Who Is The Protagonist In The Awakening

Recklessly In Love In the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the readers are introduced to the creole society in which the main character, Edna Pontellier, lives. Readers soon discover that Edna herself does not quite fall into place within the society and she feels uncomfortable at several points within the text. While she is feeling uncomfortable within the society she lives, she is actually becoming more comfortable with herself. This “comfortableness” she is obtaining is actually her awakening. Edna is gaining a new outlook on life within this novel and the new view is affected by the people she encounters and skills she learns. Robert, a young man she met during the summer, has a huge impact upon Edna. The awakening that was instinctively occurring within Edna was soon terminated due to the love she found in Robert; her awakening soon turned more abrupt, reckless, and rebellious which ultimately lead to her suicide.
The fact that Edna sought after men that were unattainable was commented on; “Since Early adolescence, her gestures and descriptions of herself reveal, she possessed a very ardent temperament. She had felt attracted to men for some reason or other were inaccessible: the cavalry officer, the engaged man, the actor” (Arnavon 187). Robert has become that man that is inaccessible to Edna. Now that she was married all men, except her husband Léonce, are not allowed. This being the case, Edna starts with a small lust for Robert. The lust that is formed from Edna is soon her fixation. She consumes herself with the thoughts of Robert and a life with him soon becomes a false goal of her awakening. Instead of finding herself throughout her awakening, Edna is trying to live a life that Robert can be present and active