In The Awakening of Kate Chopin, the main character, Edna leaves her husband to find her place in the world. Edna believes her newfound sexually independent power will make her master of her own life. But, as Martin points out, she has overestimated her strength and is still hampered by her "limited ability to direct her energy and control her emotions" (22). Unfortunately, Edna has been educated too much in the traditions of society and not enough in reason and independent survival, admitting to Robert that "we women learn so little about life as a whole" (990). She has internalized the social conception of woman as being guided by her emotions and not her mind and, therefore, in the search for another man to fill the void of love in her life, she allows her goal to become obscure herself instead of learning to depend on herself alone. Edna wants to overcome gender stereotypes and already uses behaviors such as assertiveness and independence to challenge them, but the struggle is new to her and she cannot discover a method that would allow her to succeed. to abandon the preconceptions of society. Martin writes: “Ambition, effort, overcoming obstacles, concentrating energy on a goal are habits of mind associated with masculine mastery. A woman who wishes to develop these skills must challenge a centuries-old tradition of passive femininity[.] . . . But Edna Pontellier does not have the emotional resources necessary to transcend the conventions that govern feminine behavior, conventions that she has, in fact, internalized. (22) Even in her defiant disobedience to her husband, she is unconsciously aware of the futility of her struggle. During a fit of violent frustration with her marriage, "she stopped and, taking off her wedding ring, threw it in the middle of a sheet of paper... Giorcelli, Cristina." Wisdom from Edna: A Transition and Numinous Merging. " Martin 109-39. Martin, Wendy, ed. New Essays on Awakening. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988. Papke, Mary E. On the Edge of the Abyss: The Social Fiction of Kate Chopin and Edith Wharton. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1990. Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography: Louisiana State UP, 1969. Showalter, Elaine “Tradition and Female Talent: Awakening as a Solitary Book” Martin 33-55. . Kate Chopin. Boston: Twayne, 1985. Stein, Allen F. Women and Autonomy in Kate Chopin's Short Fiction NY: Peter Lang, 2005. Web. “Kate Chopin's Awakening.” review The Awakening: A Critical Reception Np by Kate Chopin, August 1999. Web April 30... 2015.