The Awakening analysis

Here, the author describes the complex nature of the main character and how her quest to achieve relevance in the society influences her growth as an individual. This allows the readers to understand the how the works of Freud have been applied over the years and thus influence our current application of the same. Therefore one is able to see how the society has evolved and advanced over time. Background of the psychoanalytic literary criticism The psychoanalytic literary criticism method is said to have been brought into existence by Sigmund Freud. He was greatly renowned in the field of psychology where he authored a number of works that are remarkable and greatly used in the field of research. He consumed a lot of salt during the day without consuming water so that he would feel thirsty during the night and wake up.

He went ahead to re-echo previous works of another scientist who argued that thirst actually tends to influence the dream state of a dreamer (Elliot et al. Nevertheless, the dreamer only wakes up to a rude shock when he or she realizes that the real thirst but for the imagination one, has not been quenched. Sigmund also highlights that some dreams are a fulfillment of one’s wishes and ironically adds that even the scary ones depict the wishes of the dreamer. He also alludes that dreams are deceitful nature and that most of them tend to confuse us from the reality, especially those that occur with a lot of images and symbols. However, it is important to note that there is a thin line between the superego and a person’s conscience since they both tend to affect our response to act by considering the rightness or wrongness of the act itself.

Psychoanalytic theory as applied in The Awakening. Kate Chopin It is vivid in the entire text that the author must have had a similar encounter as demonstrated on how she builds up the characters. Kate Chopin’s own life is said to be one that she constantly tried to seek her identity. This is so because, in her growing, the author was brought up by her mother who was widowed for the better part of her life. Moreover, she also deserts her husband and moves out of her home. Not only did she neglect her family but also moves out of her home. The sole reason behind her actions was because she thought that her marriage was loveless. Being an id, therefore, made her realize that there was nothing she could do to get her desires (Gorman et al.

This ended by burying herself sooner than her time had come, in the last place she knew love. Besides that, she pursues love with other men, for example, Robert and Arobin despite her being married with kids. Edna seems to respond to her id when her sexual emotions which Arobin awakens. Besides that, she responds to her less lustful but loving emotions when she spends a lot of time with Robert as seen in the eighth paragraph where Robert turns down Leonce’s offer to remain and talk to Edna as stated in the thirteenth paragraph of chapter one: "Come go along, Lebrun," he proposed to Robert. But Robert admitted quite frankly that he preferred to stay where he was and talk to Mrs.

Pontellier. An instance on the novel in which she tends to agree to this is found on the fourth paragraph of Chapter six: “In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her. ” (Chopin 17). In addition to this, the complex character of Edna shows a tendency of Electra complex (Gorman et al. Her case is different from that of a child desiring the love of their parent. ” (Chopin 63). Mademoiselle Reisz Mademoiselle Reisz is a woman who lives in her own home away from the community. She occasionally interacts with people from the Grand Isle when asked to perform at their parties.

She entertains them at these parties by playing the piano despite her feeling that just a few people truly appreciated her music having Edna as the only example. This is clearly depicted in the first paragraph of chapter twenty where Edna longs to hear Reisz music begins to look for her: “It was during such a mood that Edna hunted up Mademoiselle Reisz. In the plot of the novel, she enables the reader to see the person Edna could have become if she had continued with her life away from both her husband and children. This is witnessed when Edna herself reveals how she felt after listening to Reisz music in chapter ten: “I wonder if I shall ever be stirred again as Mademoiselle Reisz's playing moved me tonight.

” (Chopin 33). Clearly, we can see her actions are due to Edna’s desires and attempts to stay away from the society and the life that is expected of her but she does not do so to the extent the id does and does so in a way that is accepted by the society as a whole. She also aids Edna to comprehend her emotions and thus acts as a model for Edna in a psychological manner since Edna wants or craves to be like this lady who is self-sufficient, calm and collected and in control of her emotions. It is evident that she is the opposite of Edna who we see aspires nothing more than to gain her freedom from her home and children.

The love of her children is depicted when she shares some of the brings a cloth material to her friend so that she can weave warm clothes for her kids ahead of the incoming winter. This is seen in the sixth paragraph of chapter four: “She had brought the pattern of the drawers for Mrs. Pontellier to cut out—a marvel of construction, fashioned to enclose a baby's body so effectually that only two small eyes might look out from the garment, like an Eskimo's. ” (Chopin 12). Edna herself believes this man loves her yet he just wants a casual fling. Edna finally comes to the realization that she has to conform to society’s expectations just in time after Robert’s return and buries herself.