The independent artist in The Awakening and Narcissus and Goldmund One of the great themes of the modern Western literary tradition is that of the independence of the artist. Throughout history, writers have faced this problem in their own lives. Often from the upper classes, they may decide to forgo a life of relative comfort and financial security to explore the far reaches of the human spirit through literature. They must choose between financial and emotional satisfaction. This is the decision taken by the protagonists of Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse and The Awakening by Kate Chopin. In both of these novels, the protagonist leaves mainstream society to become an artist, perhaps reflecting the lives of the authors themselves. But it is not the mere physical departure from mainstream society that is the most important factor in these novels. What is most important is the emotional and mental distance that Goldmund and Edna place between themselves and their respective cultures. In these two novels, the artist is depicted as a renegade spirit, leaving behind the restrictions of his native culture to pursue art. These cultural restrictions come in many forms. First, the artist attacks intellectual conformity, choosing art over any other means of expression, even if it is not widespread in his society. Although not explicitly stated – and perhaps even unconscious – the artist chooses art over academia or high society. The artist questions the morals of society, explaining this choice in his daily actions. The artist rejects ostentatious displays of wealth and the cultural emphasis on money, replacing it with a frugal simplicity more conducive to authentic experience. Finally, the artist questions the most important cultural construct for any understanding of human interaction: the binary conception of gender. Attacks on conformityIn Narcissus and Goldmund, Goldmund begins the novel in a medieval cloister, a rampart of the classic, that is to say Greek. and Roman - culture in the context of a backward Europe. Hesse emphasizes the immutable character and relative permanence of the cloister and its population: “Generations of cloister boys passed under the foreign tree... There were always newcomers; and the faces changed every few years, but most of them looked the same, even if only for their blond, curly hair” (3-4; ch.