In the novel The Awakening, the author Kate Chopin explains the social norms of the women in Victorian society. Edna Pontellier is the main in The Awakening. She advances the theme of the corruption of the Victorian society in the scene where she learns how to swim at the Grand Isle by herself. After that the reader can observe Edna's social change. Edna dusts off her pre-marriage self-expression, sexual desire, and independency.
Edna is considered to be a Victorian kind of woman. However, deep inside she feels different and later has The Awakening. Even though Edna has children, she's not a mother-type of a woman. Adele's self-expression, Robert's sexual manners, and Mademoiselle Reisz's art help Edna to redefine herself. Suddenly Edna finds herself dissatisfied with her marriage and becomes selfish.
Mademoiselle Reisz was an example of the corruption in the Victorian society because she didn't follow what was expected from her. Reisz was being herself and didn't really care what people thought of her. Therefore, she wasn't accepted by society. "I've heard she's partially demented," said Arobin. She seems to me wonderfully sane, Edna replied. I"m told she's extremely disagreeable and unpleasant" (83).
In the scene where Edna learns how to swim by herself it proves that she was a failure in the Victorian society. "But that night she was like the little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with over-confidence" (27). Women were suppose to be dependent on their husbands. Edna on the other hand became independent. In the scene where Edna won't listen to her husband's command shows her social change. "She wondered if her husband had ever spoken to her like that before, and if she had submitted to his command. Of course she had; she remembered she had. But she could not realize why or how she should have yielded, feeling as she then did" (31).