Chopin’s work was published in 1899 while Millay’s work was published in 1921. This period was marked by cultural transformations and technological advancements. This paper shall discuss the similarities and dissimilarities between the two works.
Chopin’s main stylistic legacy is the objectivity of the narrator. The narrator treats women’s concerns without contempt and does not offer either an appraisal or a judgment on the protagonist’s deeds.
This is completely at odds with the existing Victorian trend to narrative judgment and perception remarks. The narrator neither applauds nor criticizes Edna. The person who reads is left to evaluate the protagonist’s deeds, which is the novel’s greatest stylistic choice. On the other hand, Millay brings in several literacy devices to add intensity to the poem.
The swans represent freedom and conviction; that the orator expresses them as wild stresses their totally free survival and their instinctual sense of being. The heart signifies the speaker’s whole emotional truth, including past and present feelings. Millay also uses personification when she describes the heart as “tiresome heart, forever living and dying” (Millay 1).
The two works share the themes of feminism, emotions and liberty. Edna’s uncovering of feelings that she has long subdued inspire her hunt for freedom, love and self-expression. Her bond with Robert Lebrun arouses gone physical needs and makes her to reflect on her life.
For once, she starts to be open to other people. She shares secrets with Ratignolle and Robert and lets herself to be stimulated by Reisz’s music. She trains to swim, further understand the power of the link between body and mind and admits her feelings about Robert. She also fights to reconcile her views on motherhood and femininity with the existing communal attitudes of the South.
On the other hand, the speaker in Millay’s poem puts across feminine feelings of distress and hopelessness, by being cruel towards her heart. She centers on her feelings and tries to find a solution to her emotional disturbance by evading domesticity when she says, “house without air, I leave you and lock your door” (Millay 1).
The motivation behind the writing of the two works was different. Kate Chopin’s work was generally about living conditions in the South. She particularly wrote about the Creole society in the north of Louisiana (Chopin 1).
The Creoles were though to be dissimilar to the Anglo-Americans and embraced cultural customs that they inherited from their ancestors who were the French and the Spanish. They took pleasure in entertainment, communal gatherings and gambling hence they used up a great deal of time in these actions.
The Creoles rarely accepted visitors to their communal circles and in case they did, they felt that the visitors should abide by their rules on way of life. On the other hand, In Millay’s poem, the speaker is motivated by the wild swans that flew in the clouds, “I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over” (Millay 1).
She esteems them for their splendor, freedom, and sense of being, but the cause of her passionate reaction to them is that she perceives herself in them. All through the poem, she views what she needs for to have in the swans, though at the end, she views herself as if she is in them by venturing both her perfect self and her real self onto the untamed birds.
In conclusion, the two works have several similarities and differences, in the way of narration, their core themes and their causal motivation. An impartial third person who does not condemn or support characters for their behaviors or their dealings tells the story of Edna Pontellier and her hunt for self discovery in Chopan’s work.
On the other hand, the speaker in Millay’s work uses symbolism to deliver the poem whereby she first illuminates that seeing the swans led her to searching her heart, with the hope of finding a new thing though she just saw what she had seen earlier and thus could not match up to to the splendid sight of the swans in flight.
The core themes of femininity, feelings and liberty in Chopin’s work are seen when Edna’s seeks for freedom, love and self-expression and reconciles her views on motherhood and femininity with the existing communal attitudes of the South, while on the other hand, the speaker in Millay’s poem puts her feelings across by being cruel to her heart.
Finally, the motivation behind the two works was different as Kate Chopin’s work was generally about the Creole society in the north of Louisiana; the Creoles rarely accepted visitors to their communal circles and in case they did, they felt that the visitors should abide by their rules on way of life. In Millay’s poem, the speaker is motivated by the wild swans that flew in the clouds.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and Selected Short Stories. New York: Pennsylvania State University, 2008.
Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “Wild Swans”. (30 Sep. 2009) Web.
Critic Donald Pizer understands literary naturalism as the artistic result of unremitting hardship, both personal and social. Taken one step further, literary naturalism laments humankind’s lot through its focus on characters that attempt to break free from their suffering, only to suffer more in the attempt.
A naturalist author, in Pizer’s mind, “grounds his fiction in the social realities of his historical moment and he therefore cannot help being especially responsive to social reality when that reality impinges cruelly on the fates of most men…[T]he naturalistic ethos, which views man as circumscribed by conditions of life over which he has no control, appears to be confirmed during periods of social malaise and individual hardship” (Pizer 153).
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is one such work. Set in turn of the century New Orleans, The Awakening details the futile attempts of the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, to realize a modicum of personal freedom amid the socially constrictive Victorian era, wherein the roles allowed to females consisted exclusively of wifedom and motherhood.
Where the novel differs from other naturalist novels of its time, however, is in its treatment of the artist. This essay will show that The Awakening is best understood less so as an example of naturalist fiction and more so as a manifesto that highlights the intense social sacrifices that the pursuit of art demands.
Chopin’s nod to naturalism in The Awakening focuses wholly on the conundrum of freedom faced by women like Edna, who long for personal freedom, yet feel biologically bound to their children, and unable to leave them as a result.
In Pizer’s words, “though Edna may reject…the socially-constructed role of a mother’s total absorption in her children, she has not escaped the biologically essentialist act of giving birth to children and thus finding within herself the protective emotions of a mother” (Pizer 6). We see this especially toward the end of the novel, once Edna has struck out alone.
Though for all intents and purposes she has achieved her aim – she is free of her husband and painting regularly – she suffers agony at the loss of her children. “It was with a wrench and pang that Edna left her children. She carried away with her the sound of their voices and the touch of their cheeks. All along the journey homeward their presence lingered with her like the memory of a delicious song” (Chopin 248).
Critic Peter Ramos understands The Awakening as a “subtle but compelling critique of…naturalism” (Ramos 148).
Through Edna, says Ramos, Chopin “implies that in order for women like Edna to survive, the philosophical boundaries and consequences associated with these literary genres can and must be overcome. By…presenting women who seem to have a modicum of agency and autonomy, as well as a protagonist who mistakenly comes to believe that she has no say over her own fate, it undermines naturalism’s claims of determinism” (Ramos 148).
However, the more distinct means by which Chopin deviates from naturalism occurs through the character of Mademoiselle Reisz, a woman who has transcended biological determinism through the commitment to her art.
The independence and sacrifice that Reisz the artist embodies stands in stark relief to Edna, the mother posing as an artist. Chopin’s novel states in no uncertain terms that there are two reasons why Edna fails and ends her own life: she cannot be alone, and she cannot move beyond her identify as a mother, expect through death.
We see this most poignantly illustrated immediately before Edna’s suicide, when she imagines “the children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered her and sought to drag her into the soul’s slavery for the rest of her days. But she knew a way to elude them” (Chopin 300).
Similarly, Edna’s inability to truly embrace her art and simultaneously, her aloneness, appears in the following passage: “Despondency had come upon her there in the wakeful night, and had never lifted. There was no one thing in the world she desired. There was no human being whom she wanted near her except Robert; and she even realized that the day would come when he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of existence, leaving her alone” (Chopin 300).
Edna’s final thoughts envision the derision that Mademoiselle Reisz would heap upon her suicide, were she a witness to it. “How Mademoiselle Reisz would have laughed, perhaps sneered, if she knew! “And you call yourself an artist! What pretensions, Madame! The artist must possess the courageous soul that dares and defies” (Chopin 302).
Chopin’s message appears to be that though women such as Edna may delude themselves into thinking it is the fault of biology that they cannot strike out on their own, the true fault lies in their inability to free themselves from their identity as “mother-woman” (Chopin 19). In Chopin’s mind, it is Edna’s inability to fully embrace her art that keeps her at the mercy of patriarchal social restraints.
In a similar vein as other turn of the century naturalist novels, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening “illuminates the socio-economic and cultural realities women like Edna faced, as well as the physical desires and social needs society denied them” (Ramos 148). However, the novel diverges from the form in the relationship that develops between Edna and Mademoiselle Reisz, and through Reisz, Chopin delivers her ultimate message: the artist must accept the social consequences of her calling.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Herbert S. Stone & Company, 1899. Print.
Pizer, Donald. “American Naturalism in Its ‘Perfected’ State.” The Theory and Practice of American Literary Naturalism. Southern Illinois University Press, 1993. 153-166. Web.
Pizer, Donald. “A Note on Kate Chopin’s The Awakening as Naturalistic Fiction.” The Southern Literary Journal 33.2 (2001): 5-13. Web.
Ramos, Peter. “Unbearable Realism: Freedom, Ethics and Identity in The Awakening.” College Literature 37.4 (2010): 145-152. Web.
In the novel “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, the author depicts Edna as a woman who is unable to hide sexual desires. Moreover, Edna juggles her private life with the life she is expected to lead by the society. According to Baym (2008;10-12), Edna struggles to assert the individual identity of a woman beyond the limits set by the patriarchal society.
The novel cannot reconcile the public and the private self because of societal expectations that severely curtail freedom of choice. Edna’s sexual escapades are synonymous with the art experiments, which remains a vital part of her life.
The changes articulated in Chopin’s novel elucidate the confusion and lack of reconciliation between the role of Edna as a female artist and her sexual inclination. This conflict culminates in the death of Edna.
Discussion
Conflict between Public and Private Life
The start of “The Awakening” depicts Edna as an epitome of the American ideals of the 19th century. She is a young woman married to an attentive and wealth husband. By the social standards of the 19th century, Edna is leading a perfect life. The social picture of this woman is that of a perfect mother and a happy woman.
The marital tag “Mrs. Pontellier,” introduces the reader to the picture formed by Edna’s husband and the society that expects every woman to be respectful. This picture comes with responsibilities that curtail Edna’s freedom. Henceforth, she is referred to as Edna after casting aside the fictional role of the woman to lead a carefree life. Edna has a love for the arts, although her main interest is in accomplishing a woman’s dream.
Edna is not fully committed to the societal role of a wife, which is against the expectations of the public. Moreover, she undertakes motherly duties with discontent and constantly asserts her position. She thinks that women have no choices in their private lives. Moreover, they are compelled by the patriarchal society to assume their responsibilities of bearing and rearing children (Baym 15).
Edna cares for her children although she cannot match the prowess with which Adele performs her societal duties. Edna’s husband reprimands her for her laxity in taking care of their sick son. Moreover, her response on the issue evokes fury and the husband is on the blink of insanity.
The husband does not expect such a response from the wife and rebukes Edna for neglecting children, a feat unheard in a perfect patriarchal society, where the woman is supposed to be submissive and attend to the needs of the husband and the children (Baym 105).
Edna’s husband was attentive and loving as any American husband in the 19th century. The century depicts women as objects for the gratification of the men rather than subject determining their free will as would be the wish of Edna. Edna embraces modernity in a peculiar way by failing to settle into the designated societal roles that she deems inappropriate and a form restriction.
Edna offers a satirical description of her friend’s predicament as a perfect assimilation into the mother role. To Edna, Adele’s situation depicts colorless existence, which fails to emancipate the possessor from the domain of blind contentment (Baym 257).
The Awakening
When Edna starts to experiment with art, painting surpasses important activities. Painting sparks Edna’s repressed desires to purpose beyond the societal and public roles given to her. Concisely, she wants her private life to be devoid of any form of interference.
This forms the genesis of Edna’s awakening. Edna has realized realizes the position she has in the Universe as a human being. She also recognizes that her relationship with others as an individual is preceded by painting. Edna attempts to decipher the lifestyle led by Adele via painting (Baym 280).
Ironically, Edna feels the need to connect with the maternal figure notwithstanding that she is determined to dismiss her maternal role of supporting her children. Her art depicts connotations reserved for the private life, which should not enter into the public domain. She focuses on women in a sensual manner. The desire evokes argument that she has a homosexual-maternal aspect.
Edna is oblivious that such private matters are not encouraged in the public but she admits that her art is socially acceptable as it depicts the life of Adele. Edna’s art is disrupted by her romantic ardor. She burns with desire when painting Adele. This desire is homosexual and is opposed in such a society. Edna strips away from restrictive aspects in her life. These aspects are social rules, marriage, and clothing (Baym 145).
The Conflict Between Private and Public Life
After fuelling sexual desires through exploration of painting, Edna recognizes another life. She is conscious of the lack of satisfaction her domestic and social relationships provide her with. Her friends and the family physician fail to recognize what may be happening to her. The doctor claims that the cause of Edna’s unhappiness is her sexual escapades with men.
Despite being inscribed with maternal instincts unavoidable after pregnancy, she cannot subject herself to the life led by Adele. Adele is obsessed with her social and maternal duties and can only get fulfillment after caring for the children.
Nevertheless, in the attempt by Edna to forge a different life with different roles, Edna leads a life that is different from that of her friend. Moreover, the desire to create a different role and life for herself, emanates from the struggle against social stereotypes (Baym 487).
Edna’s aims at becoming conscious of the full potential she has. Notwithstanding that emotional satisfactions are requisites to a full life, the society in which Edna lives in is marred with chauvinistic tendencies. In the light of this, the women are not expected to be self centered. This simply means that the women cannot focus on their happiness and the first priority is family preservation.
Edna voices her dissatisfaction with her husband’s views on Victorian ideals. She views the ideals as a form of oppression because her husband determines her choices. She distances herself from the husband through art. The income from these sales gives her a feeling of independence. On the other hand, this move gives the husband a feeling of threat (Baym 452).
As opposed to many respectable women who are shy around a doctor, Edna is comfortable. She does not gesture or glance when touched by the doctor. Edna also shows no emotion when she refuses to attend the wedding of her sister. She insists that her husband should attend the function alone because it reminds her of her own marriage.
The refusal to attend the wedding reveals that Edna is determined to distance herself from all possible societal roles. By watching her sister become a subservient wife meant for serving her husband, she cannot think of a worse experience. Edna’s father reminds her of the bad experiences she has had in life. Edna’s father and Margaret’s life are perfect examples of patriarchal forces dominating the life of Edna.
As she extends the distance between the husband and her, her art increases in force and reality. Edna goes against the societal norms by moving into a house away from their matrimonial home. She does this thinking that she will evolve from an amateur artist to a professional artist (Baym 278).
Conclusion
In summary, Edna is a hard working woman torn between leading a public or a private life. She uses Adele as a perfect example of the effects of a patriarchal society on the freedom of a woman. This is because Adele is a loving and caring mother. Moreover, Adele is a model of in the 19th century’s woman.
The submissiveness of Adele is a source of concern for Edna who views that the woman should emancipate herself from the societal and familial roles and pursue a free life. Edna has no stand. She admires Adele but ridicules her submissiveness.
She cannot be like Adele but she worships and idolizes Adele’s children. Through her awakening, there is a further conflict between her personal choice and the choices determined by the public. Beauty, social, and sexual issues also characterize this awakening. This is a difficult way of trying to bring out the private life of an individual in a patriarchal society.
Works Cited
Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Beginnings to 1865. New York: W W Norton & Company Incorporated,2008.
The Victorian age is at once identified generally as a time of nostalgic perfection and severe oppression. It is the age of change and social advances and the age of the strict social structure and an extreme regard for the customs of the past.
Under the reign of Queen Victoria, the Industrial Revolution came of age, blossomed and brought sweeping change across the country and the world. Coming out of this period, women in Europe and America were beginning to question their allotted place in society as more and more opportunities opened for them in the urban centers of the country, providing them with a means of supporting themselves and freeing themselves from the yoke of male domination. However, at the same time, these positions were not the equal rights positions of modern times, so it was often difficult to determine whether one wanted to sacrifice freedom for comfort or comfort for freedom. Rarely was it possible to attain both. All of these social and economical concerns can be found in the novels written during and following this time period.
Capturing the spirit and the restlessness of this movement, Kate Chopin’s novel Awakening tells the story of a woman awakening from the stupor of Victorian values in order to more fully experience herself as she first frees herself from her husband’s definitions, then frees herself from her duties as a mother and finally learns to enjoy simply being herself.
The opening of Chopin’s story continues to illustrate how Edna Pontellier is little more than the property of her husband until the night she finally decides to free herself of his rules by taking a night-time swim. Her status is introduced on her first appearance at the beginning of the story as Leonce Pontellier addresses Edna on her return from a swim. “’You are burnt beyond recognition,’ he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage” (Ch. 1, p. 13). Vague ideas of independence and self-awareness plague Edna through much of the early portions of the novel, but they begin to break free the night of the party when everyone goes for a swim. Although she has struggled in vain to learn to swim all summer, she has managed to frustrate most of those who have attempted to teach her with her reticence and fearfulness. “But that night she was like the little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who all of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with overconfidence. She could have shouted for joy. She did shout for joy, as with a sweeping stroke or two she lifted her body to the surface of the water” (Ch. 10, p. 50). During this experience, she swims out alone and discovers the freedom of space both on the physical and spiritual level. Although she doesn’t yet fully understand her thoughts, she is deeply aware of a change coming over her, causing her to openly and defiantly resist her husband’s calls to her to come in from the night. With this swim, she is able to begin exploring her feelings toward other men, such as Robert Lebrun.
Although Edna loves her children sometimes, another moment of awakening occurs when she realizes that she cannot permit being a mother to overwhelm her dawning sense of self. This is, again, an element of her character that is brought forward early in the story as Leonce notices that his wife isn’t as attentive of a mother as some of the other mothers and is irritated by it. She also confesses to Adele that she feels inconsistent in her affections for her children. However, it isn’t until after her liberating swim that she begins to realize what that vague, deep, liberating feeling is as she begins to let go of her restrictions.
As she had told Adele, “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself. I can’t make it more clear; it’s only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me” (Ch. 16, p. 80). Her insistence that living and breathing life is different from the blossoming and discovering soul is impossible for her to put into words.
However, she demonstrates this idea toward the end of the book as she places her children in the home of their grandmother, giving them up in order to discover herself.
Finally, Edna is able to release herself from the strict bounds of wife and mother in order to more fully explore her own sense of self in a dramatic move away from her home. This move has been building throughout the novel as Edna shifts her sense of importance away from being a wife and then away from being a mother to finally begins looking into what makes her feel like herself. She stops holding her regular Tuesday visiting hours and begins running her own schedule independent from what Leonce feels she should do. Her decision to move into a house of her own is evidence of her awakening spirit attempting to find its own sense of self and independence. Although she tries to pass off her reasons as being altruistic in renting a smaller house for herself, she admits to Mademoiselle Reisz that she wants the feeling of independence she can only get through supporting herself through the sales of her increasingly strong sketches and her race track winnings.
“Instinct had prompted her to put away her husband’s bounty in casting off her allegiance … There would have to be an understanding, an explanation. Conditions would some way adjust themselves, she felt; but whatever came, she had resolved never again to belong to another than herself” (Ch. 26, p. 129). With this admission, she is finally able to acknowledge that she is in love with Robert and give in to her physical desire for Alcee.
Edna’s progression through the novel demonstrates a woman awakening to herself, realizing by stages the emptiness she feels in her prescribed social roles and discovering the individual within. This process starts with her growing ability to resist her husband’s expectations as she discovers the joy of swimming through the depths of her soul near the beginning of the novel. It moves further as she examines her relationship with her sons and realizes that while she is willing to give them everything she can, she cannot sacrifice her soul to them. Finally, Edna begins actually discovering herself as first her husband and then her sons are sent away and she begins finding her own independence in choosing her own schedule, finding a means of supporting herself and giving in to her own passions.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Prometheus Books, 1996.
The author of this novel, Kate Chopin, was brought up in an intellectual environment and was aware of the marital problems that were experienced during the Victorian period. ‘The Awakening’ is a novel that is written in the Victorian society which is patriarchal.
This is a very strict society that has prejudiced conventions that women are supposed to adhere to. The Victorian society puts great emphasis on a rigid set of requirements that women should hold on to unlike their male counterparts who do not have much to do. Women are expected to be ideal wives, devoted mothers, and competent performers in anything.
The story talks about the expedition of Edna Pontellier who is both a mother and a wife. The novel begins when Edna, is on vacation together with her family on Grand Isle. It is here that Edna begins to be reawakened. She meets a man Robert Lebrun, who reignites her sexual desire, becomes a good swimmer, and revives her love for painting. She also gets some female friends who also influence her awakening.
These women include Mademoiselle Reisz and Madame Ratignolle (Chopin 841). After going back home, she starts ignoring most of the conventions within her society and carries on with painting, from where she gets her income which contributes to her financial independence. Consequently, she buys a house and runs away from her husband,
Involves herself in another affair, and gets back with Lebrun who eventually departs her. This leads to her ultimate death in Grand Isle where she drowns herself.
In general, ‘The Awakening’ points at the societal patriarchal stereotypes that call for women to surrender themselves to their husbands and depend upon their financial support while being truthful to them. These conventions also demand that women should put their kids’ interests above their own.
To start with, Edna finds herself caught up between her strong desire to be free and the preconceived patriarchal ideologies within her society. She seems to admire her friend Madame Ratignolle’s conformity to the societal ideologies, but chooses not to adhere to them. Women are portrayed to be blinded by the limitations of their gender identities.
The novel uses a lot of symbolism in order to bring out the issue of gender in the society. For instance, the title of Chopin’s novel ‘The Awakening’ is highly symbolic. It connotes the many ways in which Edna who is the main female protagonist attempts to stir up her environment.
She is seen to revive her self-awareness as a woman and as an individual. She also starts to appreciate herself as a woman, as an artist and begins to get pleasure from listening to music.
On the other hand, cigars have been mentioned in several instances, a symbol of masculinity. Ideally, women in this society are not supposed to smoke. This notwithstanding, Edna challenges this convention by constantly and publicly smoking cigars. Birds have also been used symbolically in this novel. They symbolize the capability to soar into the sky, bringing out the issue of freedom.
In this novel women are seeking freedom in this male-dominated society. This issue is clearly brought out by Edna. Houses are also used symbolically. Edna is seen to be having several homes which negatively connotes the constant shifting of the female mindset. Use of the ocean is also prominent in Chopin’s novel.
The ocean is usually a large water mass which can be used to represent something that is not easy to comprehend. On several occasions, Edna turns to the ocean for emotional consolation. The ocean is used by the author to represent the patriarchal misconceptions within the general society that are so wide and prominent to be done away with.
At one point in the novel, Edna is seen to watch Madame Ratignolle with the use of masculine eyes. She describes her as walking graciously while her little children ran towards her (Chopin 837). Apparently, this image establishes the masculine ideals within this society.
The representation describes how the men expect their wives to behave. Actually, Madame Ratignolle conforms to both the family and spiritual ideals in this society, and has been used to depict a perfect woman. As a matter of fact, she would be ready to lay her life for her children and is thus a representation of holiness.
In this novel, the author brings about the behavior of the revolutionized woman (Edna) to signify the limitations posed by the continuous conditioning of women which makes them prisoners of their roles. In the novel the author is seen to be questioning the identity of women as well as their roles.
Edna chooses independence over conforming to the societal expectations with regards to her duties to her husband and her family. She also chooses to appreciate her sexuality over being subdued by the masculine gender, and prefers to appreciate art and music over being entertained by others.
In this society, the masculine gender is seen to constantly disapprove women who wander away from their marital expectations. The men feel that they should intervene in the women’s decisions and help them in making judgments, both in their careers and their social life. In addition, when it comes to financial issues, men are not satisfied in their wives inputs.
For instance, at one point, Edna’s husband reprimanded her for allegedly forgetting to take care of her children, citing that, it is a mother’s responsibility to bring up children. He defended himself with the argument that he had very many other responsibilities.
Unquestionably, division of work along gender lines was a custom of the Victorian society. As a matter of fact, a woman is expected to support her home and kids single handedly. As evidenced in the case of Edna and her husband, when a woman went below the requirements of her job, she would be thoroughly scolded by her husband who was her boss.
Undeniably, Edna’s father who was a Colonel strengthens this masculine obligation in Edna’s husband when he persuaded him to involve practical business expertise into family conflicts.
This is evident when he says; “You are too lenient, too lenient by far, Leonce,” “Authority and coercion are what is needed. Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife. Take my word for it (Chopin 901).” According to this society, a wife should be handled as a worker.
Moreover, in this novel, most dialogues by women are generally centered on family matters, while men’s dialogues are mainly focused on business issues. For this reason, marriage in this society is not highly regarded by the men. They seem to be having more important matters to discuss other than family issues.
In several instances in the novel, masculinity is associated with hard work, determination and conquest over life’s struggles. According to this novel, women who attempt to change such stereotypes have to break very strong traditional ties and the attempt is likely to be futile.
In conclusion, ‘The Awakening’ is a novel that is set within a patriarchal society. This society has stereotypical ideologies that suppress women. Edna refuses to accept the society’s dominant patriarchal ideologies and thus attempts to achieve gender equality and freedom from the patriarchal structures within her society which leads to her death. Edna believes that taking away her life is the only way she can achieve her freedom.
This can be an indication of the futility that is associated with any attempt by women to change the patriarchal structures within the society. The act of committing suicide can also signify feminine revolution.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York, NY: Bantam Classic, 1981. Print.
The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin published in 1899.
It tells the story of unorthodox views on women’s roles, femininity, active sex life and motherhood in a period when social attitudes did not tolerate such views from women.
The novel is an earlier work of feminism as it shows a woman’s search for identity by rejecting oppressive social norms.
The Awakening is a social commentary novel that psychologically explores femininity issues.
Sleep (the motif)
Sleep acts as a powerful motif in the book.
Readers can identify major patterns of sleep and wakefulness throughout the story.
For Edna to realize her position , she must sleep and wake up.
She must recognize herself and position in the world as a human being and as an individual in the society.
Therefore, to be awake implies:
To know.
To be enlightened.
Sleep (think deeply)
Edna celebrates the “Mass” after she wakes up from her sleep in Chapter XIII.
Edna has literally woken up from her nap and learns about the clear details about her world after her sleep and wonders just how long she has slept.
Sleep allows Edna to thinking deeply, which is necessary for her.
She realizes her fundamental isolation from this old world and her need to enter a new one after tossing in the sofa until morning (Chopin 886).
Sleep (Ignorance)
Chopin associates sleep with Edna’s ignorance.
On the other hand, Edna’s wakefulness represents new knowledge of self-identity.
Edna spends time between napping and waking up, which fit the book’s title, The Awakening.
It indicates a discovery of new knowledge.
Therefore, Edna strives to avoid sleep by staying awake in the sofa.
Edna’s waking up shows us that change is about to take place.
Sleep (independence and identity)
When Edna wakes up, she realizes that she is possessed by Mr. Pontellier as an object.
Edna wakes up to this reality of a woman being a man’s possession, which leads to oppression.
In Chapter 36, when Chopin writes “no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not…”, she is making a clear declaration that her status in life has changed.
Edna is asserting her independence as a woman from a possessive husband.
Edna is rejecting the repressive social structure that has kept her confined and oppressed and seeks for isolation in the pigeon’s house where she could sleep.
Sleep (wakefulness and self-discovery)
Chopin notes that perhaps it is important to wake up after all, even to suffer rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life.
This statement reflects Edna’s sleep and wakefulness.
Edna’s sleep, in this case, represents repressed life of the past century that women had to endure.
Edna was duped to the illusions of “propriety” held by men and society in her time.
Waking up is a motif for attaining her true self and desires.
Sleep (Isolation)
Through sleep, Edna isolates herself from others and society.
Edna discovers who she truly is because sleep is a form of escapism from oppressive norms of society.
Chopin asserts the view that people possess “true selves“, which is distinct from the true selves of other people in society.
Edna only comes to the “awakening” that isolation by sleeping is mandatory for the discovery of her true self through different forms of reactions to relationships with others in an oppressive society, particularly Robert Lebrun.
Sleep (freedom)
As a property, Leonce values and greatly admires his “purchase” of Edna.
However, Edna has come to regard herself as a possession for which her husband had bought and paid.
As a Presbyterian husband, Leonce observes strict guidelines, which create the oppressive and dehumanizing environment in which Edna’s marriage has existed and must endure.
Such an environment makes Edna to seek for isolation and freedom by sleeping.
Sleep (escapism)
In the end, Edna shall sleep in the sea, but the sleep of death occasioned by her suicide (Levine 72).
However, in death, Edna will be awake and free from the oppressive world to women.
Edna must escape social forces and discover her true self, but this must come through death.
They are the social forces from which Edna must escape in order to discover who she really is . . . in order to become fully “awakened.”
It may be considered one irony of the novel that Edna only comes to the “awakening” through death and that complete isolation is necessary for the birth of her true self by a series of reactions to relationships with others, which culminate in suicide.
Sleep (tragic)
In The Awakening, Edna as a woman struggling for self-identity loses to men and oppressive society.
Edna has been subjugating her true self to her husband and society her whole life.
She realizes in Chapter XXXIX and embarks on a last journey into the ocean.
Only when Edna rejects the oppressed self does she “awaken” to her true self.
Women would continue to struggle for equality for the better part of another century.
It is within this historical context that one should look at the motif of sleep in the novel.
Levine notes, “A close study of this rhythmic pattern demonstrates the logical though tragic connection between Edna’s sleep habits and her suicide….” (p. 2).
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York, NY: Bantam Classic, 1981. Printed.
Levine, Robert S. “Circadian Rhythms and Rebellion in Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”.” Studies in American Fiction 10.1 (1982): 71. ProQuest. Web.
Kate Chopin was writing even before the phrase “women’s movement” had been coined, but the stirrings of this twentieth century movement were beginning to simmer in the US at that time. Patriarchal custom demanded that women be defined in relationship to the men in their life – wife, mother, and daughter- and not as separate human beings with a defined self outside their relationship to others. Society strongly discouraged women’s attempts to develop a separate and independent self. It had been purely satirical on the part of those women who have tried to find themselves apart from their “significant others”. Thus; it was the reason for the transpiration of a novel who suffered societal criticism and dispute. For the people of her time, Kate was way far too ahead of her generation.
Overview of the novel
The Awakening is the story of one woman’s struggle for self-identity. Edna Pontellier, who was twenty-eight year old wife and a mother of two children with a lawful husband, Leonce, a businessman, was soured on the world and her personality insures that of solitude. Edna sees this picture of herself as frightening because of what the society can do to shun those who seek a life outside the norm. She has grown tired of her duties and responsibilities at home that finally when she met a young man, she became more aware of her physical body and her desires that she had felt wantonly before. She was so confused until she started to see herself as an individual. She could no longer conform to the expectations and principles of the society where she duly belonged that’s why she attempted to free herself from such attachment to her family. She soon realized that society’s denial is nothing compared to the desperate longing inside her that almost devoured her sanity. Yes, she had felt an illicit passion towards a wrong man who left her for good, which then led her to the clasp of death.
The plot
The gulf has a sensual and mysterious part throughout the story. Chopin uses vivid imagery to create such mood making the readers aware of intense feelings and the reality of human desire. Chopin calls upon all the senses to show Edna’s unfolding sensuality. Food and appetite became symbols of an awakening to sexual consciousness. Symbolism is very obvious in the plot. Bird imagery is used reminiscent of Whitman, to symbolize freedom. A broken-winged bird that cannot fly symbolized the failure possible in the search. This explains why Edna does not beg for pity at any time (Robertson, 2004)
I think this book’s literary significance transcends time, making it valid for each generation. This tightly woven novel looks at women’s struggle for change and acceptance of self against the dictates of society. Chopin mirrored in the plot much of what was being observed in her own reality and society if not in her own life. The novel shows the sea as a metaphor for the seducer and the gulf consciousness. Her poetic qualities can be seen and heard in this passage.
The structure of the story or the plot was intricate and climactic. The flow of every chapter of the novel is continuous and the relation between each chapter is obvious and significant. The opening and closing scenes are very relevant and overwhelmingly presented in the story. Each with a different but similar connection to the other; both extremes are satisfactorily embossed on the water which played a significant role in the story (Gilley, 2006).
An objective third person narrated the story. The narrator did not criticize or applaud characters for their traits or their actions. Most importantly, the narrator withheld judgment and the choice she makes to the readers interpretation. The author does not appear as a significant observer. Chopin exudes a hands-off quality as though she attempts to describe her characters and events but does not comment on them to the reader. Her feelings on universal human nature and society in general are subtle, allowing the readers to “awaken” gently on their own.
The plot is not too fast paced and not too slow. Just the right amount of pacing for every chapter was applied. There is symmetry though not too obvious in the novel. Some scenes recur in the succeeding chapters with explanations tantamount for the readers to grasp the theme and connotative meanings inherent in the novel (Lewis, 2007).
There are indeed recurring motifs in the novel. The iconographic approach was utilized minimally in the sequences of the story. It was quite obvious in the plot. For one, the colors used to describe her paintings were actually silent manifestations of the inner turmoil that Edna was experiencing. The shape of her body also describes what kind of woman she was and what character does she portray.
The characters
A contemporary review from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by C.L. Deyo published on May 20, 1899 is helpful in analyzing and tracing the main characters in the story from the beginning till the end (Edna’s death). The article states that Edna was aroused when Robert Lebrun “revealed her to herself”. Edna was not treated like a person by her husband but rather a decorative piece of property. When Robert left her, she continued to open her eyes to life (Deyo, 1899).
Edna’s rediscovery of feelings that she has long been repressed underlie her search for freedom, self-expression and love. Her relationship with Robert Lebrun awakens forgotten physical needs and prompts Edna to think about her life as a person. After some incidents, she started to open up to others, learned to swim, she shared confidences with others close to her and she allowed herself to be stirred by others in the person of Mademoiselle Reizs’s music. She further realized the experiencing power of the connection between the mind and the body. She finally acknowledged her feelings for one person…Robert (Culley, 1994).
It also shows that societies objections to Edna’s experiences, and suggests a lack of courage in facing society as the reason Edna sacrifices herself to the sea. Edna realized her worth and passion for life. She also wanted passion in a loving relationship but felt passion and love could not be provided by her husband, Robert, or any man. As a result, Edna’s unwillingness to sacrifice passion and wait for love left her empty and more hopeless than before the ‘awakening’. She could not function or survive in society, unfulfilled.
Edna’s role is not static but dynamic. She decides to do things because she wants to, not because someone else expects her to. She explores how not all women are content being wife and mother. Edna realized she needed more. Thus, when she discovered the strength of will to explore what she can be, she went for it. She was motivated to find herself a place under the sun.
Other characters were also imminent as the story climaxed. Each was symbolically portrayed in the novel. Madame Ratignolle represents the quintessential mother-woman figure that society recognizes and applauds. Mademoiselle Reisz is a musician but not really beautiful and everybody despised her. She is quite talented, although no one but Edna can see through that. Leonce, on the other hand is a man who accepts as his due the deference of others to his perceived superiority (Robertson, 204).
Robert is a perfect manifestation of the eccentricity in tradition and inconstancy in the society. He is the personification of flirtatious younger men who finds amusement and gratification in knowing to have tempted supposedly older and more knowledgeable women. He mirrored the abandonment, which sometimes befell the individuals who would otherwise have no purpose for living.
The theme
As a reader, it is obvious that the major theme of “The Awakening” is the main character’s realization of life…freedom. Edna Pontellier goes through changes, in which she abandons all expectations from her husband and society in general. The fact that Edna is a woman, ignoring her duties as a mother and a wife, to explore life and find herself, appalled the male critics of the late 19th century.
Unity of women was also a minor theme throughout the novel and how accurately it reveals life. It is true that the women characters have bond. They give advice, hide secrets, and discuss their problems with each other. It also depicts Louisiana Creole life clearly and precisely. The novel displays leisure class activity and the abundance of free time such people possess (Monroe, 1899).
The Awakening of Chopin constitutes a frank exploration of how a woman of end century wakes up to the limitations of her life and initiates a transformation in which she tries to reach for learning, liberation about arts, sexual and emotional independence.
Chopin emphasized on the femininity of women and the value of independence. It just shows that Chopin has a high regard for herself and for the women in general. Her beliefs that women can be productive and recognized in their own rights are clearly depicted in her novel.
There were also repressed feelings due to chained personal freedom that were expressed in the story quite precisely. The role of women was something degrading and embarrassing in some part. Life was duly presented as unfair and that decisions made impose consequences of choices. (Kirkpatrick, 1904)
The book was filled with bad theology; emotional and physical excesses (for some parts however) selfish activity (extra-marital affairs of Edna with other men) and false signs and wonders. The connection between the birth of the Pentecostal movement in America and the Welsh Revival is obvious but usually ignored by modern revivalists. This made the book a sympathetic account that can be easily exposed by anyone with a basic understanding of the Scripture.
Conclusion
To completely understand a novel and the author’s point of view, it is extremely helpful to examine important aspects that scholars have noted within literary pieces. Readers may be given a better interpretation of characters, several minor themes, effects the novel had on society when it was first published, or other points the author is clearly trying to convey. I found this to be true with Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. By examining the story closely, I was given a greater comprehension of the novel.
Personally, I could not identify well with the story perhaps because it would really be difficult for someone who was encouraged to be his own person in his life to deal with idiosyncrasies such as that of Edna in the story. More than once, some puzzled over Edna’s feelings and decisions. Yet it is this very novel which brought the country to its current belief system. Although a feminist book, this could speak to anyone trapped in a role not of his or her own making.
The novel was met with a great deal of controversy before. Even fans of her work prior the novel, shunned Chopin. She was indeed a pioneer creating women characters beyond the role of wife and mother. She wrote about women’s feelings, sexuality and independence.
Chopin used powerful dialogues, actions and elements, which are beyond being incidental. The story as a whole is realistic, philosophical, intense, and sardonic and in some ways, turned out to be nostalgic. The characters are in symbolic relationships with each other. They complement each attitude and desire of each and thus gave the story a truthful twist of fate. It is important to add that the author used a lot of symbols in all her works and the Awakening is really full of them. These symbols served to add meaning to the text and to underline some subtle points, which the readers would fail to understand and looked upon. Finally, such understanding of the meaning of such symbols in the story is vital to a full appreciation of the story.
This piece of literature emphasizes that as we get older with age, our views change, or that in a woman for all ages and periods, a certain independent personality could occur. But that does not mean that we have to change our whole lifestyle as Edna Pontellier did. Change is something inherent to humans. Be it in a story or in real life, we are all but responsible to the choices we make and choices entails much responsibility that passion and confusion were not mere reasons for a sudden change of flight to something we regard as independence. There is no absolute freedom. Happiness relies on the manner by which we live our lives not apart from others. Because it is with other people that we come to identify ourselves as to whom we really are.
Overall, the theme for women or individual independence, to explore the human capacity on arts, knowledge, and even physical satisfaction, has been the crux of The Awakening. It could be quite liberating if not utterly rebellious during the time it was first published, but has become as mundane and ordinary to modern day physical liberation, especially in the west.
Annotated bibliography
Culley, Margo. “Kate Chopin-The Awakening Review” Second Edition. Norton, Chicago, New York. 1994.
This is a review on the works and life of Kate Chopin. There are indications and links as to her real life as a widow as well as her published stories.
Deyo, C.L. “A Contemporary Review”. Saint Louis Post-Dispatch. Louisiana, U.S.A. 1899.
This is a review on Kat Chopin’s as well as other published author’s works basing on the “contemporary” standards at that time. These standards, however, are unlikely considered as contemporary today.
Kirkpatrick, Mary Alice. “Kate Chopin, The Awakening”. 1851-1904. Chicago; New York: Herbert S. Stone & Co., 1899.
This review on the life and works of Kate Chopin focuses on the author’s strengths and appeal to the reader. Likewise, there is also a feminism view linking this appeal to female readers.
Monroe, Lucy. “The Awakening Review-Minor Themes”. Book News, New York. 1899.
This book review focuses on the view of feminism as well as women independence from their men. Although there are considerations of what was norm during those days, this celebrates the freedom sought by the character of Chopin’s story to the extent of highlighting what may be considered trivial for the uninitiated.
Penn-Lewis, Jessie. “The Awakening in Wales: A Book Review. Edited by: Gary E. Gilley. 2007 SVC.
This review of Penn-Lewis mirror and echo the discovery and revelation of female thoughts and undertakings which serve as taboo during the time Chopin came out with the book.
Robertson, J.C. “Southern Liteary Review- The Awakening” copyright 2004. Book News. 2004.
This review of Robertson depicts the values and ideas of Chopin against the norms and what is considered as acceptable during the era. Women movement and freedom was a novelty as well as rebellious during that time so that the view of those who may not accept the book is considered.
Toth, Emily. “A New Biographical Approach and Contemporary Review”. New Orleans, Louisiana.1899.
Kate Chopin’s life and ideals were juxtaposed against her work, and the norm of the time in this review.