The Awakening (novel)
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The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, published in 1899. The novel examines the smothering effects of late 19th-century social structures upon a woman whose simple desire is to fulfill her own potential and live her own life.
The novel received only one printing, probably due to its controversial content; it was rediscovered in 1969 and has become a part of the canon of American literature.
[edit] Primary characters
[edit] Edna Pontellier
Edna Pontellier is the 28-year old (she turns 29 later in the novella) wife of Léonce Pontellier, a successful New Orleans businessman. She is rich, beautiful and the only character in the novel to undergo a significant change in perception. When she gives up trying to be a "model wife" in the New Orleans Creole community, her character develops, liberating her inner emotions and artistic ambitions.
Other characters in the novel tend to consider Edna to be flawed as a wife, mother and woman. Edna, on the other hand, does not feel that she should conform to these standards, thus creating the pivotal tension in the story. As she externalizes her struggle, she becomes not only resistant but also somewhat resentful toward the expectations of the society and toward her husband. When she informed her husband of her move into a house that she feels more ownership of, "her letter was brilliant and brimming with happiness."
[edit] Léonce Pontellier
Léonce Pontellier is a rather stuffy, prudishly traditional 40-year-old male member of the New Orleans Creole community. As a highly successful businessman, he expects his wife, Edna, to fulfill the role of perfect wife, mother, and socialite. Indeed, he views Edna as a part of his personal property.
He is seen as the traditionalist's ideal husband, never beating or intentionally upsetting his wife. Although he does love Edna, he feels he must counter her bid for freedom in order to preserve his reputation. Léonce is not particularly restricting on Edna, and on advice from Doctor Mandelet he allows her to stay behind while he goes on an extended business trip, hoping that time will cure her of her newfound desire for independence.
[edit] Robert Lebrun
Robert Lebrun is a young, flirtatious Creole. He is known to be in the company of at least one woman all summer at his family's resort. He and Edna have an all-consuming love for one another, but he is unable to express these true feelings because she is a married woman. He leaves for Mexico to Edna's dismay, but eventually returns. After Edna's prodding, he does reveal his feelings, but when Edna has to leave to help a friend, he is not there when she returns. A note states that he left because he loved her and did not want her to be harmed by an affair.
[edit] Alcée Arobin
Alcée Arobin is a womanizer who pursues Edna Pontellier in a casual relationship that stimulates Edna's awareness of her own sexuality. He is fundamentally shallow and self-centered. Arobin also apparently has intercourse with Edna after stating that he will not leave until he has said goodnight.
[edit] Adèle Ratignolle
Adèle Ratignolle, an acquaintance of Edna Pontellier's, is Edna's foil, or opposite, as a mother and wife. Adele lives to serve her husband and children, and needs not dream of anything else. Her attempts to counsel Edna ultimately fail. Unwittingly, she also plays a big part in Edna's self-awakening. Adèle is a literary example of the Victorian Angel in the House. She often wears white and feminine clothing to emphasize her role.
[edit] Mademoiselle Reisz
Independent, bitter, and unattached to anyone, Mademoiselle Reisz is an accomplished pianist (and Edna Pontellier's character foil as an artist) whose playing — particularly of F. Chopin — can move Edna Pontellier to tears. She comes to play the role of go-between for Edna and Robert Lebrun's relationship, and offers no judgment. Content with her own life, she becomes a role model for Edna in some ways. She is always seen with a bunch of artificial violets and rusted black lace on the side of her head.
[edit] Doctor Mandelet
Though practically retired, Mandelet still treats and gives advice to some of his closest patients, like Léonce Pontellier. When informed of Edna's increasingly rebellious and whimsical tendencies, he advises Léonce to leave her alone for a while to let the episodes pass, and assured him that afterward his wife would be back to normal. Later, speaking directly to Edna, Mandelet says that he is perhaps the only person who has the potential to understand her awakening to her inner self, but Edna never seeks his help.
[edit] Plot summary
Edna Pontellier, the wife of a successful New Orleans business man and the mother of two, vacations with her family at a seaside resort in Grand Isle, Louisiana. She spends a lot of 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. Edna realizes that there is much within herself that has remained dormant throughout her adult life.
When 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. 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 swims out as far as she can and, having exhausted herself, drowns. Most readers interpret this final passage as a deliberate attempt at suicide.
[edit] Topics
- Women as property. The Awakening chooses 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. If she had been a prisoner in a jail, she would probably have preferred being shot in the act of escape to rotting in a cell. Worse things can happen to a person than death.
- 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 neglected. At the end of the novel there is a bird with a crippled wing, but free from a cage, unlike the other birds throughout the story.
- 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.
[edit] Setting
Chopin's choice of New Orleans as the setting for The Awakening was critical to the story's success.This story starts at Grand Isle, then moves to New Orleans.The city features a broad spectrum of residents: rich and poor, French Quarter and American Quarter, and many races, religions, and lifestyles. Throughout the novel, there are class distinctions, roles, and expectations, and by using New Orleans as a setting, Chopin was able to illustrate the range of societal expectations placed on people for seemingly arbitrary reasons.
[edit] 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. One critic remarked that he was well satisfied with Edna's death at the end. 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 magnificent lyrical style.
