make her husband happy when all he does is make her sad. This is when she starts getting inspiration to learn what makes her happy, her fulfillment and understanding.
Through out the book she spent a numerous amount of time with Robert Lebrun, one of the main characters, also a person she had an affair with.
Edna Pontellier wants more autonomy from her husband, not receiving it she was driven by the flirtation of Robert and then committed adultery on her husband.
I did not like this book because she said she wanted self fulfillment and then cheated on her husband. Who was she when she married him? Don’t you that she would have all the self fulfillment she needed when she got married, or even when she birth to her children.? What was she thinking when she was cheated on him: did she even think about what she was doing to her husband or even more important her kids? I did not like this book because she only thought about her self and no one else.