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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page essay that argues that Kate Chopin in The Awakening and F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby each create protagonists who are tragically doomed due to their idealism. Chopin's female protagonist Edna Pontellier's idealism concerns her expectations concerning her role as a woman in nineteenth century patriarchal culture. Edna cannot reconcile the reality of her life with her idealized vision of what she thinks life should be. Likewise, Jay Gatsby has an idealized perspective on reality. Putting his faith in the American Dream, which turns out to be an illusion, Gatsby can never fully achieves his vision of idealized love. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khgatcho.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
protagonist Edna Pontelliers idealism concerns her expectations concerning her role as a woman in nineteenth century patriarchal culture. Edna cannot reconcile the reality of her life with her idealized vision
of what she thinks life should be. Likewise, Jay Gatsby has an idealized perspective on reality. Putting his faith in the American Dream, which turns out to be an illusion,
Gatsby can never fully achieves his vision of idealized love. Edna Pontelliers dissatisfaction with nineteenth centurys conventions is made evident by contrasting Ednas attitudes and behavior with the
other women vacationing on Grand Isle. Edna recognizes that the women around her "idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as
individuals and grow wings as ministering angels" in their service (Chopin 19). She also recognizes that she is not like these women. Mr. Pontellier, the narrator informs the reader, looks
at his wife as she were a "valuable piece of personal property" (Chopin 4). It is primarily Ednas resistance to the societally-defined role of wife and mother that creates
the conflict within the novel. Rather than accepting the conventional wife and mother, Edna aspires to an artistic life similar to that of Mademoiselle Reisz, who is artistic and independent.
An elderly pianist, Mademoiselles music arouses Ednas artistic temperament. Additionally, Edna becomes infatuated with a young man, Robert Lebrun, and feels herself awakening sexually. When she returns home to New
Orleans, she feels a new sense of independence, and begins to neglect her "wifely duties." She begins to pain and moves into her own separate residence, where she has an
affair with a man of questionable reputation. Edna has no illusions about this man, Alcee Arobin, and knows that she does not love him. Nevertheless, when he kisses her,
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