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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.
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