The Awakening

Intruoduction
American author Kate Chopin (1850–1904) wrote two published
novels and about a hundred short stories in the 1890s. Most of her fiction is set
in Louisiana and most of her best-known work focuses on the lives of sensitive,
intelligent women.

Her short stories were well received in her own time and were
published by some of America’s most prestigious magazines—Vogue, the
Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s Young People, Youth’s Companion, and the
Century. A few stories were syndicated by the American Press Association. Her
stories appeared also in her two published collections, Bayou Folk (1894) and A
Night in Acadie (1897), both of which received good reviews from critics
across the country. Twenty-six of her stories are children’s stories—those
published in or submitted to children’s magazines or those similar in subject or
theme to those that were. By the late 1890s Kate Chopin was well known
among American readers of magazine fiction.
Her early novel At Fault (1890) had not been much noticed by the public, but
The Awakening (1899) was widely condemned. Critics called it morbid, vulgar,
and disagreeable. Willa Cather, who would become a well known twentieth-
century American author, labeled it trite and sordid.
Some modern scholars have written that the novel was banned at Chopin’s
hometown library in St. Louis, but this claim has not been able to be verified,
although in 1902, the Evanston, Illinois, Public Library removed The
Awakening from its open shelves—and the book has been challenged twice in
recent years. Chopin’s third collection of stories, to have been called A
Vocation and a Voice, was for unknown reasons cancelled by the publisher and
did not appear as a separate volume until 1991.
Chopin’s novels were mostly forgotten after her death in 1904, but several of
her short stories appeared in an anthology within five years after her death,
others were reprinted over the years, and slowly people again came to read her.
In the 1930s a Chopin biography appeared which spoke well of her short fiction
but dismissed The Awakening as unfortunate. However, by the 1950s scholars
and others recognized that the novel is an insightful and moving work of fiction.
Such readers set in motion a Kate Chopin revival, one of the more remarkable
literary revivals in the United States.
After 1969, when Per Seyersted’s biography, one sympathetic to The
Awakening, was published, along with Seyersted’s edition of her complete
works, Kate Chopin became known throughout the world. She has attracted
great attention from scholars and students, and her work has been translated into
other languages, including Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch,
French, Galician, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam,
Polish, Portuguese, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Vietnamese. (If
you know of a translation into another language, would you write to us?) She is
today understood as a classic writer who speaks eloquently to contemporary
concerns. The Awakening, “The Storm,” “The Story of an Hour,” “Désirée’s
Baby,” “A Pair of Silk Stockings,” “A Respectable Woman,” “Athénaïse,” and
other stories appear in countless editions and are embraced by people for their
sensitive, graceful, poetic depictions of women’s lives.
The Awakening, novel by Kate Chopin, published in 1899.
Originally titled A Solitary Soul, the novel depicts a young mother’s struggle to
achieve sexual and personal emancipation in the oppressive environment of the
postbellum American South. When it was first published, it was widely
condemned for its portrayal of sexuality and marital infidelity. Today it is
considered a landmark work of early feminist fiction.

Analysis
In Kate Chopin’s, The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, is no ordinary
woman of her time. During an era in which a women primarily cared for her
children, husband, and home, Pontellier took a personal journey to learn about
herself as more than just a “mother-woman”. She ultimately battles against the
social cultures of her time. This process of rebellion was far ahead of both
Chopin and Pontellier’s time, and the pressures of an oppressive society
ultimately led to Pontellier’s suicide in the novel, and Chopin abandoning her
writing career in reality. Nonetheless, this story laid the groundwork for
feminism in generations to come
As stated, in “The Awakening”, a woman is expected to be a mother
and that role should be fulfilling of all her needs. It is clearly demonstrated that
a woman who chooses alternative lifestyles and behaviors will shame her
husband. Edna’s husband often reprimanded her for neglecting the children.
“He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the
children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, who’s on earth
was it? He himself had his hands full with his brokerage business. He could not
be in tow places at once; making a living for his family on the street, and
staying at home to see that no harm befell them”.
Clearly, according to social norms, this reprimand was from Edna’s boss, her
husband. Edna’s own father encouraged Leonce to follow these norms, when
advising himn to use his business skills in dealing with his daughter,
specifically citing his lenience. This draws an interesting pattern between
managing the commerce of this time period and managing the home. In many
ways, Edna’s unorthodox behaviors are an issue only when they risk client
relationships. As a woman’s role was to entertain guests and provide enjoyment,
Mr. Pontellier had to save face when Edna rented a nearby apartment. An ad
was placed in a local paper discussing that the Pontellier’s were having
renovations completed on their home; thus, entertaining must be put on hold. In
this example, a wife is viewed almost as a business asset, or object to put on
display for the purpose of entertainment and enjoyment. Possessions were
important to men during the Victorian age. “He greatly valued his possessions,
chiefly because they were his, and derived genuine pleasure from contemplating
a painting, a statuette, a rare lace curtain – no matter what- after he had bought
it and placed it among his household gods”.
During Victorian times, Edna viewed other women who could have
been her role models. Instead, she viewed these women curiously, however, did
not follow suit. One example of this is Mme. Ratignoll, and her relationship to
her wifely duties. She appeared to enjoy being a wife, and kept up appearances
very well. It was said that she visibly hung on her husband’s words, and had
social skills that were impressive to her husband’s business associates. She “was
keenly interested in everything he said, laying down her fork the better to listen,
chiming in, taking the words out of his mouth”. Furthermore, “She was keeping
up her music on account of the children, she said; because she and her husband
both considered it a means of brightening the home and making it attractive”.
Further exemplifying Edna’s quest for independence as well as her
burgeoning feminism is her relationship with Robert. It becomes clear that Edna
cannot be bothered with her husband as her love for Robert grows. She is
consumed by her path to self discoveury brought about by her relationship with
Robert. As already discussed, women were expected to live much like Mme.
Ratignoll. This began to change only in recent times. According to controversial
sexuality expert Robert T. Francoeur, “Women’s liberation, geographic
mobility, birth control and even penicillin (as a treatment for sexually
transmitted diseases) have radically altered our society, creating a totally new
environment, Francoeur says. The old ethic was based on the nature of genital
acts, their reproductive function and marriage. The new sexual ethic, Francoeur
asserts, will be more holistic and will emphasize such qualities as mutual
responsibility, growth, love, joy, honesty, self-fulfillment and transcendence.”
Medoff, Theresa. “Marriage in the 21st century: A revolution in progress.” UD
Messenger. 9.4 (2000): Print. This quote demonstrates how many social values
surrounding roles within a marriage have only changed recently, during the 20th
century. It was clear at the start of “The Awakening”, that feelings would
develop between Robert and Edna. We see an innocent dialogue that represents
the beginnings of dissention from her wifely roles. She is not accustomed to
feelings of attraction and desire outside of her marriage (or inside her marriage
for that matter). After meeting Robert, it is very soon that Leonce recognizes the
change in his wife’s behavior. “He thought it very iscouraging that his wife,
who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things
which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation” (85). It can be
concluded that Leonce did love Edna, but the mores and culture that the
marriage offered her, held no appeal.

A curious theme in this novel is that woman who seeks satisfaction in

herself, and outside the confines of marriage must be mentally unstable.
Throughout “The Awakening”, we see others look on with wonder at Edna. Her
husband is thought to be a fine man, and to avoid the marital norms does not
make sense. Leonce tells the doctor that “She’s got some sort of notion in her
head concerning the eternal rights of women” (1104). The doctor then questions
whether she had been associating with “pseudo-intellectual women”. The very
dismissal of any possibility that women could be intelligent (rather than pseudo-
intelligent), and that marriage may not be for everyone, was incomprehensible,
even to the more evolved characters in the novel.

Some debate exists regarding Edna as feminist. While her journey of

exploration was unprecedented, or at least undocumented prior to her, there are
some points which work against the feminist aspect of “The Awakening”. At
many points during the story, Edna is consumed with her feelings for Robert
and her desires for exploring sexuality with other men. When Robert leaves for
Mexico, Edna expresses that his “going had some way taken the brightness, the
color, the meaning out of everything…her existence was dulled” (767). She
focuses intently on Robert, and temporarily lacks attention to her own needs,
which is arguable the point of her journey. Additionally, Edna’s story
culminates her suicide, as she believed her struggles were ineffectual, because
change was slow in those around her. Some might argue that viewing oneself
through the eyes of others, and allowing it to dictate one’s sense of self, is
decidedly un-feminist. In some ways, the suicide undermines the theme of the
novel. That said, the exploration that Chopin credits to Edna is a brave leap
away from the Victorian culture of the time.
Conclusion

Chopin’s critique of society may seem tame; Edna never has sexual relations
with another man until she tells Mr. Pontellier she is leaving him. But the
society that Edna belongs to is based on a very strict set of rules known as the
Napoleonic code. Women had little rights and were considered property of
their husbands. They were expected to go wherever their husband chose to live,
and were legally unable to “sign any legal contract, institute a lawsuit, appear in
court, hold public office, or make a donation to a living person”. Women had
no rights, and were legally bound to do whatever their husbands decided was
best. The woman’s place in society is excellently captured in a law detailing
those unable to bear witness to testaments:1. Women of whatsoever. 2. Male
children who have not attained the age of sixteen years complete. 3. Persons
who are insane, deaf, dumb or blind. 4. Persons whom the criminal laws
declare incapable of exercising civil functions Women were placed on the same
legal level as children, invalids and the incarcerated, and notably, they are the
first on the list, as if the author wanted to make especially certain that women
were included in this law. The society Chopin wrote about and lived in
oppresses women in every way possible. Once married, they are transformed
into property and have the legal status of a slave. In this society a woman has
little hope, other than to pray that the man she marries is kind to her.

Edna’s options are limited once she has awakened. She can go back
to her husband and children, since a relationship with Robert is now out of the
question, or she can live a life of solitude like Mademoiselle Reisz. From what
we know of Edna, we know that neither of these options are feasible for her.
Hence Edna is left without any choices. Chopin illustrates. Edna must pay for
awakening; she no longer has any viable place in the society she belongs
to. Would it have been better for Edna had she never awakened at all?
Feminists would argue that Edna’s awakening is necessary and liberating, but it
isn’t very liberating to be forced into a lifestyle where there is no accepting,
societal niche for yourself. Modern feminists must avoid reading Chopin’s text
within a modern context, as doing so diminishes the affect Edna’s choices
subsequently make on her life. Edna is feminist in nature, but her feminism
comes with a price, and not many people are strong enough to endure social
ostracizing to enjoy personal freedom. Chopin wonderfully illustrates Edna’s
dilemma, showing possible consequences of becoming enlightened outside the
context of a broader social movement. By the end of the novel, Chopin still
refuses to tell us whether Edna’s awakening is liberating, or if it is
tragic. Placing Chopin in categories such as “feminist” and “naturalist,” we lose
this poignant interpretation of the novel by trying to force her into these
categories in every way, but by accepting her into both categories, a broader
interpretation of the novel is gained, as well as a more inclusive and explanatory
body of criticism.