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The Suffrage of Kate Chopin as Edna in The Awakening

Kate Chopin gives us an amazing novel that brings enlightenment to the suffrage of women in
the late 1800s. In The Awakening, we can see Kate impose traits of her life upon the characters
in the novel and through this we can see her feelings toward the subjects in which she is writing.
The subjects in which she is awakening her audience are the misogynistic roles placed upon
women and men and how they affect the lives of those around them, suicide, love, and
homosexuality. As Kate writes on these subjects she is rebelling against the norm of the 1890s
and trying to convince her readers of how absurd their society is, because of this her novel was
negatively reviewed and widely shunned in her time. Lets begin discussing how she sets this up.
Kate develops her characters through multiple events of her life. The first is the easiest to
spot, Edna. She creates Edna from herself, a New Orleans wealthy socialite, who would vacation
at the Grand Isles. The descriptions of Edna also mirror those of Kate given during her time.
Kates husband, Oscar, has many commonalities with Leonce, Ednas husband, but he was not of
the same temperament. Oscar allowed Kate to be free, while Edna was controlled by Leonce.
The similarities begin when Enda awakens and begins to ask for more freedom, Leonce, through
the advice of Dr. Mandelet, backs off the traditional role and assumes an Oscar-like mentality
towards Edna (Chopin 101-102). This brings about condemnation from the Colonel later in the
novel that would have been similar to those aimed at Oscar in Kates life. Another interesting
character is Robert Lebrun who seems to have been created from Kates friendship with Edgar
Degas. Despite there being no evidence of a romantic relationship between Edgar and Kate, they
seem to have been close during the short time he was in New Orleans. The final character that I
wish to bring up is Alcee, the man with whom Edna has her affair. After the death of Oscar, Kate
ventured into an affair with a handsome man, Albert Sampite, this man can be seen as Alcee in

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the novel. "But Albert Sampite, even if he had been single, was not her match" (Toth 98). This is
just like Ednas relationship with Alcee in The Awakening. Interestingly, in describing her affair
Toth gives a nice insight on Edna and Roberts penultimate moments, "Among Catholics there
was no divorce; under Louisiana civil law, if a divorce took place because of adultery, 'the
offender may not marry his or her accomplice'" (98). In this we can see that had Edna left Leonce
for Robert they could not have married. Advice givers believed the reasons for the changes to
the American family were the result of women's "selfish desires" to pursue opportunities away
from the home and a devaluation of the role of motherhood and housewife. In response, images
of devoted wives and mothers were featured in numerous advice magazines ("The Role of the
Wife and Mother."). This shows that if a divorce were to occur in this era, it was the fault of the
woman, therefore, this lends Kate to write Edna onto a path of final freedom from the bonds of
society through her own demise. Before we describe the penultimate moment of Edna, lets look
at Kates life and the challenges they present to her readers through the book.
Kate and Oscar had a really good relationship, Kate was free of any duties and
responsibilities, and treated well by Oscar. I am going to be married, Kate confided in her
commonplace book, married to the right man. It does not seem strange as I had thought it
wouldI feel perfectly calm, perfectly collected. And how surprised everyone was, for I had kept
it so secret! (Biography). Oscar had often been criticized about Kates activities, much in the
way that Leonce was allowing Edna to be free, but worried about the perception. "Oscar was a
rare man who preferred an original woman, one who was neither quiet nor stay-at-home" (Toth,
Unveiling Kate Chopin 67). It seems that through this loving and engaging relationship Kate and
Oscar experienced some hardships from the social norms of her time. These hardships are
personified in The Awakening through the inclusion of Ednas father.

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The most influential example from Kates life would be Ednas father, the Colonel, giving
advice to Leonce on how to control his wife. In Kates life, the Colonel doesnt reflect her father,
as some might think. Instead, I believe the Colonel more closely resembles Oscars father, who
was almost a carbon copy of the Colonel. As Emily Toth describes him in her biography, "Dr.
Chopin settled down as the master of a plantation, where he made the lives of his wife and slaves
a living hell" (63). This is a rather interesting analysis because not many people see this, but Dr.
Chopin and Kate had a rough relationship but had a mutual liking to each other, in much the
same way Edna and the Colonel had a mutual moment in the novel. Through this we can see that
Oscars tendency to allow Kate to be an independent woman did not sit well with his father who
probably gave the same advice that the Colonel gave to Leonce in the novel. Writing about it is
Kates way of showing how stupid of an idea it is to entrap women as property, but when
someone doesnt conform to this notion, theres a societal push for them to re-establish the
norms. This societal push of misogyny upon men, who didnt play the role, was wrong and drove
Kate nuts, as she would have been victim to this pressure during her marriage to Oscar.
The second case of misogynistic theme that we see that probably happened with Kate is the
character of Robert Lebrun. Robert is loosely based upon the painter Edgar Degas, who had a lot
of influence on The Awakening. From 1872 to 1873, Degas made an extended trip to New
Orleans to visit his brother Ren and other family members, including his uncle, who operated a
failing cotton exchange (Wolf). As an outsider in New Orleans, much like Kate and Edna, hed
have been a good confidant for Kate. Its interesting that his family operated a cotton exchange,
as it was the same business that Oscar had been involved. Through Robert, we can see that Kate,
as Edna had, was close to Degas, but was never seen as a subject of affection. "[Degas] was also
considered rather asexual, and therefore no threat to the husbands of women he might

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meet" (Toth 73). Perhaps Kate had developed a love with Degas that extended beyond the normal
love of friends, but much like Robert had in The Awakening, Degas was unable to return that
love. This is purely speculation, but an observation is that Robert had many tendencies of a
homosexual man of his time. It was frowned upon to openly admit to a character being such at
her time. So many scholars did not label Robert as homosexual, but Emily Toth writes,
"homosexual male Americans frequently went to Mexico for sexual alliances with boys" (Toth
213). Whereas had it been allowed, Robert would have just admitted to being homosexual and
been free to express himself, rather than being overly flirtatious with women in an attempt to
seem normal. This is still a common idea in the homosexual community as homosexual men
generally have close relationships with women, but its purely platonic in nature.
Through the character Leonce we can see a lot of the social ideas of the time. Leonce was
seen as the perfect husband, a wealthy man who conforms to the established model male. This
male was expected to control his wife, much like the advice given to Leonce from the Colonel,
Authority, coercion are what is needed. Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to
manage a wife (Chopin 109). Emily Toth writes that at this time it was even acceptable for men
to batter their wives, as it was seen as a right but Oscar has never been one to condone such
activities (Toth 99). Doing extra research has shown that this is indeed true, The AngloAmerican common law originally provided that a husband, as master of his household, could
subject his wife to corporal punishment or "chastisement" so long as he did not inflict permanent
injury upon her (Siegel 2118). During Kates time this notion had been challenged and changed,
but was not enforced. Therefore, in writing about the old advice of the Colonel, we can see Kate
pushing back against the old ideas and challenging people to progress into the new.

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Kate had an interesting view upon motherhood, in the novel she seems to make it seem like
its a weight bearing down on the soul as expressed in the following passage, The children
appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to
drag her into the souls slavery (Chopin 176). It doesnt seem like Kate always held this believe
about being a mother. As Emily Toth quotes Chopins diary,
the smell of chloroform, and then waking at 6 in the evening from out of a stupor to see
in my mothers arms a little piece of humanity all dressed in white which they told me was
my little son! The sensation with which I touched my lips and my fingertips to his soft
flesh only comes once to a mother. It must be the pure animal sensation: nothing spiritual
could be so real so poignant (Toth 69).
Here we see that Kate was ecstatic about child birth and felt a sensational attraction to her
children. But later when describing childbirth in The Awakening her words are much different.
"An ecstasy of pain, the heavy odor of chloroform, a stupor which had deadened sensation, and
an awakening to find a little new life to which she had given being added to the great
unnumbered multitude of souls that come and go" (Chopin 169). Chopin also describes this as,
a scene of torture (169). This last bit is given some contextual insight from Toth, "American
and English physicians (all male) had resisted using the drug [chloroform], arguing that women
should 'bring forth children in sorrow,' as the Bible ordered" (Toth 69). From this we can see that
men imposed their will upon the womanliest thing of the era, childbirth. It is my opinion here
that Kate isnt pushing against childbirth, but rather pushing against the torture that men impose
upon women in childbirth. Kate wanted women to give birth in their own manner, not in a
manner decided by a male doctor. Through this bit of insight, she was challenging her readers
about who should be in charge of childbirth.

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The penultimate challenge in the novel is the suicide of Edna. At the time of the writing, it
was understood that suicide was a problem amongst socialite women. Kate has a very strong
opinion on the notion that only women commit suicide as described in the following passage;
Business men commit suicide every day, yet we do not say that suicide is epidemic in the
business world. Why should we say the feeling is rife among society women, because half a
dozen unfortunates, widely separated, take their own lives? (Toth, "Kate Chopin On Divine
Love And Suicide 120). Here we see Kate going straight after the notion that women are the
only ones who commit such a pathetic act, and more interestingly she brings about the business
men, who are seen as model citizens. It is through this notion that she is challenging that men
and women are no different. Here shes pushing for equal respect given to women and men who
commit this act. In The Awakening, Edna is seen as a woman who is freed by her suicide. In this
sense Kate is challenging her audience to re-evaluate the notion of suicide, re-evaluate their own
perceptions of socialite women, re-evaluate their perceptions, because what looks sad, morbid,
and pathetic might actually be someones liberation from bondage. In Ednas suicide Kate
challenges the readers to understand the societal bondage applied to women, men, and to
evaluate themselves so that they can remove the oppressions of misogyny, the misogyny placed
upon Oscar because he was too liberal with Kate, the misogyny placed upon childbirth, the
misogyny placed upon marriage and divorce, the misogynistic roles assigned to men, who had to
be manly, in my research this is the true meaning of The Awakening. It is an awakening of the
reader to question their society and the roles being cast upon us. This message is as strong today
as it was when Kate Chopin wrote her novel.

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Works Cited
"Biography." KateChopin.org. Ed. Bernard Koloski. The Kate Chopin International Society,
2016. Web. 30 Apr. 2016. <http://www.katechopin.org/biography/>.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin. New York: Pocket, 2004.
Print.
Siegel, Reva B., "The Rule of Love: Wife Beating as Prerogative and Privacy" (1996). Faculty
Scholarship Series. Paper 1092.
"The Role of the Wife and Mother." Kate Chopin. Loyola University, 2009. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
Toth, E. "Kate Chopin On Divine Love And Suicide: Two Rediscovered Articles." American
Literature 63.1 (1991): 115. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.
Toth, Emily. Unveiling Kate Chopin. Jackson: U of Mississippi, 1999. Print.
Wolf, Justin. "Edgar Degas Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works." The Art Story. The Art Story
Foundation, 2016. Web. 30 Apr. 2016. <http://www.theartstory.org/artist-degasedgar.htm>.