Question

Which excerpt from The Awakening best expresses the idea that women of Chopin's era were not always free to make their own decisions? "Something put into my head that you cared for me; and I lost my senses. I forgot everything but a wild dream of your some way becoming my wife." "Why? Because you were not free; you were Léonce Pontellier's wife." "Oh! I was demented, dreaming of wild, impossible things, recalling men who had set their wives free, we have heard of such things." "I realized what a cur I was to dream of such a thing, even if you had been willing."

Answer 1

Which excerpt from The Awakening best expresses the idea that women of Chopin's era were not always free to make their own decisions?

During the Victorian period, women were constrained by the societal roles that they were supposed to fulfill. Kate Chopin's novel explores the gender roles established by the society and how Edna, her main character, seeks to break them.

The best excerpt that expresses the idea that women were not always free to make their own decisions is excerpt C. "Oh! I was demented, dreaming of wild, impossible things, recalling men who had set their wives free, we have heard of such things." In this excerpt, Robert subtly states that women are their husbands' property. He even uses the words "set their wives free", which exemplifies the notion of what, on his mind, women were supposed to do: to serve men. To be "free" of the husband was something that the man could only allow; a wife couldn't make that decision on her own.  She had to remain trapped and unable to choose the best for her.

The other excerpts also express and show women's established roles but they are not as sharp as excerpt C. In her writing, Kate Chopin gives a powerful critique of the ways in which society controlled and constrained women.