The Awakening by Kate Chopin

“She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swam before… Edna had attempted all summer to learn to swim [and now] she was like the little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with overconfidence.” (47). Edna’s discovery of her own strength in The Awakening not only mirrors the overlying theme of the novel, but also foreshadowed the public’s reception of the Kate Chopin’s novel that was published in 1899.

Edna Pontellier is married to “Mr. Pontellier…the best husband in the world” (15). She is mother to two children, Etienne and Raoul. The Pontellier family lives in the City of New Orleans and spends the summers in Grand Isle, a beach community off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. Although seeming to be the epitome of the perfect family, it is “inwardly disturbed without causing any outward show or manifestation” (31). While most women of the time “idolized their children [and] worshipped their husbands”, Edna “fail[s] in her duty towards her children” and, unbeknownst to Mr. Pontellier, also fails in her duty as a wife (16). Edna Pontellier assumes “instinctively the dual life- that outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions” (26).

Throughout the novel, Edna’s search for her identity frees her away from the “indescribable oppression” placed on her by society. After the summer at Grand Isle, Edna “realize[s] that her present self- was in some way different from the other self”, and overthrows “the self-contained” life of “hopeless resignation”, of “harbor[ing] thoughts and emotions which never voiced themselves” (14, 31, 45, 79). Edna “reliev[es] herself from obligations”, by rebelling against “her marriage to Léonce Pontellier, [that was not for love, but] purely an accident” (156, 32). In despondency and unhappiness with her life, Edna devotes her time solely to self-satisfaction. She ditches all responsibilities and all expectation held for her, abandoning her motherly duties and engaging in affairs.

At the time that this book is published, “this is what you would call unwomanly”, that Edna’s adultery “add[s] to her strength and expansion as an individual” (175,156). Although The Awakening was initially condemned and removed from bookshelves and banned from bookstores, the novel that was “daring and reckless” in 1899, is now acclaimed for its unprecedented bold step into the minds of women. Kate Chopin unearths the predicament of wives that are regarded by their husbands as “a valuable piece of property”, who, like Edna, refuse to exist as a mere “possessions to dispose of” (175,178). Chopin expresses satisfaction not only on a materialistic level, but also on a deeper level of emotional and sexual fulfillment as well. Rather than having two sovereign inner and outer beings, “two contradictory impulses”, Edna, like most women today, seeks an “advanced stage of intimacy [that consists of a] camaraderie” between the two.

The Awakening is a strong novel that is interesting when it is contextualized with the time period in which it was written. I was at times frustrated with Edna, and at times I sympathized with her. Her epiphany regarding life and love is somewhat juvenile and selfish, but also upholds a level of validity that is depressingly applicable to real life. Edna’s conflict is shared with the reader, and even now I wonder whether Edna was wrong to act in accordance to her feelings. On one hand Edna Pontellier is a “courageous soul that dares and defies”, but society has also placed upon her “a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome” (190, 48). The Awakening is not a feel-good novel, but it renders an interesting conflict between emotions and perception with regards to society. In many ways, the tone echoes theoverlying theme overlying theme. The novel is slow, depressing, and frustrating; at the same time it is candid and compelling.