The Awakening

The Awakening Women of the 19th-century America were very much under patriarchy control. They were under control of their father, brother, husband, or other male relative, for most or all of their lives. Edna Pontellier learned this first hand first from her father, then her husband then from her lovers. The first hint you get of Edna's father controlling her is in her statement, "and I was running away from prayers, …read in a spirit …

…melt out of her existence, leaving her alone. The children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her: who had over powered and sought to drag her into the soul's slavery for the rest of her days." She could not even consider the thought of being under someone's control the rest of her life, especially if there was no love. In the end she saw her white knight taking her away from it all.