Document Type
Junior Award Winner
Award Date
Spring 2010
Course Name
Idea of the Individual
Teacher
Dr. Adam Kotlarczyk
Abstract
Though Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening are largely considered unrelated novels, they share one major idea: that of the failure of transformation. This is depicted in the respective evolutions of Crane’s Henry Fleming and Chopin’s Edna Pontellier, each of whom suffers a loss of identity in their respective awakenings. This idea is borne not out of imagination, but rather, the experiences of the authors themselves. Crane created Fleming to satirize his post-war world, while Chopin invented Edna to do the same in her sexually repressive society. Through the unsuccessful evolutions of their protagonists, these authors portray the ultimate impossibility in transcending the boundaries of their respective societies.
Recommended Citation
Jayaram, Vijay '11, "Crane and Chopin: Ideas of Transformation" (2010). 2010 Spring Semester. 4.
https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/spring2010/4