Contradictory Impulses in Chopin’s The Awakening Essay -- Chopin Awake

Contradictory Impulses in Chopins The AwakeningEdna Pontellier could not have told why, wishing to go to the bank with Robert, she should in the first locate have declined, and in the second place have followed in obedience to one of the two contradictory impulses that impelled her.A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly deep down her,--the light which, showing the way, forbids it, (Chopin 34). The possibility of a life beyond the stove of motherhood, social custom, standards of femininity, and wifedom characterize Kate Chopins vision of her heroines awakening, save Ednas personal growth remains stifled by her inability to compensate the contradictory impulses pulling her in different directions. Edna clearly envisions herself somewhere between mother-goddess figure Adele Ratignolle and the artist-spinster Mademoiselle Reisz, yet can not seem to hash out a space that affords the luxury of love unspoiled by self-control and obligation. Ednas soul surfaces when she allows h erself to act on impulse over duty, but as Chopins words reveal, Mrs. Pontellier blindly fol...