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Chapter 18
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Awakening, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Convention and Individuality
Women’s Rights, Femininity, and Motherhood
Realism and Romanticism
Action and Reflection
Freedom and Emptiness
Summary
Analysis
As time passes, Edna feels less and less frustration; she stops taking care of the household and does whatever she pleases. When her husband scolds her, she fights back. She spends a great deal of time painting, though she does not think highly of her work. Her children and the nurse model for her.
As Edna begins to act on her thoughts and feelings, she feels happier and calmer: she narrows the gap between feeling and action, the interior and exterior, and the anxieties of insincerity and hypocrisy dissipate.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
As Edna paints, she often thinks of the summer, and she feels something like desire. Some days she is happy and dreamy, other days life seems dark and meaningless; when she is sad, she can’t paint.
Edna places more importance on her inner life, and less on social surfaces; but her emotions are turbulent, so her behavior is erratic.
Themes
Literary Devices
Quiz
Test Yourself
