The Awakening and Feminism

The Awakening by Kate Chopin held within the writing of its pages that held progressive and significant meaning well ahead of its time. They say that Chopin’s The Awakening was different in its literary direction because it focused on the woman and not her relation to being a wife or mother. I believe that this novel laid out themes and moments that captured one of the most important aspects of feminism and what it stood for both in Chopin’s time period, and the present. The many feminist themes covered by The Awakening are central exactly because the book tells the story from the perspective of the woman and her individual desires and passions, as opposed to her life as a mother and housewife. Individuality as a woman and as a person despite being a woman stood out to me and the impact was definitive. This can be seen in the text in multiple parts of the story. Therefore I cannot help but concur that the focus on the woman, rather than her roles are what sets this book apart, and brings to the surface an important aspect of feminism. While some feminist critics argue that it is impossible to detach gender roles and relationships from reality, I believe that as an author Chopin was able to capture it in the rawest and most realistic way through her.

This tale is ripe with images, lines, and sections that delve into the psyche of a restless woman who wanted to be free and wanted to be herself. The key this story was Edna Pontellier, the main character that the entire book centered on. She was herself, she had desires and expectations of her life and all of those centered on her as an individual. This is what sets her character apart from so many that came before her, and after her. Chopin’s book dealt with a woman that was a character and center of the story in her own right, and this was not the norm seen in female characters in book at that time (Boren and Davis 2-5). This was a different literary method from many others and was fairly innovative because it relied solely on the feelings, desires and passions of Edna alone. The moments that stood out for me the most amongst a sea of poignant pages, were the ones where she almost nonchalantly took control of her life. She did this at many points in the story such as the time she was not present at her home when it was her time to have an open house. I must point out that there are cries of her being a selfish character and that her decision was one of oppression rather than freedom. Again I have to wholeheartedly disagree and point out that the self-sacrificing women that so many novels of Chopin’s time had were the oppressive ones in my opinion, with their constant whimpering and martyrdom. Edna wanted and deserved to be herself, selfish or not. Further, her selfishness was good, if following ones desire can be selfish at all in the case of the repressed slave-like women of the 19th and 20th century, that can be seen in Adele. I reveled each and every single time Edna made a decision based solely on herself; she owed her life to no one but herself, and it just took time to realize that. By turning her back on the open house she was just getting started on her path to freedom. If that act shocked the delicate nature of the civilized neighbors in her community, then her final act of power and control would appall them. Edna’s final act of freedom proved that it was only up to her what direction her life would take, all criticism she took until that point fell on deaf ears, and any criticism after her final decision would literally fall on deaf ears.

Edna’s decision to disregard the open house may have seemed like an innocent enough decision to the modern reader, but it meant so much more than many of us could see outside of Edna’s time period. The open house was not simply an event for the women to do to pass the time or socialize with each other. Like everything else that the women did in the book, it was a social responsibility prescribed upon them by society for some end that had nothing to do with them at all. Women were bound to the house and required to dress in their best, like the actors they really were. These women did not represent themselves at all, because they were not important. Everything they did was a reflection of something they stood for outside of themselves, they were simply the caretakers of what was important. This open house was a way for the men to show off their possessions (this included their wives, who were, after all, simply possessions). For Edna to disregard this duty was her turning her back on the predetermined aspects of her life and duty that she was beginning to shed. Parts of her identity that were determined by her husband and being his wife were taking on less meaning and importance. Leonce saw this change in his wife simply by seeing what she was wearing (Chopin 129 l.7). This part of the text suggests that Edna was seeing herself independent of her role as a wife and the duties that it held. Her feelings were important, and she had been experiencing them since her swim and her time that summer with Robert (Chopin 71 l.1). This, of course, drives her husband to believe she may be suffering from a mental imbalance; because for a woman to “feel” would be quite odd indeed (Chopin 147 l.10). For her part Edna even expressed confusion while wondering if she had always responded to her husband when he spoke to her in a particular manner. Her new awakening to her surroundings can be seen on page 80, line 1 when the text says “She wondered if her husband had ever spoken to her like that before and if she had submitted to his command.” Edna is genuinely confused as to the part she has been playing up until this point in her life. Edna was more concerned with her reaction to her husband than much of anything else. One can infer here that Edna was awakening as the title of the book suggests and coming into her role as herself, rather than Leonce’s wife.

One can assume then that while Edna had shown small pieces of defiance leading up until this point, this was a significant break with social tradition that dictated a woman’s role in this society. Edna had refused her husband’s request to go inside in the past, and was not as devoted as her friend Adele, but this time it would be something that Leonce felt could be seen by others in the community as well (Chopin 79 l.9). Fitting perfectly within his patriarchal culture he cares more about the appearance of his possessions than the actual feelings of one of those possessions, his wife. His wife however, has started an incredible trend, seeing herself as important, and not only in relation to the needs of her family. This was made clear previously when Edna stated that she would not give up herself for anything. She did mention that she would give up her life for her children, while this may seem benign, it came to have importance later (Chopin 122 l.3). This is because she was willing to lay down her life; it was a possibility in her mind. And the one thing she would not compromise was herself, something that a happily caged woman like Adele could not understand. Edna even used the word “unessential” when referring to what she would give up, but not herself (Chopin 122 l.3). Edna was flummoxed how to explain this any further to her equally confused friend. Each ladies confusion highlighted their role and understanding in the book. Adele was confused because the idea of “self” had no meaning to her and this would be part of the “unessential” in her life. Edna however was only just realizing how important it was to her and could not verbalize the importance of being “Edna” as an entity. This Edna was not Edna, the mother of Etienne and Raoul, or Edna, the wife of Leonce, but just Edna, something that Adele, or society could not fathom. This all touches on the beginning of a long string of acts on the part of Edna to exert her independence and identity through a refreshingly nonchalant manner to the chagrin of her husband as well as her friends.

Another emergence of the female identity that emerged in this section of the work can be seen in the reactions of Leonce to his wife’s transformation. Leonce already felt that Edna was not devoted enough to him or the children, and that she was not as devoted as her friend Adele who had no interests outside the well-being of her family. Leonce pushed this home when he stated on page 147, lines 5-6, that “…in God's name paint! but don't let the family go to the devil. There's Madame Ratignolle; because she keeps up her music, she doesn't let everything else go to chaos.” Leonce draws a direct line between appropriate behavior and a woman’s role, neither involves a woman who is concerned with her own comforts or desires over those of her family. These protestations fell on Edna’s deaf ears, because she had already seen Adele’s “domestic bliss” in action and had detested it. This life was not for her, it never was. Even motherhood, despite it being a part of her life, was never really meant for her, according to Adele. It was inevitable that all of this would converge into making her awake from the life that society expected of her, versus the one that she wanted for herself.

This work of literature by Kate Chopin touched on so many feminist topics and themes that it is an impossible story to ignore. More than impossible to ignore, it was a significant story of identity, making choices and taking control of one’s life. This was accomplished in a setting that was incredibly patriarchal and judgmental of a woman, her motives and the danger in her having actual independence. The possibility of danger was controlled by controlling the identity of the woman and tying it into one of only two possible options: mother and wife. Any push against this was met with shaming, judgment as well as the label of being unbound in terms of mental health. What Chopin did with this novel was to literally create an ant-heroine of the time. Edna did not possess characteristics that were admired or encouraged, far from that, their possibility wasn’t even acknowledged. It is hard to disagree with scholars who state that this work by Chopin was so refreshingly new that it needs recognition. I agree wholeheartedly and concur with this assessment because it touched on the nerve of feminism and equal rights. How can this exist without women being allowed to “exist” on their own, whatever that may mean? For this reason alone the book and its connection to feminism and literature is of the utmost importance.

Works Cited

Boren, Linda S., and Davis, Sara D. Kate Chopin Reconsidered: Beyond the Bayou. Louisiana. Louisiana State University Press, 1992.

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening (1899). Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina, 1998. http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/chopinawake/chopin.html