During the course of 19th-20th centuries, the process of Western societies’ urbanization was continuing to gain ever-increased momentum. In its turn, this created objective preconditions for these societies to grow ever-more tolerant, simply because; whereas, the existential values of village-dwellers are being concerned with intellectual inflexibility, religious fanaticism and behavioral collectivism, urban-minded individuals profess essentially opposite values of intellectual open mindedness, tolerance and perceptional individualism. In its turn, this explains why certain issues that, even as recent as hundred years ago, were not supposed to be talked about publically, such as abortion, alternative sex styles and application of contraceptives, have now attained a status of fully legitimate subjects of public discussion. Nevertheless, in 19th century’s America it was never too easy for mentally liberated individuals to proceed with exploring their individuality, especially if they happened to be women. In this paper, we will aim to explore this thesis even further by referring to Kate Chopin’s novel “The Awakening” as such that does not only represent a high literary, but also philosophical and semi-historical value.
The plot of “The Awakening” cannot be referred to as overly complex, as it is being essentially concerned with the main character Edna Pontellier going through a variety of different trials and tribulations, on the account of her refusal to feel emotionally comfortable with its actual status of a soulless commodity, imposed on Edna by extremely conservative and highly ritualized socio-political realities of 19 century America’s South. Given the fact that Chopin’s novel contains clearly defined biographical undertones, it will not be an exaggeration to suggest that “The Awakening” provides readers with rather realistic insight onto the very roots of women’s liberation movement as such that was dialectically predetermined by the laws of history. In our paper, we will aim to explore this thesis even further, while emphasizing the fact that even today, Chopin’s novel continues to represent not only literary but also philosophical value, just as it is the case with just about any works of literature that are being concerned with promotion of idea of liberation as ‘thing in itself’.
Nowadays, it became a common trend among feminist critics to refer to the character of Edna Pontellier as a woman who could not possibly enjoy marital status, because of her deep-seated mistrust of men and also because Edna was a latent lesbian. For example, in her article “The Metaphorical Lesbian: Edna Pontellier in The Awakening”, Elizabeth LeBlanc states: “I contend that the true power of the novel (The Awakening) cannot be fully realized unless it is read not only as a feminist text, but also as a lesbian text” (1996, 289). We cannot subscribe to this point of view, simply because there are no even implicit hints in the novel as to the fact that Edna was physically attracted to other women. It appears that Edna’s psychological anxieties originated out of her rather acute sense of personal freedom – it is namely this fact, which explains her behavioral ‘inadequateness’.
After having been married to Leonce Pontellier for a few years, Edna became aware of her life’s intellectual shallowness. Leonce used to treat Edna with affection, but it did not prevent him from thinking of her as essentially an inferior human being, who should solely be concerned with taking care of its husband and children. In its turn, the realization of this fact had undermined Edna’s sense of self-worth, as she perceived Leonce’s continuous attempts to control her life as being conceptually dehumanizing. Therefore, Edna’s intention to pursue a romantic affair with Victor Lebrun cannot be thought as being of solely sensual nature – by consciously trying to spend as little time as possible with Léonce and by ‘neglecting’ its duties, in regards to her children, Edna was striving for nothing less than proving its humanity in her own eyes. As Cynthia Wolff had rightly pointed out in her article “Thanatos and Eros: Kate Chopin’s the Awakening”: “Edna interests us not because she is a woman… Quite the contrary; she interests us because she is human – because she fails in ways which beckon seductively to all of us” (1973, 450). Given the fact that Edna never ceased applying a great deal of effort into trying to rationalize her mental insecurities to others, it provides us with yet another proof as to Chopin novel’s autobiographical sounding – apparently, author was well aware of what was causing Edna to act in the way she did.
Just like Chopin, Edna never ceased professing beliefs in women’s true calling as such that could not be only concerned with raising children and with serving their husbands as sex-toys. Moreover, just as it was the case with Chopin, Edna was gradually coming to realization of a simple fact that in this world, there are only three things worthy of an idealistic admiration – health, beauty and intelligence. In its turn, the process of Edna’s intellectual transformation had endowed her existential stance with clearly defined humanist subtleties: “In short, Mrs. Pontellier was 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. This may seem like a ponderous weight of wisdom to descend upon the soul of a young woman of twenty-eight” (1899, 33). Thus, it appears that Edna’s ‘irresponsible’ behavior had very little to do with her sexuality trying to find the ways of self-actualization, as feminist critics imply, but with the process of novel main character attaining wiseness. And, as we are well aware of – the more a particular individual is being intelligent/wise, the less he or she would be willing to adjust its behavior to correspond to religiously motivated dogmas of conventional morality.
In its turn, this explains why Chopin represented Edna as a woman who tended to seek emotional comfort in social withdrawal – people endowed with high intelligence find it quite impossible to live as an integral part of some rural community, the members of which proceed with highly collectivist mode of existence. This is why; “The Awakening” contains a multitude of recurring motifs of loneliness and withdrawal.
The scene, in which Edna is being represented taking a particular pleasure in swimming further and further from the shore, was meant to emphasize Edna’s anti-social attitudes as such that derived out of her disassociation with Grand Isle vacationers’ existential mediocrity, rather than out of her mental abnormality: “She turned her face seaward to gather in an impression of space and solitude, which the vast expanse of water… conveyed to her excited fancy. As she swam she seemed to be reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself” (71). It was also Edna’s longing for solitude, which explains the particulars of her musical taste: “One piece which that lady (Mademoiselle Reisz) played Edna had entitled ‘Solitude.’ It was a short, plaintive, minor strain. The name of the piece was something else, but she called it ‘Solitude” (65). Apparently, it is not a coincidence that the particularly low rate of one’s IQ is being consistent with this individual’s tendency to profess rurally based, collectivist values. The reason why today’s highly ‘spiritual’ but behaviorally primitive representatives of ethnic minorities prefer to reside in racially secluded ‘ghettos’, is that that they can be the least referred to as overly bright people.
In its turn, such our suggestion explains why Edna could not possibly relate to simple-minded cheerfulness of her friend Adele Ratignolle – a Creole lady, who was utterly incapable of even considering the possibility that women’s full potential might not necessarily be concerned with their ability to act as baby-making machines: “Madame Ratignolle had been married seven years. About every two years she had a baby. At that time she had three babies, and was beginning to think of a fourth one. She was always talking about her ‘condition.’ Her ‘condition’ was in no way apparent, and no one would have known a thing about it but for her persistence in making it the subject of conversation” (22). The reason why existentially primitive individuals, endowed with rural mentality, think of baby-making as their foremost priority is that the difference between them and animals is purely formal – just like it is the case with animals, these people’s lives are being driven by essentially animalistic instinct and urges. On subconscious level, natural-born-peasants know that the more they have children, the better are the chances for at least one of these children to survive. Unfortunately, one’s ability to succeed with making babies is negatively proportionate to his or her ability to lead a civilized life – the fact that, after having liberated themselves of ‘colonial oppression’, African countries began to rapidly descend back into primeval savagery, illustrates the validity of this suggestion better than anything else does.
Thus, it will not be an exaggeration to say that, even though Edna’s psychological anxieties seem to relate to her inability to attain emotional and sexual happiness, such impression is being utterly misleading. It is not the fact that Edna was growing increasingly detached from Leonce or that her sexual urges were gradually overtaking her rational psyche, which explains Edna’s ultimate demise. The actual explanation as to the subtleties of Edna’s tragedy lay in the realm of epistemology – slowly but surely, Edna was becoming aware of the utter artificiality of rurally based conservative ethics. And, to Edna’s horror – she was slowly beginning to realize that, despite her hopes, Robert Lebrun was as much of a simple-minded peasant as Adele Ratignolle, which is why he never ceased discussing the possible consequences of being in romantic relationship with Edna in terms of a marital ownership. That was something Edna could not handle: “You have been a very, very foolish boy, wasting your time dreaming of impossible things when you speak of Mr. Pontellier setting me free! I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, ‘Here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,’ I should laugh at you both” (282). Despite being a woman, in physiological sense of this word, Edna had proven her deep affiliation with masculine virtues of rationale, freedom and intellectual exaltation. Eventually, Edna had realized that she herself was so much more of a man, as compared to those pathetically pretentious men she used to socialize with. Unfortunately, such realization on her part had deprived Edna of remaining hopes that she would ever be able to find a man worthy of her love.
In its turn, this explains why Edna’s suicide can be referred to as anything but emotionally motivated. In her article “The Awakening”: An Evaluation”, Jane Tompkins came up with particularly valuable observation, in regards to the ‘manly’ subtleties of Edna’s existential stance and of her suicide: “The novel does not involve the reader deeply in the experience undergone by its main character. Though Edna Pontellier’s awakening takes place before our eyes, we do not so much feel it ourselves as recognize the reality of the dilemma it represents. Chopin does not make Edna’s suicide emotionally plausible; she knows that it follows logically from her situation” (1976, 27). Out of novel’s context, it appears that it had dawned upon Edna that she would never be able to live her life to its fullest, simply because she was stuck with people who deserved nothing but contempt, on her part.
Given the fact that these people have proven themselves incapable of expanding their intellectual horizons, there was little point for Edna to even bother trying to change their ignorant ways. At the same time, Edna could not fully withdraw into herself, as the ultimate mean of addressing its psychological anxieties, simply because it is in the nature of intellectually progressive urbanites to indulge in socialization with mind-likes.
It is important to understand that unlike Mademoiselle Reisz, Edna was a married woman with many socially imposed responsibilities, which is why she could not have possibly chosen in favor of a complete social withdrawal. The realization of this fact had left Edna with only the option to swimming into the sea as far as possible, so that her drowning would never be thought of in terms of a suicide but rather in terms of a tragic carelessness. Apparently, the process of Edna’s ‘awakening’ has been concerned with the process of novel main character ridding itself of variety of perceptional illusions – once she became liberated of these illusions, Edna was able to look into the abyss of non-existence with particular calm. As Katherine Kearns had put it in her article “The Nullification of Edna Pontellier”: “Awakening to ‘truths’ predisposed from rules whose main assumption is that a woman may not add to or change – may not necessarily even know the terms of – the metaprescriptives that define her actions in the world of non-dreams and actual speech, Edna opens her eyes to her own fundamental impotence” (1991, 68). While swimming towards the death, Edna continued to think of her murderous intention in particularly calculative and unemotional manner. Being utterly intelligent woman with hypertrophied sense of personal freedom, Edna was able to rationalize a simple fact that, as popular saying goes – horrible end is still better then horror without the end. The following quotation, taken from Edna’s conversation with Doctor Mandelet, provides us with insight onto the fact that, despite what was expected from her by society; Edna never ceased assessing surrounding reality through the lenses of rationale: “The years that are gone seem like dreams – if one might go on sleeping and dreaming—but to wake up and find – oh! well! Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life” (292). Apparently, Edna was born way ahead of her time – that is exactly what constituted her personal tragedy. Just like a freedom-loving bird, Edna simply could not be kept in the cage made of social restraints and religious prejudices. In time when Western countries are being flooded by the hordes of Muslim immigrants, who insist that women should be wearing black cloaks over their faces at all times, while in public, the reading of Chopin’s novel will come in particularly handy for those who still retain illusions as to socially beneficial essence of religion-based morality and social ethics.
References
Chopin, Kate “The Awakening” (1899) 1997. University of Virginia Library. Electronic Text Center. 2010. Web.
Kearns, Katherine “The Nullification of Edna Pontellier”. American Literature 63.1 (1991): 62-88. Print.
LeBlanc, Elizabeth “The Metaphorical Lesbian: Edna Pontellier in The Awakening”. Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 15.2 (1996): 289-307. Print.
Tompkins, Jane “The Awakening: An Evaluation”. Feminist Studies 3.3/4 (1976): 22-29. Print.
Wolff, Cynthia “Thanatos and Eros: Kate Chopin’s the Awakening”. American Quarterly 25.4 (1973): 449-471. Print.