In the awakening there are many different aspects of love presented.
Edna :
- Love for her children - motherly love
- Lust - loving the invasive attention of a man
- Desire - her love for Robert - unattainable love / forbidden love
- Passion - attention from Arobin / lack of passion between her and Mr Pontellier
- Loss of love - Robert leaving her due to him knowing that she is unattainable
Chopin presents different aspects of love throughout the novel to exaggerate and
strain the social expectations of a woman during this era.
Chopin not only presents the confusion that Edna feels as she experiences different
types of love but she also shows how Edna who has a strong character of indepen-
dence, only truly wants a man when that version of love is either unattainable or for-
bidden.
This shows Edna’s crave for freedom and her desire to have her own sense of indepen-
dence through who she decides to be with. The only aspect stopping Edna from expe-
riencing her independence and freedom is the expectations that society forces upon
her as she can never leave her husband.
Edna enjoys the passion and lust that she craves from Arobin as she enjoys the atten-
tion he gives her, this could be exaggerated from the lack of attention she receives
from her husband.
Edna :
- Love for her children - motherly love
- Lust - loving the invasive attention of a man
- Desire - her love for Robert - unattainable love / forbidden love
- Passion - attention from Arobin / lack of passion between her and Mr Pontellier
- Loss of love - Robert leaving her due to him knowing that she is unattainable
Chopin presents different aspects of love throughout the novel to exaggerate and
strain the social expectations of a woman during this era.
Chopin not only presents the confusion that Edna feels as she experiences different
types of love but she also shows how Edna who has a strong character of indepen-
dence, only truly wants a man when that version of love is either unattainable or for-
bidden.
This shows Edna’s crave for freedom and her desire to have her own sense of indepen-
dence through who she decides to be with. The only aspect stopping Edna from expe-
riencing her independence and freedom is the expectations that society forces upon
her as she can never leave her husband.
Edna enjoys the passion and lust that she craves from Arobin as she enjoys the atten-
tion he gives her, this could be exaggerated from the lack of attention she receives
from her husband.
