Kate Chopin’s novel, “The Awakening,” is a novel that entirely talks about the life of a newly married young woman. This woman unfortunately feels that her freedom is significantly curtailed. As for this reason, she goes about various errands in a bid to get her personal freedom since, in her view; this move will make her live a more reasonable and fulfilling life (Chopin 25). But the way to go about it presents her a major turmoil, how can she manage to get her personal freedom in a society that defines a woman not by her character, but by her deeds and the way she suits into the roles imposed on her by the entire community. This aspect of defining a woman according to the ways she suits into the roles the community imposes on her is not only explored by Kate Chopin alone but also other authors.
The name of the young married woman seeking her personal freedom is Edna. Unfortunately, she gets in consternation whether she is not wife woman or not a mother-woman by the torturous impositions made on her by the husband’s community. The story primarily revolves around Edna’s way of life, as for this reason, it gives major insights in the way she rebels against the conventional expectation of the society (Chopin 22). Due to her rebellion, she discovers her real self. She realizes the importance of self-identity and her perceived importance. From her rebellion, she recognizes that indeed, she should be viewed as an independent personality regardless of her wifely and motherly roles. Her rebellion is the basis of awakening in the story. From a conventional view, Edna Pontellier was awakening from the ordinary and traditional expectations, and be elevated into a more respected personality.
Again, Edna does not find her perceived freedom and again moves in with another man, Alcee Arobin; an affair that makes Edna be seen a sexual being, however, the relationship too does not work, its full of emotional fraught. Her frustrations are clearly revealed as she cannot find her heart desires. Robert confesses of being caring to her but cannot be in a relationship with a married woman; therefore, he decides to leave forever. On the other side, Adele, Edna’s friend urges her to conform to the societal expectations, a fact that irritates her. Due to her inability to break from the conventional expectations of a woman, she decides to commit suicide at the Gulf of Mexico by drowning (Chopin 23).
It’s quite clear that the conventional expectations were quite strong; any woman would be defined with her conformity or non-conformity. As for that fact, Edna tries to hide her feelings to be seen as a happy woman and therefore, be defined on the positive by the society as a happy woman. Her fear of the community is clear since she can’t just express her feelings and the yearning for freedom with an open mind; in fact, her husband is totally unaware of anything, and only thinks that his wife is in emotional turmoil (Chopin 26).
Joseph R. Urgo, “A Prorogue To Rebellion: The Awakening and the Habit of Self-Expression.”
Joseph’s article is primarily based on Kate Chopin’s novel, “The Awakening.” The story elicits some of the very scenarios that showed Edna’s suffering in an effort to exercise self-expression. Again, the book reveals Edna’s repressed feeling for quite a long period; these feelings are only revealed when they are on a summer vacation where she meets a man she seems to be naturally in love with, Robert. From the looks of things and the way she carries out herself in her quest for freedom, her feelings override the conventional expectations of a woman in love. It’s until she met Robert Lebrun that she starts to think about her future life and personal freedom (Urgo 27).
The kind of life she had lived was quite oppressive, and that’s the reason why she may have found herself with Robert, her actions and intentions reveal that she did not love him; perhaps she ended up into the marriage due to the oppressive conventional expectation of a woman. Her encounter with Robert and the romantic experience she had with him reminds her of the life the societal expectations had made her forget (Urgo 26). It’s from the encounter that she abruptly changes her mind upon realizing the torturous situations she has been through since her marriage. She decides to live beyond the societal expectations of a woman, a fact that she did not know would potentially lead to her death. As per her decision, she decides to abandon her lifetime commitment to the family affairs.
Before meeting Robert, she was fully devoted to her family just as the community expected her to be, but quickly realized that she was under oppression and never had the personal freedom she wished to have. However, the encounter with Robert during the summer holiday, gives a glimpse at what personal freedom is and how sweet it could have been when she had it. Unfortunately, she has to prove herself to the society in her humiliation and despair. To be precise, the genesis of Edna’s awakening came from the experience she had while at the summer holiday at the Grand Isle (Urgo 26). It’s, therefore, right to argue that a yearning for self-freedom could only come not unless one had a taste of it. It’s from the vacation that she realizes the need to live beyond the naïve societal definition of a mother and a woman.
It’s quite obvious that Edna knew that she was a mother and a wife owing to the fact that she had two children and a husband, but the oppressive nature of the societal definition of a woman would not let her tastes and enjoy her life. She feels extremely humiliated by the oppressions she goes through from the societal outlook. As a way to resent her dissatisfaction with the life she had been living, she refuses to sleep with her husband and stops paying attention to those people who only mattered to her husband contrary to the societal expectations (Urgo 24).
While acknowledging her personal desires, Edna finally realizes that indeed there are double standards for both women and men even preference is usually given to the men. She admits that even though she had feelings for Robert, Robert was also having feelings for her. Therefore, there was no need of criticizing her for the wrong reasons. Her friend, Adele, is on the contrary and advises her to think about her reputation. Adele had believed on what the society expected of the women to an extent that in her opinion what Edna was doing was ruining her reputation (Chopin 25). However, Adele was quite determined to achieve her quest for personal freedom. Therefore, she never heeded to Adele’s advice. From a simple point of view, any woman who went against the societal expectations was not a real woman. All the myriads she goes through marks the genesis of women’s awakening beyond societal expectations.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York, NY: Bantam Classic Publishers, 1981, Print.
Urgo, Joseph R. A Prorogue To Rebellion: The Awakening and The Habit of self-Expression. Chicago: University of Illionois Press, 1995, Print.
