Kate Chopin bravely exposed an attitude of feminism to an unprepared society in her novel The Awakening. Her brilliant work of fiction was not recognized at the time because feminism had not yet become popular. Eble claimed that Chopin’s book was considered to be “Too strong a drink for moral babes and should labeled ‘poison'” (75). Chopin defied societal assumptions of her time period and wrote the novel, The Awakening, using attitudes of characters in regard to gender, changes in the main character, imagery and Edna’s suicide to illustrate her feminist position.
Society during Chopin’s time period believed women to be a weak, dependent gender whose position lay nothing above mothering and housework. In The Awakening, Chopin relays the basic attitudes of society toward women mainly through her characters Leonce, Edna, Madame Ratignolle, and Madame Reisz. She uses Leonce and Madame Ratignolle to portray examples of what was considered acceptable in society. However, Chopin includes the contrasting characters of Edna and Madame Reisz in an effort to express urges and desires disguised by the female gender.
Leonce Pontieller, Edna’s husband, is depicted as the typical male of the time period. As Eble describes, “He is a businessman, husband and father, not given to romance, not given to much of anything outside his business” (77). Leonce considers Edna to be not much more than another one of his worldly possessions and a companion who should be ready and willing to converse on his level, at any time. In the very beginning the novel, Leonce stares at his sun burnt wife, “looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of property which has suffered some damage” (Chopin 3). Mr. Pontieller continues throughout the story to regard his wife as just another one of his possessions, “he greatly valued his possessions, chiefly because they were his” (Chopin 67). It is assumed that under Edna Pontillier’s role of wife and mother, she should actively listen to her husband’s rambling stories and care for her children at all times (as Leonce wondered, “If it was not a mother’s place to look after her children, whose on earth was it? (Chopin 6).) Leonce becomes extremely discouraged with his wife, that she”who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him and valued so little his conversation.” (Chopin 6). However, it was not uncommon at the time for a man to consider his wife to be under his control. He also claimed, “She’s got some sort of notion in her head concerning the eternal rights of women; and-you understand-we meet in the morning at the breakfast table.” (Chopin 88). Perhaps it was because of the society in which he had grown up in that Leonce could not comprehend the changes in his wife. However, this did not necessarily make Mr. Ponillier a sexist man. Leonce was considerably nice to his wife, and in most regards a good husband. Edna was “forced to admit that she knew of none better” (Chopin 9). .
Edna Pontellier held many non-traditional attitudes in regard to her own gender. She was not a “mother-woman.” Wolff points out that “Edna’s easiest option is ‘collusion’, to become a ‘mother-woman’; however, she rejects this role violently because of the displacements and forfeitures that it would impose.” She claims to feel sometimes as though she is wandering through her life unguided and unthinking, which was not a proper attitude for a woman of her time period to have. Edna also does not have the feelings towards her children that it was assumed she should, as she sometimes “gather them passionately to her heart” and she would sometimes forget them (Chopin 24). Edna also adopts a negative attitude towards marriage. She claims weddings to be “lamentable” (Chopin 89), and stomps on her own wedding ring as if trying to crush the permanent bond it represented. She does not feel the urge to communicate often with her husband and does not appear to miss him when he is away for long periods of time. In fact, she considers her marriage to Leonce Pontellier an accident which held no passion whatsoever. Chopin uses her descriptions of clothing to emphasize the difference in Edna. Edna Pontellier is clothed in lawn dresses, city dresses, a peignoir and a bathing suit throughout the novel. She does not wear the confining dresses such as Madame Ratignolle and other “mother-women” do. The contrasts between Edna’s attire and Madame Ratignolle’s attire highlight the personality differences between the two women.
Madame Ratignolle was a sharp contrast to Edna Pontellier. Her character in The Awakening serves as an example of the typical, socially acceptable woman of her time period. She is devoted to her husband, gives birth every two years, and wears abundant clothing and jewelry. She depends on her family, not herself, and is notable for her beauty. Wolff believed Chopin uses this character to show the “perfect” mother, who, like many women of the era, disguises her sexual desires in her talk about child-bearing. Society during this time period was prone to believe that women did not have sexual desires, so the only acceptable way for a woman to prove otherwise was through conception of a child (Leary).
“Whereas Adele is a ‘faultless madonna, Madame Reisz is a renegade, self-assertive and outspoken.”, Showalter declared (181). Madame Reisz’s character is used to show what happened in society during this time period if a woman decided to be unconventional. She chose not to marry or have children, and because of her decisions, Madame Reisz is destined to a lonely and pessimistic lifestyle. Her life, however, is her own and not anyone else’s. Edna admires this about Madame Reisz but acknowledges that she is already too deeply involved to have the same fate.
In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier undergoes many changes. She discovers a sense of independence and shows this through her emotions and rebellion against her husband and children. She also experiences a sexual “awakening” as a result of her love for Robert and an adulterous affair with Arobin. Edna’s life is changed so drastically that she realizes there is no way for her to live a normal life and be happy any longer.
Edna’s sense of independence is portrayed in descriptions of her feelings throughout the novel. It is also evident that she has found a new freedom when she rebels against her husband and the norms of society. Edna first feels emotions toward being independent when she swims for the first time. This is a turning point in her life, as she is able to swim off on her own, with the desire to “swim where no woman had ever swum” (Chopin 37). Edna continues to indulge in this new-found freedom when she disobeys her husband’s requests to join him inside later that night. “She perceived that her will had blazed up, stubborn and resistant. She could not at that moment have done other than denied and resisted” (Chopin 42). Edna becomes angry with her marriage, he husband and her children because of the restraints they hold on her life. Because of them, she is not able to fulfill her deepest desires. She stomps on her wedding ring, tells her husband that marriage is “despicable”, and denies attention to her children out of resentment towards their power (Leary 154). However, Edna realizes that these actions are useless and makes up her mind that she shall just do as she pleases, regardless of the wishes of her family. She leaves her home because it is not hers; it is Mr. Pontellier’s home and it is his money which pays for it, not her own. She claims that the home never quite seemed like her own and declares that “I know I shall like it, like the feeling of freedom and independence” (Chopin 107). Edna also relieves herself of the social conventions which her husband finds necessary. Edna begins to enjoy her new independent life without Leonce. She grows accustom to doing things on her own and finding her own friends and begins to spend time with a new group of people.
Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual. She began to look with her own eyes; to see and apprehend the deeper undercurrents of life (Chopin 127).
Edna allows a sense of independence to swell within her, openly claiming she will no longer be anyone’s possession and she shall walk alone. Through her death she acquires the ultimate feeling of independence. She feels free from every restraint placed upon her, and knows that she is her own person.
Edna’s sexual awakening has been described as the main focus of the novel (Leary 162). Her emotions and desires are revealed when she discovers her love for Robert. She also exposes her newly-found needs when she has an affair with Arobin. Edna experiences the “first-felt throbbings of desire” (Chopin 40) when sitting with Robert at Grand Isle. She begins to blindly follow her impulses, without being sure why. Edna is unconsciously awakening her sexual desires which have been repressed so long by society’s demands on her. She realizes that what she feels for Robert is very different than what she feels for her husband, or what she will ever feel for her husband. Edna comes to the realization that there is a physical side to “love” as well, which it is not acceptable to speak of during the time period. Edna becomes infatuated with Robert because she desires something from him which she can not attain from her husband; sexual satisfaction. However, since Robert is out of reach for Edna, she breaks down and settles for a sexual affair with Arobin to fulfill her desires. She does not love Arobin, nor does she hold the desires for him which she entertains for Robert. However, Edna comes to the realization that she has sexual needs which can be executed by basically anyone willing to please her.
Kate Chopin filled The Awakening with various types of sexual imagery. Critic Elaine Showalter was correct in claiming, “Chopin brilliantly evokes sexuality through images and details” (178). Chopin’s use of imagery was her way of expressing feministic ideals which were taboo during the time period. One of the most common uses of imagery in The Awakening involves music and the effects which it had upon Edna. When Madame Reisz strikes a series of chords on the piano, an almost orgasmic feeling overcomes Edna and she lets the music overtake her body (Adams xxxii). After leaving her summer paradise in Grand Isle, Edna begins to miss hearing Madame Reisz on the piano. She seeks the old woman out at her home, and upon visitation, is told that Robert has written to Madame Reisz. In his letter he asks that, should Mrs. Pontellier call on Madame Reisz, would she play a piano song for her? He adds that “I should like to know how it affects her” (Chopin 84). Robert is asking Madame Reisz to arouse in Edna what he is not able to arouse in her himself. Because of societal constraints, Robert is not able to express his real urges, so he asks instead that Madame Reisz play music for Edna. Chopin uses imagery dealing with music to disguise expression of sexual desires. Though it is devastatingly sad, Edna Pontellier realizes that she cannot remain in society and be “normal.” She has uncovered too many desires and refuses to deny herself the right to fulfill these desires. As a result, she has no place in the society of her time period.
Chopin uses symbolism to show the distress of Edna which leads to her suicide. One major use of symbolism is Chopin’s connections between Edna and the sea. Edna seems to hold a special connection with the sea, it soothes her and almost appears to relieve her of her problems, at least temporarily. The night Edna learns to swim, she discovered for the first time a new feeling of freedom. A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and soul.” (Chopin 37). This is symbolic for the sexual discoveries she is slowly making within herself. Even when away from the sea, thinking about it made Edna happy, “She could hear again the ripple of the water, the flapping sail. She could see the glint of the moon upon the bay, and could feel the soft, gusty beating of the hot wind. A subtle current of desire passed through her body.” (Chopin 77). The sea had an effect on Edna that moved her entire being. Freud wrote of an “oceanic feeling”, which Chopin depicted in her novel. This feeling was a craving to captivate again a feeling of “oneness”, which Edna seems to desire (Natoli 195). Chopin elaborated that “The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace” (155). This was, no doubt, a blatant statement regarding her use of the imagery to explain sexual desires which were not “proper” to speak of at the time. This is why it is significant when at the end of the novel before Edna’s final swim, Edna strips nude. She felt the lack of clothing was extremely freeing, as it gave her a new sense of independence. “In removing the bathing suit, Edna also detaches herself from the implications of her gender.” This implies that when Edna removes her clothing, she feels sexually equal to the male gender. (McCoy)
It is ironic that Edna drowns herself in the very same sea which gave her the first enthralling sense of freedom. In Edna’s time period, she could not simply live her life however she chose. Once she came to this realization, Edna was no longer comfortable in the world. She realized that the only way she could free herself from societal restraints was to remove herself from society completely, by killing herself.
Just as Edna did not conform to the standards of her peers, Kate Chopin rebelled against her own peers by writing the novel, The Awakening. She uses attitudes of characters in her novel toward gender, changes in Edna and her suicide to express her own feminist attitudes. Chopin was shunned from communities as a result of her strong feministic views and great ability to express them.
Works Cited
Adams, Rachael. Introduction. The Awakening. By Chopin. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2003. xv-xxxvi.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2003. 1-155.
Leary, Lewis. Southern Excursions: Essays on Mark Twain and Others. Baton Rouge: Lousiana State Press, 1971.
McCoy, Thorunn Ruga. “Chopin’s The Awakening.” The Explicator 56.1 (1997):26-28. Full-Text. InfoTrac Web: InfoTrac Onfile. Online. Gale Group. Kimbel Library, Conway, Sc. 10 Mar. 2004. .
Natoli, Joseph. Psychological Perspectives on Literature: Freudian Dissidents and Non-Freudians. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon, 1984. 181-197.
Showalter, Elaine. “Feminist Criticism and The Awakening.” Introduction. The Awakening. By Chopin. Ed. Nancy A. Walker. Boston: Martin Press, 1993. 158-189.
Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. Un-utterable Longing: The Discourse of Feminine Sexuality in The Awakening.” Studies in American Fiction 24.1 (1996):2-23. Full-Text. InfoTrac Web: InfoTrac Onfile. Online. Gale Group. Kimbel Library, Conway, Sc. 10 Mar. 2004. .
