For years woman have fought for an equal place in society. Long before the 1890’s, women were taught they had a domestic role in society. The social code in this time period consisted of all women getting married to soon starts a family at a young age. If a woman did not get married, they were looked at differently. Some people referred to these women as witches and some people viewed them to be of little to no value. Marriage was almost seen as a necessity for survival because society did not allow women to become independent. Men were in control of almost every aspect of life during this time period meaning the only way a woman can own property or have a business was if the husband allowed his wife to take part in his property or business.
Once married, it was expected for woman to devote the rest of their life to being a wife and a mother. Their life consisted only of caring for their kids and husband and making sure everything was perfect for them. Essentially, women were seen as property. In the late 1890’s, women were being introduced to the possibility of getting an education only if their husband approved of it. In The Awakening, written by Kate Chopin, the author troubles the concept of women societal structure in the 1890’s through sexual freedom, self discovery, and art.
Although Edna was married to Mr. Pontellier, throughout the novel she showed an intense desire for sexual freedom. “The awakening of Edna Pontellier must surely be seen in part as her sexual arousal by Robert Lebrun during the summer on Grand Isle” (Ringe 580). Robert Lebrun and Edna spent most of their days together by the beach. He provided her the attention and affection her husband didn’t. “Taking off her wedding ring, flung it upon the carpet. When she saw it lying there, she stamped her heel upon it, striving to crush it. But her small boot heel did not make an indenture, ot a mark upon the little glittering circle” (Chopin 46).
127 our experts are availableright now
Edna realizes that she does not love her husband and no longer wants to be with him. She realizes she loves Robert but does not get an immediate chance to tell him that. Soon enough, Alcee Arobin falls in love with her. Edna instantly knows she has no real feeling for Alcee but the idea of her being with another man and receiving his attention while her husband was gone sparked something in her. “Even though women’s sexual desire is considered immoral and filthy, Edna violates the social code of “purity” by having ‘the first kiss of her life to which her nature had really responded’ with Alcee Arobin, with whom she had a brief affair (83)” (Kim 74, 75). Not only does this prove that Edna feels no guilt and shame of committing adultery, but in fact it also shows how she is ready to be freed from the standard social norms and codes of marriage in her society.
“Some critics have read Edna as a realist heroine who stands up against the conventional gender norms in order to claim self-ownership. Edna realizes that in order to be a self assertive subject, she should stand outside the cult of true Womanhood and its ideals of piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity”( Kwangsoon 74, 75). She withholds from being submissive to her husband and acts upon her thoughts of making herself happy. “Edna’s new perception of her body ignites her desire for self-ownership. In other words, Edna is 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’ (13). And, driven self-alienation, Edna realizes that in order to be a self assertive subject, she should stand outside the cult of true Womanhood and its ideals of piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity” (Kim 74).
While leaving her kids to stay with their grandparents, Edna moves out of her home that she shares with her husband and children and tries to become independent in a home of her own, in which she refers to as the pigeon house, regarding the consequences she and her family may face. “ She declares that she would never sacrifice herself for her children” (Kwangsoon 75) which although it might seem selfish, she is taking action for her own well being. Her husband, Mr. Pontellier expresses his worries about rumors that may spark negative attention to their family and his business. He begs for her to reconsider her actions and just move back in so they could talk about it. Despite what her husband had to say she finds happiness in her new home. “ It at once assumed the intimate character of a home, while she herself invested it with a charm which it reflected like a warm glow. There was with her a feeling of having descended in the social scale, with a corresponding sense of having risen in the spiritual. Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual. She began to look with her own eyes; to see and to apprehend the deeper undercurrents of life. No longer was she content to “feed upon opinion” when her own soul had invited her” (Chopin 80).
Kate Chopin shows how Edna is developing a passion to become a female artist throughout the novel. As Edna is starting to find herself, she discovers that she has a deep interest and love for painting that she had never pursued. Despite the fact that Edna’s husband is not fond of the idea of her painting because he does not take it seriously, she starts to build on her passion of painting. She states “ I feel like painting, perhaps I shan’t always feel like it” (Chopin 45) expressing how sometimes she might be happy and paint certain things or sometimes she can feel sad and just paint freely. “Chopin’s exquisite use of free indirect discourse reveals that she has reached artistic maturity. Through Edna’s dialogues with representative voices of her era, Chopin engages, parodies, and refuses all the cultural and literary norms these ideas represent. Chopin has simultaneously featured and pushed to near perfection a new theme (spiritual awakening), a new technique (free indirect discourse), and a new fiction-crafting technique (using intra-textual and meta-fictional commentaries). Amazingly, Chopin uses Edna’s cultural and aesthetic journey to represent two journeys of her own” (Mou 118).
Kate Chopin also shows Edna’s passion of the arts in a different way. “Edna was what she herself called very fond of music. Musical strains, well rendered, had a way of evoking pictures in her mind. She waited for material pictures which she thought would gather and blaze her imagination” (Chopin 24, 25). Although Edna could not play the piano, Mademoiselle Reisz’s talent of playing piano allowed her to find music to be an emotional escape for herself. She found an emotional connection to whatever Mademoiselle Reisz played. “The very passions themselves were aroused within her soul, swaying it, lashing it, as the waves daily beat upon her splendid body. She trembled, she was choking, and the tears blinded her” (Chopin 24). Music allowed Edna to see things in a different perspective. She painted pictures in her head which made her emotional and gave her a sense of freedom. “It is the divine power of the pianist’s music that has awakened her into a new realm of existence. Through this dialogue, Chopin primarily shows the power of art” (Mou 110).
“The Awakening is interpreted primarily through feminist interpretive strategies that focus on issues of female sexuality, selfhood, and social constraints on women, issues of central importance in American society at the time” (Corse and Westervelt 150). The way society viewed women during the time period of the eighteen-nineties was very unfair. It was set that women were viewed incapable of surviving or becoming someone without a man in their life. Men were dominant in society and managed to control almost every aspect of a women’s’ life. Although the life of women was regulated, it did not stop Kate Chopin to write a novel based on a woman, Edna Pontellier, who goes completely against the social norms during that time period. Edna goes against women societal structures by pursuing and acting upon her dreams in discovering who she is, finding a passion for art, and finding sexual freedom.
