Edna's Sweeping Passion Later In The Novel example essay topic

When Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" was published at the end of the 19th Century, many reviewers took issue with what they perceived to be the author's defiance of Victorian proprieties, but it is this very defiance with which has been responsible for the revival in the interest of the novel today. This factor is borne out by Chopin's own words throughout her Preface -- where she indicates that women were not recipients of equal treatment. (Chopin, Preface) Edna takes her own life at the book's end, not because of remorse over having committed adultery but because she can no longer struggle against the social conventions which deny her fulfillment as a person and as a woman. Like Kate Chopin herself, Edna is an artist and a woman of sensitivity who believes that her identity as a woman involves more than being a wife and mother.

It is this very type of independent thinking which was viewed as heretical in a society which sought to deny women any meaningful participation. The fact that Edna is an artist is significant, insofar as it allows her to have a sensibility as developed as the author's. Furthermore, Edna is able to find in Mlle. Reisz, who has established herself as a musician, a role model who inspires her in her efforts at independence. Mlle. Reisz, in confiding to Edna that "You are the only one worth playing for", gives evidence of the common bond which the two of them feel as women whose sensibilities are significantly different from those of the common herd.

The French heritage which Edna absorbed through her Creole upbringing allowed her, like Kate Chopin herself, to have knowledge or a way of life that represented a challenge to dominant Victorian conventions. In Creole society, women are dominated by men, but at least the freer attitude toward sexuality allows a woman opportunities for romance which are lacking in Anglo-Saxon culture. But sexual freedom is of little interest to Edna unless it can be used as a means of asserting her overall freedom as a human being. Learning to swim is thus important to her, because it allows her to have more control over the circumstances of her own life through the overcoming of the dread of water and the fear of death which it symbolizes.

Again, the process through which Edna attains liberation and, in the author's words, begins to "do as she likes and to feel as she likes", is a gradual one. From statements such as "women who idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels", it should be obvious why "The Awakening" was viewed by some critics of the day as offensive to prevailing conventions and mores. When Edna finally resolved to end her life it is not because she has been rejected by Robert but because she can no longer lead the type authentic life which to her is the only life worth living, and this is the result of the denial of equal rights to women by the society of that day. Chopin has clearly taken care to anticipate criticisms that her suicide would leave the children motherless by having her recently visit the children to find that they really had no need of her and are perfectly content with the grandmother.

In having Edna reflect that "she would never sacrifice herself for her children", Chopin was not arguing so much in defense of selfish- ness as against the view that a mother could be expected to deny her own freedom for the sake the children in a manner that was not expected of the father. Thus, women's struggle is synonymous with Edna's suicide as well as the events leading up to it. Edna plays a significant role in this story. Overall, I personally construed K. Chopin's novel as a repudiation of prevailing mores which govern women's behavior during that period in time. Edna was an outsider. She did not comprehend that the personal freedoms she saw all about her were well defined within a construct of old established social conventions, and that not one of the old Grand Islanders would have approved of anyone crossing the lines between acceptable behavior and reprehensible.

One flirted, even dangerously, but one never consummated these relationships. Certainly, if one did act on the impulse of a women's passion, it never involved the deeper emotions such as love. By definition of her very character, K. Chopin sets Edna up for a fall. It is not immediately recognizable by most that this "fall" would eventually lead to her suicide. Nevertheless, this ultimate act suicide, is also tantamount with society's ultimate taboo.

Indeed, readers and society of the time (and even today) had to take note of those variables which contributed to this ultimate and very terrible and final demise. At Grand Isle it was perfectly acceptable for a bachelor to fawn upon a married lady, to fetch her scarf, to accompany her home to her porch and sit with her in the moonlight, so long as everyone knew that it would go no further. It was almost as if the husband had granted his permission for his wife to be admired and paid attention to by the other man, who did not possess a wife of his own. It was also a kind of superior position for the husband, who, unspoken ly had ultimate usufruct of the creature, an intimacy to which the poor bachelor could not attain. The ladies of Grand Isle had all made peace with their defined roles in life. They were the mother - women, such as Madame Ratignolle, nurturing of their children, doting on their husbands' needs.

There were the widows and the single women, all of whom had structured acceptable lives for themselves, Madame Le Burn with the management of her summer resort, Mademoiselle Reisz life was devoted to the piano and to the world of music. Madame Ratignolle devoted herself only to running her household and being the wife of her husband. Edna had no brothers, and a stern and preoccupied father. There had been no sibling closeness with her two sisters, in fact, she had never revealed the inner Edna to any living soul. Her life with her husband was one of surfaces and duties performed, and on her part not with much relish, both in bed and out. The author, Kate Chopin, provides countless clues that Edna is about to take her own life... or at least, will, sometime in the future.

For example, she underscores the importance of one's own identity. Edna says that although she would give her life for her children, she will not give herself. Adele, of course, is shocked by this blasphemy and probably doesn't even understand what Edna is talking about, but Edna knows what she was saying. Children, for Edna, are a constant pulling on her own selfhood. To give herself up to her children means losing herself.

This, she says, she cannot do. She is willing to sacrifice everything in order to be a person herself, and not just an appendage, no matter how ornamental. Robert Le Burn's teasing tantalizes Edna. She beings to be very aware of his person, to miss him when he is away, and is devastated when he finally goes to Mexico, as he has promised to do for a long time. She becomes more infatuated with Robert but allows herself to be seduced by Alcee Alboin. When she realizes that, perhaps, what she was pretending was a grand passion for Robert was only a sexual desire that can be satisfied by Alcee, she begins to understand her own nature, and the danger of passion.

She says, at one point, that she married her husband because she knew that passion would not intrude and spoil the gentle affection she feels for him. Edna has always regarded passion as dangerous, even before her marriage to Leonce. She must have had some understanding of her susceptibility even as a girl. Edna pays for her passion with her life.

(Chopin, pp. 8) To a large extent, "The Awakening" may well be equated with escape in Edna's mind. Similarly, and at this juncture, I should like to interject that there appears to be much in the way of an auto biographical theme and content within Ms. Chopin's prevailing society. There is great importance placed on one's own identity, as I have previously alluded to. Kate Chopin calls her novel "The Awakening". ... which reflects an inherent danger. "The Awakening", even though she had chosen another name for it at first e.g. "A Solitary Soul"; this original title had the theme of alienation, difference from others, and anguish. The title was changed to "The Awakening", but the themes remained.

Once Edna becomes aware of certain things in herself that she would have liked, perhaps, to have kept repressed, she can no longer continue living the life she did before. There is danger in waking up. There is danger in being alienated from others, in being different. It is far safer to be like everyone else.

Edna, now fully awake, can no longer go back to sleep. (Chopin, pp. 11) In "Edna And Icarus: A Mythic Issue", 1. Lawrence Thornton joins other myth-critics of "The Awakening" by likening Edna Pontillier's condition in Chopin's novel to that of Icarus. Another, more female centered myth that might shed light on the causes of Edna's internal struggle and suicide is that of Philomela, since an embedded allusion to "Philomela's cooking" occurs immediately before Edna's suicide. By itself, this allusion might seem quite arbitrary; however, there are other psychological indicators in the novel that Edna, like Philomela may have been either the victim of or witness to sexual violation.

While there is no direct evidence of such a violation in "The Awakening", there are clues throughout Chopin's novel that Edna may not only be awakening to her sexual identity in an oppressive, patriarchal society, but may also be grappling, like La Foll e in "Beyond The Bayou, with a repressed post-traumatic memory. This memory may at least be partially responsible for her extreme mood changes, boundary problems and suicide. Analogous to Philomela who cannot initially voice her violation by Tereus because he has removed her tongue, Edna is described as having "all her life long been accustomed to harbor thoughts and emotions which never voiced themselves". We are told that Edna, "even as a child, had lived her own small life within herself". While one could argue she was just shy or introverted, Edna's sweeping passion later in the novel suggests the introversion may have been imposed. Years after she marries Leonce Pontillier, a Creole Catholic, in defiance of her family's wishes, Edna's marriage sours.

As she weeps uncontrollably the first time Leonce rebukes her for being an un attentive mother, the "every lasting voice of the sea" that surrounds the Pontillier's cottage is described as "a mournful lullaby", suggesting that something lost in childhood is being mourned. Yet, Edna could not have told why she was crying. On the same page, Chopin describes Edna as suffering from "an indescribable oppression", which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filling her whole being with a vague English, an English that will reoccur throughout the novel. Another rebuke by Leonce is where we find Edna smashing a glass vase. The narrator tells us Edna "wanted to destroy something".

While the anxiety and marriage might be directed at Leonce, the recurrence of Edna's mood swings throughout the novel - even after she has left Leonce's cage of a home - suggests that the protagonist is trying to block something more than just her realization that she is unhappy in her present marriage. (T horton, pp. 138) Chopin provides ample symbols for the purpose of signaling Edna's ultimate suicide. Symbolically, I believe these might best be characterized by the deficiencies and incompatibilities with Edna's society around her, her responsibilities, and her own longing to break out into the world which she has come to awaken to. Another clue to Edna's ultimate and eventual demise has to do with the increased tension between Edna and Robert.

She finds Robert to be aloof and suspects that he is involved with another woman. Edna becomes filled with jealousy... even enraged. However, she keeps this to herself. Another signal that Edna is about to explode, at some point in time. The ultimate conclusion or perspective regarding what is largely considered auto biographical, is succinctly reflected in the life and death of Edna. (Peters, et. al, pp. 39) One question which I have had to ask myself, throughout the reading of this story is as follows.

I strongly suspect, and I believe that my feelings are strongly in accord with most critics of this book, and this has to do with the relationship between Edna and the author. I feel that this is largely auto biographical, as revealed through the review of the literature. The question I would raise is -- Would a woman (or male for that matter) (individual) resort to suicide under conditions which were highly restrictive and painful. Indeed, many other people throughout the world, and I would venture to say even within Edna's society might have well been experiencing the same type of (or even different) suffering to a higher degree. Yet, they did not resort to suicide. Similarly, Edna is portrayed as something of the protagonist, or the heroine.

She dares to rebel against prevailing society, and even the very title of the book, as named by Kate Chopin, "The Awakening" is analogous to danger. Is the truth then so dangerous and horrific that one risks suicide? And if so, is this applicable to everyone? Similarly I would ask the question, if this were to be the case, or if even not, why is that most of the population is not committing suicide?

Surely they are living lives which they would not prefer, for example, most people according to polls would not report their job unless they had to and were paid for it. Most marriages end in divorce. Indeed, the degree and level of suffering and pain throughout the populace is almost unfathomable. Perhaps, Ms. Chopin was living out a vicarious reality through Edna in committing suicide... and perhaps, this may be the underlying reason for the great reception which this novel has enjoyed... as well as staying power. Similarly, it has also been appointed a kind of jewel of the vanguard of women's rights. Indeed, "The Awakening" is one novel which exemplifies the attempt -- even realization -- of American womanhood's escape from personal and domestic bondage..