Kate Chopin’s landmark novel The Awakening is often cited as one of the first modern feminist novels written about a woman’s plight and the difficulty of women’s choices. In the novel, Chopin fearlessly addresses issues that were previously considered distasteful or even inappropriate for a female author to consider; however, Chopin considers these issues thoughtfully, without prejudice, and with extreme empathy. The main character of the novel, Edna Pontellier, is faced with a variety of choices; however, in a move that was unprecedented for the time in which the novel was written, the protagonist takes charge of her fate and her future, making a variety of choices with both good and poor outcomes. The most shocking part of the novel, however, is the final scene in which the protagonist walks into the ocean, committing suicide. She claims that the sum of her choices and her lot in life have led her inexorably to this moment; that she has no choice but to continue to walk into the surf and drown under the waves. The literary device of the final suicide is what makes the novel so powerful, and all of Edna’s decisions and actions leading up to the final act of desperation serve to further the message of Kate Chopin’s landmark novel.
In 1899 when the novel was first published, the world was in utter turmoil. Women were, by and large, still relegated to the home and homemaking duties, but the world was changing quickly; in some places, women were receiving the right to vote, and making their way into the working world. The international scene was similarly in chaos; the first World War was only years away, and the tensions leading up to the war were felt around the world. This is the scene that was set for Chopin’s novel, and yet she chose to write about an upper-middle-class woman who faces the troubles and struggles of an upper-middle-class life. For all intents and purposes, Edna Pontellier has achieved what every woman in America during this time period was meant to dream of: she had a good husband, wealth, children, and a supportive family. At the beginning of the novel, she considers herself lucky, until she meets, has an affair, and falls in love with a man outside of her social class. He flees from her, understanding that any relationship they could have is doomed; however, their brief affair is enough to ignite something new and different within Edna. This is where Edna begins to feel alienated from the other women in her social circle; during this time, she looks at them, and thinks to herself: "The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels” (Chopin). She begins to feel separate from these women, because she cannot see herself in the same light, and she does not feel the same desire or drive towards mother-womanhood. Instead, she feels a steady drive towards independence, a drive which leads her inexorably towards her eventual suicide.
At the end of the novel, Edna reflects back upon the choices that she made and the effect that different events had upon her life. In her internal monologue, she states: “But the beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing. How few of us ever emerge from such beginning! How many souls perish in its tumult! The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation” (Chopin). She recognizes her own beginning for what it was-- chaotic and tumultuous-- and can see that she may not emerge from the experience unscathed. This soliloquy raises a question, however-- does Chopin consider Edna to have emerged from a beginning into a new world, even with her suicide? Chopin creates the entire novel in such a way that Edna’s final choice of suicide is the only thing left for her; it is the final action that will have the most impact on her readers and will underscore the importance of the message of the novel.
Edna makes a variety of choices throughout the novel. First, she chooses to carry on an affair with an man who is not her husband during the summer vacation. This alone is a scandalous action for a woman during this time period; however, she falls in love with him, and he returns the love by leaving and going to Mexico. Edna is made impotent in this case by the actions of all of the men that she knows and are involved with her; it is the first of many actions that men in her life take that leave her impotent, despondent, and frustrated (Chopin). Once the family returns from the seaside, her husband sends her children away, without consulting her; this is the next instance in which the men in Edna’s life leave her choiceless (Chopin). It does not seem that these men bear Edna any particular ill will; on the contrary, they are acting in the way that men of the time are expected to act, firmly and without discussion. It is this type of action that awakens Edna to what she truly wants in her life: true and complete independence.
Edna recognizes, however, that she cannot obtain true and complete independence while still under the thumb of the men in her life. She begins to take actions that will relieve her of their control; first, she has the affair with Robert, and then when her husband leaves for New York City, she begins another ill-fated affair. Robert soon returns, only to break Edna’s heart again, but rather than being distraught and despondent because of this second heartbreak, Edna seems invigorated and changed wholly by the experience. Edna’s character foil, Adele, continuously encourages Edna to behave more appropriately, telling her that if she does not behave then her whole life will become unraveled. Edna, for her part, seems to wish her life would become unraveled, as she feels smothered and pained by the way her life seems to pass her by with little input from her.
When considering whether or not Edna had a choice about suicide at the end of the novel, it is important to consider the message of the novel. Chopin was ahead of her time when she wrote The Awakening, acting as a forerunner to both the feminist fiction writers that would come later but also the American modernism that authors like Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald would become known for in the future. By digging into Edna’s psyche, she was able to portray the many choices that Edna made, and the ways in which she was given choices that were, technically, choices, but not truly; her input and her opinions had little impact on the outcome of the choices that the men in her life gave her. For example, she initially did not want to end her affair with Robert; she could have followed him to Mexico, but society and culture prevented her from doing so. Similarly, she wanted to leave her husband, but he refused to relent, instead saying that he would leave to New York City and give her time away from him and her children so that she could reassess her beliefs and go back to behaving like a proper wife and woman should. This action by her husband is not a choice for Edna, and her opinion on the matter truly had no weight. However, it was presented by her husband as a choice.
This is the fundamental issue that Chopin was striking at when she wrote The Awakening. She, as a woman, could feel the impotency of her fellow women in society in the late nineteenth century; she could also feel the underlying resentment bubbling to the surface when women were denied the ability to make choices and be independent with their lives. In one of her inner monologues, Edna says: “She was seeking herself and finding herself in just such sweet, half-darkness which met her moods. But the voices were not soothing that came to her from the darkness and the sky above and the stars. They jeered and sounded mournful notes without promise, devoid even of hope” (Chopin). Edna’s inner monologues become increasingly filled with dark imagery, and she becomes obsessed with the idea that she can suddenly see her path forward, and that it is just as bleak as her past was. It is at this point that Edna seemingly begins to consider suicide a viable option-- after all, suicide is the only option that is truly an option for her; it is the only thing that she can truly control in her life.
Edna’s whole existence as a woman in upper-middle-class American society was tied to the decisions that the men in her life made-- first her father, then her husband; less legitimately, her fate was tied to that of her various lovers, and then even her children. She had no autonomy and no agency, and the titular awakening came from her realization that there was truly no way forward for her. Throughout the novel, Chopin references Edna’s failing health; however, her failing health seems to be linked to her slow realization that she has no agency and no autonomy in her life. The doctor that sees her recommends that her husband give her the appearance of choice; this is not a solution to the issue because it is a placebo that Edna easily sees through as she continues on her downward spiral of despair.
Chopin’s final scene of suicide is simultaneously brutal and feminine in execution. While she leaves no doubt that Edna will walk into the surf and drown under the waves, she weaves the story in such a way that she does not ever need to explicitly tell the reader what has happened or what will happen. The reader may be shocked by the ending, but upon reflection, it seems that Edna’s only true form of independence and the only way she can truly stand against the decisions that have been made for her throughout her life. Suicide is her last and only choice, and the only thing she has ever been able to truly choose. Edna strips naked when she enters the surf because she considers her suicide to be a type of rebirth: the time when she can finally take action against the injustices in her life and be free from the influence of other people’s decisions.
Works cited
Chopin, Kate. The awakening. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Library, 1997. Print.
