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¶ … Chopin's Title Selection in "The Awakening"

Kate Chopin's the Awakening is a novel that emphasizes Edna's realization that she is a woman held back because of societal norms. Chopin utilizes Edna's setting and characters to wake Edna up to certain facts about life. Edna awakens to the reality that life is a prize and that the world is full of options for men and women. She also becomes fully aware that she is living in a time where women are expected to be content living the life of a wife and a mother and not want for anything else. Edna has a painful awakening in that she sees the opportunities that life has to offer yet she is unable to reach for them.

Early in the story, Chopin positions Edna for moments of precise realization and clarity. The most significant situation that forces Edna to reflect upon her immediate situation is her marriage. We know that marriage and family do not fulfill her. Her husband seems to be aware of Edna's disenchantment and that is expressed in his disapproval of her motherly duties. For example, he reprimands her for "her habitual neglect of the children" (Chopin 7) and asks, "If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?" (7).

What is significant to note about Mr. Pontellier's behavior is the fact that the does not try to reach out to his wife during this difficult time. We see that Edna retreats to the porch where she can cry. We are told, "Such experiences as the foregoing were not uncommon in her married life" (8). In addition, Edna undergoes an "indescribable oppression" that "filled her whole being with anguish" (8). Additionally, we read:

there were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day... There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why, -- when it did not seem worth while to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation. (76)

From these opening scenes, we know that Edna is open to change.

Chopin also uses the setting of Edna's surroundings to bring her to a place of enlightenment. Perhaps unaware, Edna welcomes an awakening and one way she finds it is being outside her home. We know she loves being around and near the sea. We read that when she is by the sea she can "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" (Chopin 17). We even read that the sea seduces her in such a way that it invites her "soul to wonder for a spell in abysses of solitude" and she can lose herself in "mazes of inward contemplation" (17). Her moments of contemplation are what awaken Edna to what the world has to offer. These things are not exactly what the world deems acceptable for a woman in the nineteenth century and though Edna is awake in one sense, she is also very much trapped in another.

Chopin also uses certain characters to open Edna's eyes. While she is in an unhappy marriage, Edna does not make things better when she allows herself to fall in love with Robert. This relationship is a mirror of Edna's life in that it is doomed for disappointment because the world is not ready for a free-spirited woman like Edna.

There is also something different about Edna's demeanor, even when she is with Robert that discloses something about her character. For instance, she tells Robert that even if Mr. Pontellier were to tell Robert he could have her, she "would laugh at you both" (143). In saying this, Edna is declaring that she would never be happy being anyone's wife, regardless if she loved him or not. She does give Robert the credit he deserves, however, when she tells him, "It was you who awoke me last summer out of a life-long stupid dream" (143). Here, we see that Edna realizes what is happening to her and why. She sees Robert as a catalyst for her awakening but not the answer to her yearnings for a more fulfilled life. It is also important to note how Edna refers to her life being a stupid dream. This remark illustrates the intensity of what she is going through - in essence; it pinpoints the reason behind her awakening.

Another character responsible Edna's awakening is the doctor. As we have mentioned, Edna is living in a day and age where women are supposed to be happy fulfilling the role of wife and mother. When Edna seeks out the doctor for advice, his words are difficult to hear. While he may empathize with her, he is also being pragmatic when he tells says, "Youth is given up to illusions" (147). His words reinforce what she already knows and Edna realizes that she is trapped. She is not free and she cannot remove herself from the life she has. However, this realization does not deter her and all she can say to the doctor is how much "better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one's life" (147). Here we see that Edna is simply not prepared to cope with what she has discovered - she knows she could never break free of the limits that society has placed on her and she know that she will never be happy with the life she has as a mother. Simply put, she is not satisfied. While this is a sad fact, it is something that Edna cannot hide - nor does she want to hide it. She wrestles with her emotions for her children throughout the entire novel. She is not compelled to be a mother and she does not want to fake it either. This becomes clear when Edna moves away from her husband and children into the pigeon house. Even when she has been separated from them for days, Edna was happy to her children, but we never see a lasting happiness nor do we see a change of heart. Instead, we read, "The children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul's slavery for the rest of her days" (151). Here we see that the pull of motherhood is not enough to bring Edna back home. Rather than long to be with them after an absence, Edna thinks of her husband and children and realizes that they are part of her life but "they need not have thought that they could posses her, her body and soul" (152). This seems to be the final blow to Edna's past life. Children might be considered a blessing but for Edna, they were a burden - a burden she could not bear.