Finding Freedom in The AwakeningThe Awakening shocked readers in 1899, and would shock readers today if it were published in "Ladies Home Journal." Even today, women are expected to sacrifice, if not for their husbands, then at least for their children. I find it interesting that Grand Isle is the setting for the beginning and end of the novel. The story is built around a circle and represents the swirling force that is the energy of Edna's life. The circle reminds me of Yeats's "The Second Coming": "Turning and turning in the widening gyre/things are falling apart/the center cannot hold." » Very often I wanted Edna to act and she didn't, I guess that's the case. Chopin's goal is to not let us into Edna's thoughts or make us omniscient of her actions. It was difficult for me while reading. I wanted Edna's point of view, so I could EASILY understand what she was going to do, and that's what was hardest about this novel, and why it's not an easy read. I guess that's Chopin's goal. An example is when Edna cannot identify why she is crying - the reader is just as confused as Edna about the emotions. The sleep motif is very illuminating, in that the key moments of Edna's awakening are preceded by sleep. Sleep, especially for those who are depressed, is used as a means of escape, but in this novel, sleep is used mystically as a way for Chopin to show that many things happen while Edna sleeps and drives upon awakening. This way the reader can only guess what happens during sleep. I found that I identified more with Harding Davis' work in the sense that I could relate to Hugh and Deb's oppression (politically, economically, class-structurally). One thing both works have in common is that the two main characters (Hugh and Edna) actually hold the key to their own oppression, but Edna's social condition does not require much sympathy from the reader. Additionally, if a reader cannot enter this world with Chopin, it is difficult to understand this kind of oppression. It may not be correct to use the term oppression when writing about Edna, because it seems that she only leads a life of obligations. However, she frees herself from it and realizes: "Every step she took to free herself from her obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual..