The Awakening Essay, Research Paper
The Awakening
A DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF
HOW KATE CHOPIN USES SYMBOLS TO SIGNAL THE READER OF EDNA’S COMING SUICIDE IN THE AWAKENING
WORKS CITED
Chopin, Kate, “Works Of Kate Chopin,: The Plot And Themes
Of “The Awakening,” pub. 1963, Bureau Development
Inc., Parsippany, NJ., pp. 8, pp. 11
Chopin, Kate, “The Awakening,” pub. 1992 World Class
Library, Novato, California, Preface.
Thorton, Lawrence, “Edna As Icarus: A Mythic Issue,”
Approaches To Teaching Chopin’s “The Awakening”
(ed.) Bernard Koloski, New York: MLA 1988, pp. 138
Peters, James N., Kay, Pat R., Evans, Steven B., Rogers,
Z., Thomas, “A Compendium Of Themes And Works
of American Literary Authors,” pub. 1993, World
Class Library, Novato, Cal. pp. 39
When Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” was published at the
end of the 19th Century, many reviewers took issue with what they
perceived to be the author’s defiance of Victorian proprieties,
but it is this very defiance with which has been responsible for
the revival in the interest of the novel today. This factor is
borne out by Chopin’s own words throughout her Preface — where
she indicates that women were not recipients of equal treatment.
(Chopin, Preface ) Edna takes her own life at the book’s end, not
because of remorse over having committed adultery but because she
can no longer struggle against the social conventions which deny
her fulfillment as a person and as a woman. Like Kate Chopin
herself, Edna is an artist and a woman of sensitivity who
believes that her identity as a woman involves more than being a
wife and mother. It is this very type of independent thinking
which was viewed as heretical in a society which sought to deny
women any meaningful participation.
The fact that Edna is an artist is significant, insofar
as it allows her to have a sensibility as developed as the
author’s. Furthermore, Edna is able to find in Mlle. Reisz, who
has established herself as a musician, a role model who inspires
her in her efforts at independence. Mlle. Reisz, in confiding to
Edna that “You are the only one worth playing for,” gives
evidence of the common bond which the two of them feel as women
whose sensibilities are significantly different from those of the
common herd.
The French heritage which Edna absorbed through her
Creole upbringing allowed her, like Kate Chopin herself, to have
knowledge or a way of life that represented a challenge to
dominant Victorian conventions. In Creole society, women are
dominated by men, but at least the freer attitude toward
sexuality allows a woman opportunities for romance which are
lacking in Anglo-Saxon culture. But sexual freedom is of little
interest to Edna unless it can be used as a means of asserting
her overall freedom as a human being. Learning to swim is thus
important to her, because it allows her to have more control over
the circumstances of her own life through the overcoming of the
dread of water and the fear of death which it symbolizes. Again,
the process through which Edna attains liberation and, in the
author’s words, begins to “do as she likes and to feel as she
likes,” is a gradual one. From statements such as “women who
idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed
it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow
wings as ministering angels,” it should be obvious why “The
Awakening” was viewed by some critics of the day as offensive to
prevailing conventions and mores. When Edna finally resolved to
end her life it is not because she has been rejected by Robert
but because she can no longer lead the type authentic life which
to her is the only life worth living, and this is the result of
the denial of equal rights to women by the society of that day.
Chopin has clearly taken care to anticipate criticisms that her
suicide would leave the children motherless by having her
recently visit the children to find that they really had no need
of her and are perfectly content with the grandmother. In having
Edna reflect that “she would never sacrifice herself for her
children,” Chopin was not arguing so much in defense of selfish-
ness as against the view that a mother could be expected to deny
her own freedom for the sake the children in a manner that was
not expected of the father. Thus, women’s struggle is synonymous
with Edna’s suicide as well as the events leading up to it.
Edna plays a significant role in this story. Overall, I
personally construed K. Chopin’s novel as a repudiation of
prevailing mores which govern women’s behavior during that period
in time. Edna was an outsider. She did not comprehend that the
personal freedoms she saw all about her were well defined within
a construct of old established social conventions, and that not
one of the old Grand Islanders would have approved of anyone
crossing the lines between acceptable behavior and reprehensible.
One flirted, even dangerously, but one never consummated these
relationships. Certainly, if one did act on the impulse of a
women’s passion, it never involved the deeper emotions such as
love. By definition of her very character, K. Chopin sets Edna
up for a fall. It is not immediately recognizable by most that
this “fall” would eventually lead to her suicide. Nevertheless,
this ultimate act suicide, is also tantamount with society’s
ultimate taboo. Indeed, readers and society of the time (and
even today) had to take note of those variables which contributed
to this ultimate and very terrible and final demise. At Grand
Isle it was perfectly acceptable for a bachelor to fawn upon a
married lady, to fetch her scarf, to accompany her home to her
porch and sit with her in the moonlight, so long as everyone knew
that it would go no further. It was almost as if the husband had
granted his permission for his wife to be admired and paid
attention to by the other man, who did not possess a wife of his
own. It was also a kind of superior position for the husband,
who, unspokenly had ultimate usufruct of the creature, an
intimacy to which the poor bachelor could not attain. The ladies
of Grand Isle had all made peace with their defined roles in
life. They were the mother – women, such as Madame Ratignolle,
nurturing of their children, doting on their husbands’ needs.
There were the widows and the single women, all of whom had
structured acceptable lives for themselves, Madame Le Burn with
the management of her summer resort, Mademoiselle Reisz life was
devoted to the piano and to the world of music. Madame
Ratignolle devoted herself only to running her household and
being the wife of her husband.
Edna had no brothers, and a stern and preoccupied
father. There had been no sibling closeness with her two
sisters, in fact, she had never revealed the inner Edna to any
living soul. Her life with her husband was one of surfaces and
duties performed, and on her part not with much relish, both in
bed and out.
The author, Kate Chopin, provides countless clues that
Edna is about to take her own life…or at least, will, sometime
in the future. For example, she underscores the importance of
one’s own identity. Edna says that although she would give her
life for her children, she will not give herself. Adele, of
course, is shocked by this blasphemy and probably doesn’t even
understand what Edna is talking about, but Edna knows what she
was saying. Children, for Edna, are a constant pulling on her
own selfhood. To give herself up to her children means losing
herself. This, she says, she cannot do. She is willing to
sacrifi
just an appendage, no matter how ornamental.
Robert LeBurn’s teasing tantalizes Edna. She beings to
be very aware of his person, to miss him when he is away, and is
devastated when he finally goes to Mexico, as he has promised to
do for a long time. She becomes more infatuated with Robert but
allows herself to be seduced by Alcee Arboin. When she realizes
that, perhaps, what she was pretending was a grand passion for
Robert was only a sexual desire that can be satisfied by Alcee,
she begins to understand her own nature, and the danger of
passion. She says, at one point, that she married her husband
because she knew that passion would not intrude and spoil the
gentle affection she feels for him. Edna has always regarded
passion as dangerous, even before her marriage to Leonce. She
must have had some understanding of her susceptibility even as a
girl. Edna pays for her passion with her life. (Chopin, pp. 8)
To a large extent, “The Awakening” may well be equated with
escape in Edna’s mind. Similarly, and at this juncture, I should
like to interject that there appears to be much in the way of an
auto biographical theme and content within Ms. Chopin’s
prevailing society. There is great importance placed on one’s
own identity, as I have previously alluded to.
Kate Chopin calls her novel “The Awakening”…which
reflects an inherent danger. “The Awakening,” even though she
had chosen another name for it at first e.g. “A Solitary Soul;”
this original title had the theme of alienation, difference from
others, and anguish. The title was changed to “The Awakening,”
but the themes remained. Once Edna becomes aware of certain
things in herself that she would have liked, perhaps, to have
kept repressed, she can no longer continue living the life she
did before. There is danger in waking up. There is danger in
being alienated from others, in being different. It is far safer
to be like everyone else. Edna, now fully awake, can no longer
go back to sleep. (Chopin, pp. 11)
In “Edna And Icarus: A Mythic Issue,” 1. Lawrence
Thornton joins other myth-critics of “The Awakening” by likening
Edna Pontillier’s condition in Chopin’s novel to that of Icarus.
Another, more female centered myth that might shed light on the
causes of Edna’s internal struggle and suicide is that of
Philomela, since an embedded allusion to “Philomela’s cooking”
occurs immediately before Edna’s suicide. By itself, this
allusion might seem quite arbitrary; however, there are other
psychological indicators in the novel that Edna, like Philomela
may have been either the victim of or witness to sexual
violation. While there is no direct evidence of such a violation
in “The Awakening,” there are clues throughout Chopin’s novel
that Edna may not only be awakening to her sexual identity in an
oppressive, patriarchal society, but may also be grappling, like
La Folle in “Beyond The Bayou, with a repressed post-traumatic
memory. This memory may at least be partially responsible for
her extreme mood changes, boundary problems and suicide.
Analogous to Philomela who cannot initially voice her violation
by Tereus because he has removed her tongue, Edna is described as
having “all her life long been accustomed to harbor thoughts and
emotions which never voiced themselves.” We are told that Edna,
“even as a child, had lived her own small life within herself.”
While one could argue she was just shy or introverted, Edna’s
sweeping passion later in the novel suggests the introversion may
have been imposed. Years after she marries Leonce Pontillier, a
Creole Catholic, in defiance of her family’s wishes, Edna’s
marriage sours. As she weeps uncontrollably the first time
Leonce rebukes her for being an unattentive mother, the “every
lasting voice of the sea” that surrounds the Pontillier’s cottage
is described as “a mournful lullaby,” suggesting that something
lost in childhood is being mourned. Yet, Edna could not have
told why she was crying. On the same page, Chopin describes Edna
as suffering from “an indescribable oppression,” which seemed to
generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filling
her whole being with a vague English, an English that will
reoccur throughout the novel. Another rebuke by Leonce is where
we find Edna smashing a glass vase. The narrator tells us Edna
“wanted to destroy something.” While the anxiety and marriage
might be directed at Leonce, the recurrence of Edna’s mood swings
throughout the novel – even after she has left Leonce’s cage of a
home – suggests that the protagonist is trying to block something
more than just her realization that she is unhappy in her present
marriage. (Thorton, pp. 138)
Chopin provides ample symbols for the purpose of
signaling Edna’s ultimate suicide. Symbolically, I believe these
might best be characterized by the deficiencies and
incompatibilities with Edna’s society around her, her
responsibilities, and her own longing to break out into the world
which she has come to awaken to.
Another clue to Edna’s ultimate and eventual demise has
to do with the increased tension between Edna and Robert. She
finds Robert to be aloof and suspects that he is involved with
another woman. Edna becomes filled with jealousy…even enraged.
However, she keeps this to herself. Another signal that Edna is
about to explode, at some point in time. The ultimate conclusion
or perspective regarding what is largely considered auto
biographical, is succinctly reflected in the life and death of
Edna. (Peters, et. al, pp. 39)
One question which I have had to ask myself, throughout
the reading of this story is as follows. I strongly suspect, and
I believe that my feelings are strongly in accord with most
critics of this book, and this has to do with the relationship
between Edna and the author. I feel that this is largely auto
biographical, as revealed through the review of the literature.
The question I would raise is — Would a woman (or male for that
matter) (individual) resort to suicide under conditions which
were highly restrictive and painful. Indeed, many other people
throughout the world, and I would venture to say even within
Edna’s society might have well been experiencing the same type of
(or even different) suffering to a higher degree. Yet, they did
not resort to suicide.
Similarly, Edna is portrayed as something of the
protagonist, or the heroine. She dares to rebel against
prevailing society, and even the very title of the book, as named
by Kate Chopin, “The Awakening” is analogous to danger. Is the
truth then so dangerous and horrific that one risks suicide? And
if so, is this applicable to everyone? Similarly I would ask the
question, if this were to be the case, or if even not, why is
that most of the population is not committing suicide? Surely
they are living lives which they would not prefer, for example,
most people according to polls would not report their job unless
they had to and were paid for it. Most marriages end in divorce.
Indeed, the degree and level of suffering and pain throughout the
populace is almost unfathomable. Perhaps, Ms. Chopin was living
out a vicarious reality through Edna in committing suicide…and
perhaps, this may be the underlying reason for the great
reception which this novel has enjoyed…as well as staying
power. Similarly, it has also been appointed a kind of jewel of
the vanguard of women’s rights. Indeed, “The Awakening” is one
novel which exemplifies the attempt — even realization — of
American womanhood’s escape from personal and domestic bondage.
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