Awakenings :: Essays Papers

Awakenings Many people experience events that will alter their lives forever. These events may be for the better, or perhaps for the worst. Either way, life will most likely never be the same. It is, however, the way one responds to these events that is most significant. The stories of Alice Sebold and Edna Pontellier differ greatly from one another. Both women, nevertheless, find themselves entering into a new chapter of their lives. While their stories are different, the issues that they face are similar. Alice and Edna both experience awakenings throughout the course of their stories. Lucky, by Alice Sebold, is a memoir of her rape during her freshmen year of college at Syracuse University. It is a detailed, and sometimes painful, story of her struggle to deal with and eventually rise above this traumatic event. Throughout the book, Alice experiences things, people, and events that lead and even push her to her awakening. The novella, â€Å"The Awakening†, by Kate Chopin, is written about a woman in the 1800’s, named Edna Pontellier. Although the book is written about a very different time period, the issues that come up are timeless. Edna struggles with finding her happiness in a society that places restraints and limits on what is acceptable from a woman. Both women resolved to make the best of their situations. Alice pursued legal actions against her rapist, and was victorious. She worked hard to emotionally, mentally, and physically overcome her rape. Alice remarked, â€Å"You save yourself, or you remain unsaved† Sebold, pg 61. Edna too found strength within herself to change her situation. She began to change her life despite of what was considered socially acceptable at the time. She opened the doors of intellectual and sexual deviances. One common factor in both Edna and Alice’s story was that they did not feel like they fit in with their friends and family from the beginning.