The Awakening by Kate Chopin a
powerful story revolving around several recurring themes. Two of the most important
themes revolve around sexism and reaction to it and free will. Sexism is the idea that
women are not equal to men, an idea explored by Chopin repeatedly. Sexism is actually
related to free will, because free will is the idea that we make our own choices and our
fate is not predetermined, or we are not forced to do things we don’t want to do. Edna
is a woman, and she decides to make her own choices even with the most extreme
consequences rather than be controlled by the will of a
man.
Edna must decide who she will be, and this means
letting go of assumptions deeply ingrained in her by society. Edna is not happy in her
marriage, but many marriages are unhappy. Realizing that she is unhappy means
confronting the sexist ideas that it is only her husband’s feelings that matter. It is
more acceptable for a husband to cheat on his wife than for a wife to cheat on her
husband, and many might consider what Edna does with Robert worse than her husband
cheating on her.
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