The Awakening (Chopin novel)

The Awakening

Author	Kate Chopin
Language	English
Genre	Novel
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print
ISBN	0-380-00245-0

The Awakening is a short novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. It is widely considered to be a proto-feminist precursor to American modernism.

Plot summary

Edna Pontellier is the wife of a successful New Orleans businessman and the mother of two boys; at the novel's opening, she is vacationing with her family at a seaside resort in Grand Isle, Louisiana. She spends much of her time with Robert Lebrun, a romantic young man who has decided to attach himself to Edna for the summer. After many intimate conversations, boating excursions, and moonlit walks, they both realize that they are developing romantic feelings for each other. But, Robert suddenly decides to head off to Mexico for business. Edna then realizes that there is much within herself that has remained dormant throughout her adult life.

When the vacation ends and the Pontelliers return to New Orleans, Edna frees herself from the trappings of her old life, including her social position, her role as a mother, and her role as a wife. A major part of this freeing in Edna's life is accomplished through her affair with Alcée Arobin. Moving out of her husband's house, she establishes herself in a cottage and hopes that Robert Lebrun will return soon from an extended business trip in Mexico.

Upon Robert's return, Edna discovers that he is unable to come to grips with her newfound freedom. Indeed, he seems hopelessly bound by the traditional values of the French Creole community.

Edna thereupon returns to the seaside resort in the off-season. She makes arrangements for her lunch before heading off to the beach, and carries along a towel for drying off. Unable to resist the lure of the water, she strips nude and swims out as far as she can and, having exhausted herself, it seems, drowns. Most readers interpret this final passage as suicide - the final shedding of constraints foisted upon her by society. Edna also liked to fuck herself really hard. In the middle of the day and at random times she would rip her pink and black thong off and grab whatever she could and fuck herself untill she squirted. She would also rub her tits really hard untill she screamed. Everyone would watch her do this and she would fuck anyone who had a dick big enough to make her cum.

Primary characters

Edna Pontellier

Leonce Pontellier's wife. Protagonist. She experiences an awakening of heart and mind during the course of the novel.

Léonce Pontellier

The husband to Edna.

Robert Lebrun

the man who is in love with Edna. He vacations to Mexico because their love is forbidden. Edna is madly in love with him as well.

Alcée Arobin

Edna's secret lover. She feels guilt about the affair but not for cheating on her husband, but on Robert instead.

Adèle (Madame) Ratignolle

Perfect mother-woman figure

Mademoiselle Reisz

Outcast in society.

Themes

• Women as property. The Awakening is set in a time period and culture which regards women as the property of their spouses. This is exemplified at every turn, from Léonce Pontellier's straightforward comments, to the discussion of the topic by the narrator.

• Hopelessness and the power to act. As property, the protagonist is left powerless, feeding a sense of despondency and hopelessness. This state of being is eventually nullified by a desperate act of defiance. Death nullifies the physical body's emotional states.

• The call of art. Superficially, art entertains, exposes one to beauty, and provides escape. Experienced more deeply, however, art calls the individual to migrate into its realm; it is "the call of the wild." Edna's evolving response to Mademoiselle Reisz's music as her own emotional awakening illustrates this along with her developing desire to become an artist in her own mind.

• Isolation versus solitude. In The Awakening, society uses isolation as punishment for non-conformity, but the isolated individual can nullify isolation by embracing solitude. Isolation is externally imposed; solitude is internally embraced.

• The demands of society versus the needs of individuals. Society, in order to cohere, must impose certain expectations upon its members who are motivated to comply through economic and social rewards. Some individuals may find fulfillment in meeting society's expectations (e.g., Adele Ratignolle), but some, like Edna Pontellier, cannot. Society often sees this as rebellion, failure, and a general character flaw, as well as a threat to its own survival, and so refuses to accommodate such behavior.

• The purity of sexual and artistic desire. In Edna, independent sexual and artistic desire become the highest good. Traditional values, especially those imposed upon women, are swept aside.

• The need to be taken seriously. Léonce Pontellier dismisses Edna's aspirations as frivolous and is confident of his own power to force her to conform. To Edna, this is painful, frustrating, and unacceptable. Her need to be taken seriously transcends her obligations to those who will not take her seriously. Robert Lebrun, while initially seeming to not take Edna seriously which also disappoints her, ultimately shows himself to take her very seriously, although in a way Edna believes he misunderstands.

• Escape from control. For Edna, escape from control by others transcends the value of safety.

• Motherhood versus self-determination. Edna is concerned about the way she wants to be determined by herself and the moral standards in which a mother is expected by society to care for her family. It is a psychological tension in her "moral conscience."

• Birds and wildlife. Throughout the book, birds are placed in various scenes, representing the freedom women are denied. At the end of the novel there is a bird with a crippled no wing, but free from a cage, unlike the other birds throughout the story. This is symbolic of Edna's fragility following her newly found independent status.

• Sleep and rest. Along with the obvious reference contained in the title The Awakening, the protagonist is portrayed as sleeping or just coming out of a nap. This allusion points to a modern Sleeping Beauty in which Pontellier awakens from her life of dullness, triggered by Robert Lebrun's attraction to her.

Critical reception

Immediately after its publication, reviewers frequently denounced the "unwholesome" content of this book, while simultaneously acknowledging that the writing style was outstanding. It was also condemned due to its sexual openness. The harsh reaction to the book probably was the determining factor in the publisher's decision to stop publication after only a single printing.

After its "rediscovery" in 1969, the book has been often praised for its treatment of women's issues, and for its lyrical style.

Feminist re-readings of the novel have criticized its treatment of race and class. Edna fails to relate her own social confinement to the subordinate status of the faceless black servants in the novel.

Many critics claim that the constant chapter breaks take away from the book and cause the scenes to be forgettable.

External links

• The Awakening at Project Gutenberg