Universidad Nacional del Litoral

Licenciatura en Inglés

Literatura en Lengua Inglesa II

Docente: Cristina Rivas

Alumna: Romina Paola Piñeyro

Comisión: SF4

Introduction

It was a shared belief in the times of Victorian society that uninhibited sex

manifestations were a threat to the social order, as that was assumed to risk the mental

well being and engendering capacity of mankind. Particularly the sexual lust of women

were largely regarded as inappropriate, inconvenient and unnatural, and were hence

denied them. Procreating should be the only object for women to be involved in sexual

intercourse. Due to this, sexual desires, passion or raptures hardly exist for most

female protagonists in American Literature of these times.

The purpose of this essay, therefore, is to analyse Kate Chopin’s The Awakening

paying close attention to its main character, Edna Pontellier. The goal of this paper is to

prove that Chopin wanted to illustrate a society ruled by a dominant patriarchy in the

times she wrote her novel which will be the factor to explain Edna’s suicide. The

analysis will be accomplished in the light of gender and sex roles and examining how

Kate Chopin depicts female sexuality.

A male minded society

For a long time society has labelled women under the traditional markers of

submissiveness, duty, motherhood, and confinement . It took ,and in some cases it is

still taking, a critical amount of liberal, artistic, civic and ethical vision to change such

rooted forces of inequality, domination, power and injustice. Chopin was one of many

female American writers who ardently stood for a world in which men and women

could maintain equal freedom and self-sufficiency. In her fundamental novel, “The

Awakening”, Chopin illustrates a cultural and even unconscious attittude that expected

women to give up any sense of individuality or selfness and offer themselves to an

extreme of subjugation to their husbands, children, and sorrounding society. She voices

this traditional view by means of multiple different points of view which are ,in some

cases, contrasted with Edna's own, and then convinces the reader as to its injustice by

use of symbolic language, dialogues and scene descriptions which make the reader feel

empathy towards the main character’s suffering.

Puzzled by Edna's unruly way of behaving, which diferred so much from the model of

wife and mother she had shown up to now, the other characters who sorround Edna’s

life misunderstand the cultural model of servitude and devotion with 'home and family'

an idea which Chopin wants to change. Quite satisfactorily,the author manipulates point

of view and perspective managing to place the reader’s perspective on Edna's change,

on her awakening, opposing it to Edna's own thoughts which haunt her every time she

acquires a sense of liberation. These thoughts form altogether a feeling of guilt which

show how dominant and mindset society is in those times and how helpless ne may be

at attempting to argue against it.

The society sorrounding Edna and her confinement

Edna is sorrounded by the presence of male figures who condition her life and affect her

choices .Edna's husband constantly presents obstacles to Edna's new realizations. Quite

at the beginning of the novel we read that Mr Pontellier, "[looks] at his wife as one

looks at a valuable piece of personal property," this illustrates perfectly the type of

husband-wife relation they lead. Edna is a possession he certainly cares for and

appreciates. However, Edna is part of that male idea of possession to him, and he views

her as under his ownership. In his mind, however unconsciously, Edna is to be

controlled, being this a shared and common agreement fitting the standards of society

which becomes incompatible and unjustifiable to the eyes and interpretation of the

reader who is also exposed to Edna’s mental activity and sensitivity.

The other male characters presented in the novel form part of the stereotype and , each

of them from different perspective, reinforce this idea of dominance of the male sex

over the female. Among these men, we may point out Dr Mandelet who becomes aware

of Edna’s change and realizes that the society in which they live is full of stereotypes,

perceiving the effects which the demanded gender roles can generate on weaker

individuals. He foresees Edna’s awakening, yet he provides only an anesthetic, not a

remedy, for her pains of subjugation. Also, Robert Lebrun seems to understand Edna’s

awakening and feels moved by her situation. Aware of a radical change in Edna, he

chooses to stay apart and go away despite the fact that he loves her, accomplishing, in

this way, what society expects everybody to do. Edna, in her idealized naivetè, thinks

that Robert is different from others while he is not, since he also imagines Edna as the

perfect woman for a wife , falling into the standardised categories Edna wants to escape.

Alcee Arobin appears in Edna’s life in a moment of desperation. She wants to

manipulate others at her will and Alcee serves to be the one manipulated, the instrument
with which she will discover the development of her sexuality and this holds a

significant role at the moment she takes her decisions to disregard and oppose her

husband's wishes, to lead imprudent affairs, and to finally leave her husband's home.

Edna’s immaturity regarding relationships is shown throughout the novel until the

moment of her awakening when the real woman who had been sleeping all this time

suddenly emerges. At this time, after six years of marriage and being also the mother of

two boys, Edna felt a painful emptiness. Consequently, in this sort of sudden and

uncontrolled existentialism, she abandons her duties even when her children are sick or

bored. But it is this same immaturity which prevents her from flying, as Maidmosselle

Reiz puts it, as her wings are not strong enough. Her mind is divided into her duties, an

unconscious sense of guilt which persistently follows her, and this new revelation in her

life which cannot be hidden but at the same time cannot be fulfilled.

Finally, Edna decides to walk ahead into the sea which embraces her, and has been

evoked many times throughout the novel as "seductive, enfolding the body in its soft,

close embrace", providing her with the freedom she lacks being alive. In this way, she

breaks the ties which have oppressed her, and this is her own decision. Edna knows she

is a woman not suitable for the times she has been living, a woman who can foresee the

outcomes of trying to lead a life of her own. Nothing can be the same by now, because

she has discovered her essential nature, and that cannot be concealed.

Conclusion

Given the conditions and characteristics of too hard and strict a society , it seems that

Edna's death is the only viable alternative that Edna can go through. She can no longer

endure a life as simply a wife and mother, and she does not find realization in art or in
casual relationships. The man whom she loves has deserted her, dawning on her that he

also belongs to a society that has indirectly condemned her, quickly realizing that his

departure does not mean much. The only way out she has is that harmony and freedom

that comes about with death, a drastic change, a rebirth. Death represented one aspect

of her life that she could take complete control over.

With the publishing of The Awakening Chopin has achieved her purpose of illustrating a

patriarcal society which has the power to invade, forbid, and even destroy the psyche of

a woman, giving contemporary readers a deep impression of both the social structures

and the effects that these structures have had over generations of women. This novel

also exposes us in front of a female protagonist with whom we can feel identified, and

for whom we can have a great deal of sympathy.

This was not only the suicide of Edna Pontellier but a reflection of a women generation

shadowed by the power of men in the times The Awakening was written. Edna killed

herself, killing any chance of daring to change customs and conveniences, those

conveniences to which all women in those times had to undergo.

Edna Pontellier is the woman who , though at the end of her life, manipulated destiny

over the conventions of a despotic and dictatorial society paying a high price, having no

choice, but acquiring a sense of freedom in the end.

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