Astrological Approaches Towards Understanding Kate Chopin and Edna Pontellier

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Bayreuth, course: Writing Gender: American Woman Writers, 6 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction Although coldness dominates the month of February, the light lasts longer and becomes brighter each day. One draws hope because soon, the clanking frost will be melting. In nature the first plants budge pertly and the urge for action and the will for renewal become noticeable. At this time of the year when the sun enters the sign of Aquarius, Kate Chopin saw the light of day. Forty-nine years later, in 1899, her novel The Awakening is published. The book, in which the protagonist Edna Pontellier rebels against the social conventions of the Victorian society whereby women were solely seen as property of their husbands and mothers of their children, causes outrage among the great majority of readers and critics in America. By challenging gender roles, Kate Chopin had entered virgin soil on a matter that was simple not to be questioned in Victorian society with its fixed rules. Edna Pontellier becomes an outsider by struggling to achieve independence, freedom and individuality for herself and her life. Chopin herself, not only by writing a novel like The Awakening, stood in many ways apart from the crowd, too. Her habits, point of views and appearance were unique and often provocative. Rebellion, independence and the pursuit of individuality are not only the central themes in The Awakening and in Kate Chopin's life but also the central motives assigned to the archetype of the Aquarius, the "water carrier." This term paper aims at providing an approach towards understanding Kate Chopin and Edna Pontellier by considering the influence of the sign of Aquarius and by examining to what extent its nature can be found in their lives as mothers, wives and human beings. Before taking a closer look at the person Kate Chopin and her life in C