January Blog

This month we read The Awakening. This book was particularly interesting to me because the main character, Edna, represents the struggle and oppression that women face in society. She is expected to be submissive to her husband and as a wife, she is seen as her husband's property. This bothered me immensely because in today's society, women have made progress toward equality and are no longer considered property of their husbands. I think that Edna was ahead of her time. I believe that this is why she committed suicide. She felt there was no other way out. On the other hand, in A Dolls House, Nora finds herself in a similar situation. She legally belongs to her husband and is faced with the struggles of society but instead of killing herself she makes the courageous decision to leave her husband. To me, Nora's leaving is a symbol of the progress that women have made and how hard it is to go against a society that is working in the opposite direction. Both of these women left their children behind, which is sad, but it had to happen. Edna could no longer live in that society and in order to be true herself she had to leave everyone and everything behind. Nora also was not legally allowed to take her children so she had to leave them if she wanted to leave her husband. Nora and Edna are very similar in that sense. They both chose to stay true to themselves no matter what.