The Awakening

Time and Place in The Awakening In the book The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, time and place play a major role in Edna’s “awakening.” Edna, the protagonist, attempts to defy male domination in her life, and through this defiance she “awakens,” and becomes her own person. She explores the natural world, which she had previously not known in her repressed role as a Creole matron. This could not have been possible for Edna had …

…and place. She tries to escape the restrictions and conventions of society by following her passions and interests. She pursues relationships with two men, Robert and Alcée, even though she is a married woman. Edna discovers that she is in fact a passionate being. This self-knowledge results in her suicide at the end of the novella. Unable to go back to a life as a conventional wife and mother, Edna chooses freedom in death.