‘The Awakening’ is a novel by Kate Chopin which was
first published in 1899. It is set in New Orleans and the surrounding areas in
the late 18th century and centres around a woman named Edna
Pontellier and her unhappiness in her current life. Being a woman at that time
Edna had to live a certain strict lifestyle which we see her try to break free
from throughout the novel. She is married to a Creole man and the women who she
associates herself with are expected to be wives and mothers before being themselves.
While on holiday to the Grand Isle’s with her husband, children and other
Creole’s, Edna meets the young Robert Lebrun who instantly takes a liking to
her. This blossoming relationship with Lebrun forces Edna to challenge the
beliefs that she has been bought up believing. She realises that she wants
passion and romance in her life with someone like Robert instead of being
forced into being the perfect Creole woman who would always take care of the
needs of her husband and children before herself. Once back from holiday, Edna’s
husband goes away on a work trip and her children are sent to their grandmother’s
and so Edna decides to move out to her own place. This is where she starts to
regain some independence which she lost many years ago. She is able to take
control of everything which is a new concept to her. When she was on holiday
Edna made friends with Mademoiselle Reisz who is an older, unmarried woman and
she inspires Edna to become her own person and break free from the chains that
have been holding her down all these years. Once Edna moves out of her marital
home, Mademoiselle Reisz takes her under her wing and acts as a living example
of what Edna could become if she remains self-sufficient. Edna takes up
painting as a way of further expressing herself and also starts a relationship
with another man. This relationship gives Edna the passion and excitement that
she’s been craving for so long and soon enough the young Robert Lebrun returns
to find Edna. Once reassured that she is a new, independent woman, Robert and
Edna start a new relationship together but this soon ends. Distraught and
heartbroken at her lover leaving her, Edna returns to where the book began and
slowly immerses herself in the sea until she drowns. Her suicide can be described
as either a ‘cowardly surrender or a liberating triumph’.
Kate Chopin is considered, by some, to be the ‘forerunner
of the feminist authors’. She was bought up by her mother, grandmother and
great-grandmother so was surrounded by strong, independent women. A lot of her
work is based on the Creole’s who she ended up spending a lot of time with
after the death of her husband in 1882. Chopin was somewhat of a controversial
woman there were rumours that she had had affairs with several married men from
the community. In 1884 Chopin sold her dead husbands’ land and moved back to St
Louis to be nearer her mother who shortly died after. Chopin became very
depressed following the deaths of her husband and mother however her doctor and
close friend thought it would be wise for her to focus all her energy into
writing. ‘The Awakening’ was published in 1899 and wasn’t socially accepted as
it was seen to be ‘ahead of its time’. Such a book about a woman who struggles
to live in the confines of an ‘oppressive’ society was something of a new idea and
only very recently has it been regarded as an importance piece of feminist
literature.The way in which she
perceived life was something new and different and a lot of her work
concentrated on women’s lives and their constant struggle to create an identity
for themselves. Many years after her death, her grandson stated that although
she never claimed to be a feminist or suffragist she was however someone who ‘took
women seriously’ and ‘never doubted their ability to be strong’.
A key theme in ‘The Awakening’ is the idea that with
independence, especially for a woman, comes the consequence of solitude.
Mademoiselle Reisz chose to live independently however she is seen as being a
lonely figure with no clear reason to live because she has no husband or
children. For women at that time, wanting to be independent and actually being
independent was met differently. Women, to a point were allowed to express
their dissatisfaction with their domesticated roles through art or other such
ways as long as they then went back to looking after the children and waiting for
their husbands to come home. Actually becoming independent from your husband
and family would lead to a feeling of isolation and loneliness as Edna soon
realised in the novel. She was able to show that she was independent through
swimming in the sea alone without the help of anyone else but when she
expressed her desire to do something more with her life she was met with a
hostile response. Yes, she was able to be self-sufficient but she became
somewhat of a social outclass. Her expressing to wanting to be independent
seemed to be normal and those around her weren’t overly surprised or shocked at
her sudden outburst but it were her physically moving out of her marital home
and leaving her husband and children which lead to her leading a life of social
solitude. What this implies is that at that time is was clearly a norm for
women to express unhappiness to their life but what wasn’t ‘normal’ was then
acting on those feelings.
There are two clear motifs in the novel with the sea
being one of them. The scene in which Edna first expresses her new found
freedom is the one where she swims out to sea alone without the aid of anyone.
It’s the place where she discovers her own inner strength. Water is often
associated with baptism and birth and so Edna is ‘reborn’ while in the water and
being able to swim so far out without the aid of anyone is what starts the ‘awakening’
process that Edna goes through, ‘Why did I not discover before that it was
nothing. Think of the time I have lost splashing about like a baby!’ Here Edna is
not just talking about being fearful of swimming alone but instead is a
reference to her life as an independent woman. She’s realising that she needs
to stop listening to those around her, especially her husband, and actually become
a self- sufficient woman who can live alone. It’s as if she’s been a baby for
so long and now needs to break free and ‘cut the umbilical cord’ which is
stopping her from living this new life and is instead keeping her tied down to
the life which brings her so much unhappiness. This brings me onto the second
motif which is children. To Edna, being a child is symbolic of her old life and
she now needs to grow up and realise what it is that she actually wants from
life. Being a child who is told what to do and when to do it is part of her old
life and she now needs to start a new one as a fully grown adult. Also, her
children could be one of the reasons why she ultimately kills herself. She
realises that as long as she is alive her children won’t be able to live a
normal life due to being associated with an ‘unstable’ mother so she thinks
that the best thing to do would be to commit suicide. This is where the sea
comes in again because the place where she as this sudden realisation is
actually the place which ends up killing her. Does this imply that Chopin
actually thought that women couldn’t really cope with being independent and
alone, away from the help and support of their husbands and male counterparts?
This could be what the suicide of Edna represents or it could express the idea
that once a woman has had even a small taste of what freedom is like she would
rather kill herself than be subjected to living any other life i.e. going back
to their husbands and living the life of a domesticated woman.