Essay
‘Literature often suggests that love can break down any barrier.’ Explore the extent to which you agree with this statement.
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essay practice for awakening - love breaking barriers
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‘Literature often suggests that love can break down any barrier.’Explore the extent to which you agree with this statement.
Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, written in the late nineteenth century,
shows her insights of love, romance and relationships, that to a modern
audience would be seen as a normal want for the main character Edna. However,
during this era the novel was gravely unaccepted due to the strain of societal
expectations and the challenges that Chopin made. Whilst I agree to an extent
when in reference to other literature such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet,
when in comparison to The Awakening I disagree.
In The Awakening Chopin explores the different aspects of love by not only
speaking of different types of love, but letting the main character Edna explore
and discover these new types of love for herself.
In the novel love is a fantasy, as Edna has a history of infatuations with men that
are unattainable, the novel explores this desire of Ednas. Whilst the novel
suggests that love can break down any barrier, due to the lengths Edna goes to,
by even facing potential societal disapproval, it is shown that love can not break
down the pressures of society. These societal pressures are presented through
the character of Robert, as when he confesses his love for Edna, he soon leaves
again as he is bound by social and religious expectations. ‘I love you. Goodby-
because I love you’, this note that Robert leaves for Edna shows that he
understands that Edna may never be with him because she is already married,
even after her suggesting that they run away together.
In the novel, love is also restricted through the barrier of gender. During the
nineteenth century, women were viewed as the lesser gender, expected to obey
their husbands, as they had the ‘privilege of quitting their society when they
ceased to be entertaining’. This novel of a young mother wanting to be with
another man, as well as having multiple desirable affairs, was an outrage during
this time period. Throughout the novel, we are presented with what was
expected of Edna through society’s eyes as well as their expectations. At the
beginning of the novel, when we see the communication between Edna and
Leonce, we discover that Leonce perceives Edna as nothing more than a
‘valuable piece of personal property’.This barrier for Edna took away the
freedom in which she craved, whilst searching for this freedom, Edna decides to
move into the pigeon house, to allow herself her wanted independence, which
being severely frowned upon, Leonce sent a letter of ‘unqualified disapproval
and remonstrance’.
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