In The Awakening of Kate Chopin, the protagonist, Edna leaves her husband to find a place in the world. Edna believes her newfound sexually independent power will make her the master of her own life. But, as Martin points out, she has overestimated her strengths and is still hampered by her "limited ability to direct her energy and master 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 of life as a whole" (990). She has internalized the social conception of women as driven by her emotions and not her mind and, therefore, in her search for another man to fill the void of love in her life, she lets her goal become clouded instead of learning to depend only by itself. Edna wants to overcome gender stereotypes and is already using 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 successfully leave preconceptions behind of the company. Martin writes: Ambition, commitment, overcoming the odds, focusing energy on a goal are habits of mind associated with male mastery. A woman who wants to develop these skills must challenge a centuries-old tradition of passive femininity[.] . . . But Edna Pontellier does not have the emotional resources to transcend the conventions that regulate female 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 his marriage, "he stopped and, taking off his wedding ring, threw it onto the... middle of the paper... Giorcelli, Cristina. "Edna's Wisdom: A Transitional and Numinous Merging." Martin 109-39. Martin, Wendy, ed. New Essays on the Awakening. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988. Papke, Mary E. Verging on the Abyss: The Social Fiction of Kate Chopin and Edith Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1990 Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography: Louisiana State UP, 1969. Showalter, Elaine. “Tradition and Female Talent: The Awakening as a Lonely Book.” Allen F. Women and Autonomy in Kate Chopin's Short Fiction, NY: Peter Lang, 2005. Web. April 21, 2015 Kate Chopin's Awakening: A Critical Reception, August 1999. Web. April 30. 2015.