'The Awakening'

Reviewed by Joe Porter

'The Awakening', first published in 1899, opens with a green and yellow parrot squawking in a cage. The parrot in the cage is important symbolically. It is a metaphor for the protagonist's situation. The protagonist is Edna Ponetllier. She is married to and has two children by Leonce Pontellier. Leonce is a good man in all respects, except the treatment of his wife. He sees Edna as a chattel rather than an equal partner in marriage. Edna is like the parrot; once free but now in a captive situation. In 'The Awakening' women are seen as being subservient to their husbands. Edna is subjected to control and repression from all the men in her life, none of whom understands her need for independence.

The gender roles depicted in the Pontellier marriage are typical of those of the patriarchal society that existed in the nineteenth century. The patriarchal society tried to perpetuate the domination and submission of women. Married women were expected to be subservient to their husbands. Women were not expected to enter the professions. They were also expected to wear restrictive clothing; notably the corset. In the nineteenth-century patriarchal society women were not expected to experience any physical passion, save when it was connected to childbirth. A woman who had sexual feelings was regarded as being emotionally unstable or immoral. Women who did not conform to the role this dominant, patriarchal society had constructed for them were treated with contempt and were accused of creating a scandal. The unwritten rules of the patriarchal society dictated that such women had to be repressed in order to be controlled.

Early in the novella, Edna begins to question in her own mind the validity of this role society has created for her. 'A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her....'

'At that early period it served to bewilder her. It moved her to dreams, to thoughtfulness, the shadowy anguish that had overcome her the midnight when she had abandoned herself to tears. In short, Mrs Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her.'

The word 'universe' indicates Edna is starting to consider her place in the wider world and just within the context of her immediate society. The narration of the novella is from a third-person viewpoint that mostly gives Edna's point of view. The narrator refers to the world within and about her. The narrator states that Edna '... had apprehended instinctively the dual life - that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions.' At this point in the novella, Edna is beginning to question, in her mind, this hypocritical lifestyle society has forced upon her. The seeds of rebellion are germinating in her head.

As a foil to Edna, Chopin created the character of Adèle Ratignolle. Adèle is the perfect wife and mother. She conforms to the role society has created for her. She is beautiful, bigoted and not very intelligent. Her opinions do not appear to be her own. She has absorbed the views of the patriarchal society. She is happy to pass her time engaged in sewing. She gave Edna a sewing pattern so that she might copy it. Edna copied the pattern, but only out of politeness as she did not want to offend her friend: 'she did not want to appear unaimiable and uninterested, so she had brought forth newspapers, which she spread upon the floor of the gallery, and under Madame Ratignolle's directions she had cut a pattern of the impervious garment.' Madame Ratignolle has been married for seven years. She has three children and during the novella she is pregnant with and gives birth to her fourth. During her pregnancy, she constantly talks about her condition. The fact that the reader is made aware of her pregnancy emphasizes she has no role in society, than the one expected of her, that of wife and mother. This is a stark contrast to Edna who 'was not a mother woman.' Edna openly does not conform to the role the patriarchal society has carved out for her. She says '... I would give my life for my children; but I would not give myself.' She clearly wants more out of life than just being a wife and mother. Edna starts to rebel against her role as wife and mother. The reader can feel her dissatisfaction with marriage when she tries to crush her wedding ring beneath her foot. Edna's behaviour alarms her husband: '... her new and unexpected line of conduct completely bewildered him.' He says of her desire to paint: 'It seems to me the utmost folly for a woman at the head of a household, and mother of children, to spend in an atelier days which would be better employed contriving for the comfort of her family.' It seems in the patriarchal society when a woman steps out of line, men feel it is their duty to put her back in her place! The men in a patriarchal society could do this, because they controlled their wives economically; that is they were the breadwinners in the family. Mr Pontellier does not realize his wife's behaviour stems from a desire for a better role in society for herself; he thinks it may be due to the fact that his wife is 'growing a little unbalanced mentally.'

Mr Pontellier discusses his wife's behaviour with her physician, Doctor Mandelet. The doctor is more astute in his assessment of Edna's condition. He obviously thinks Edna is questioning his role in society as he asks Mr Pontellier if his wife has been 'associating of late with a circle of pseudo-intellectual women - super-superior beings?' This is clearly a reference to the New Women movement. The New Women movement emerged in the late nineteenth century. They were a group of women writers who wanted, for women, career opportunities, higher education, political and social freedom and access to the arts as creators rather than subjects. They wanted to be less restricted in their roles as wives and mothers. This new realization is embodied in the character of Edna Pontellier; something which Doctor Mandelet is beginning to suspect. The doctor's description of the New Women as being 'pseudo intellectual' is insulting and his reference to their being 'super-superior beings' is both insulting and ironic. This dismissive and disrespectful statement makes the reader aware that the doctor is obviously aware of the gender role that women are expected to conform to in the patriarchal society. Further, the doctor suspects that Edna's discontentment stems from her having had an affair. He decides to keep this suspicion from Leonce. Instead he advises him to let Edna's behaviour run its course, as any interference could exacerbate the situation.

The conflict between male and female roles in society is developed throughout the novella. When Edna's father, the colonel, comes to visit, he too has something to say about Edna's conduct. He ventures the suggestion that Edna and her husband would be 'more united' if they spent more time together. The theme of the male trying to subvert the wayward female and put her back in her place crops up again when the doctor relates, at the dinner table, '... the curious story of the waning of a woman's love, seeking strange, new channels, only to return to its legitimate source after fierce days of unrest.' It appears the males in a patriarchal society are prepared to 'gang up' to try to keep a woman in her place. Edna indicates that she is not going to be diverted from her rebellious course by countering the doctor's story with a story of her own about '... a woman who paddled away with her lover one night in a pirogue and never came back.'

Later in the novella, Edna continues to assert her independence by saying she will not attend her sister's wedding. The colonel tells Leonce Pontellier that he should subvert his wife. The colonel asserts that 'Authority, coercion are what is needed.' He goes on to say 'Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife.' The fact that a father will instruct the husband of his own daughter to take this course of action shows how far some members of the patriarchal society will go to ensure the subordination of women.

Edna Pontellier is not the only woman in 'The Awakening' who does not conform to the role expected of women in the male-dominant society. Mademoiselle Reisz, a pianist, is the only single woman in the novella. Furthermore, she is successful as a single woman. The patriarchal society has no place for such a woman and as a result she is ostracised by that society. This makes her bitter and rude: 'She was a disagreeable little woman, no longer young, who had quarreled with everyone owning to a temper which was self-assertive and a disposition to trample on the rights of other.' Mademoiselle Reisz has no family and no love in her life. The situation of Madamoiselle Reisz should serve as a warning to Edna of what will happen to her if she should stray from the role the male-dominant society expected her to follow. However, Edna's awakening will eventually overwhelm her and cause her to seek her independence and freedom from the role expected of her in her society.

'The Awakening' is set in a racially diverse society. The society of Chopin's novella comprises the Americans and the Creoles. Edna is an American; her husband is a Creole. Edna was brought up as a Presbyterian in the state of Kentucky. Her husband was a Roman Catholic. There is also an age difference between them; Edna is twenty-eight, her husband is in his forties. The racial and religious difference between husband and wife causes conflict within the marriage. Edna has married into a culture she does not understand. On the surface, the Creole society is very laid-back and easy going, but the role of women in that society is very strictly defined. Although the married Creole woman is expected to be a wife and mother who is subservient to her husband, she is, however, permitted to talk candidly about sexual matters. Edna does not understand these societal parameters. She thinks this permitting of frank expression in verbal sexual matters gives her licence to express her sexuality physically outside her marriage. Chopin skilfully uses the racial, religious and cultural differences to create conflict in Edna's mind, which leads to her discontentment, awakening and eventual demise.

The setting in which the novella opens is Grand Isle, Louisiana. It is a coastal resort where the Pontelliers having summer break from their hometown of New Orleans. The owner of the resort is Madame Le Brun, who has a twenty-six year old son called Robert. Robert openly flirts with Edna. Edna's husband takes no notice of this flirting as it is a perfectly acceptable convention in the Creole society, and is not taken seriously. Both men understand this convention; Edna does not. Robert spends his summer casually flirting with lots of different women. This is alien to Edna's strict Presbyterian upbringing. Edna thinks the flirting in the Creole society is serious and gives her licence to have extra-marital affairs. Being exposed to such openness is a liberating experience for her. It frees her from the shackles of her puritanical upbringing and her inhibited emotions and desires.

Edna's awakening begins through her friendship with Adèle. Her journey of self-discovery picks up pace when she meets Robert Le Brun. Edna does not openly tell Robert that she is attracted to him. She keeps her thoughts and desires to herself. This causes conflict in her mind. She becomes unhappy when she is with her husband, and joyful when she is lone or with Robert. Robert is aware of the growing love between them and acts honourably in taking himself off to Mexico in order to avoid having an affair with a married woman.

After the summer break is over, Edna returns to New Orleans where she he has a relationship with a locally well known womanizer called Alcée Arobin. The relationship is merely physically and never emotional. Edna stays in control, not wanting to submit to male domination.

Robert returns to New Orleans and openly expresses his feelings for Edna, but at the same time telling her that they could never be together because she is married to another man.

The story ends where it began; in Grand Isle. Chopin leaves it open for the reader to interpret the ending. In her final act, did Edna ignobly surrender to her situation, or did she victoriously escape from it?

The publication of 'The Awakening' caused a great scandal. That the same standards could be applied equally to men and women, proved intolerable to many who read her novella. The book disappeared from view for many decades. It underwent a revival in the 1950s and 60s in both the United States and Europe. This revival allowed The Awakening, and other works by Kate Chopin, to take a well deserved and important place in the literary canon.

Recommended further reading:

The Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (1879)
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1857)
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (1818)

Click here to search for 'The Awakening' on Amazon UK.