The Awakening
e Awakening, originally titled A Solitary Soul, is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It is also widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism, generating a mixed reaction from contemporary readers and critics.The novel's blend of realistic narrative, incisive social commentary, and psychological complexity makes The Awakening a precursor of American modernist literature; it prefigures the works of American novelists such as William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway and echoes the works of contemporaries such as Edith Wharton and Henry James. It can also be considered among the first Southern works in a tradition that would culminate with the modern masterpieces of Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Katherine Anne Porter, and Tennessee Williams.
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Community Reviews
Reading this acclaimed novel, I tried hard to bear in mind how few choices women had in the mid 19th century and how their fortunes were tied to the men they married--or to other relatives if they remained unmarried. I tried to bear in mind that for many women, motherhood is a struggle and that maternal feelings do not come naturally.
That said, the protagonist, Edna, is a young woman of enormous privilege and who enjoys a rare degree of freedom to explore her creative talents as well as to gallivant around with a single man, Robert, with impunity. She is married to a wealthy man, has nannies to care for her two young children, whom she leaves alone most of the time until her whimsy makes her want a hug. Her relationship with Robert goes well beyond the bounds of propriety and it's a wonder her husband blithely accepts it. It's a wonder that Edna doesn't also see that she's playing with fire. Well, eventually she does see it--she just no longer cares.
Despite all these freedoms, Edna becomes increasingly self-centered, neglecting even the most rudimentary responsibilities she has running her household or caring for her husband and children. She doesn't care what anyone thinks; she announces she will simply do as she pleases, and with that, she lost my sympathy. She is "awakened" not only by her artistic impulse but by romance with Robert, and this awakening ends up ruining her. Even as her husband indulges her every whim (at the advice of a trusted friend), Edna simply becomes more selfish and more tortured. I think this underscores a crucial truth of psychology: giving to others engenders love and growth. Having unfettered license to do as you please, and to please only yourself, creates ultimate misery.
Chopin never shows the couple having any meaningful conversation, no arguments, no strong effort by either of them to stake the claim they each want. This is a major flaw. Overall, The Awakening seems to have been the precurser to hundreds of books (thousands?) and several films depicting women as heroines simply because they decide they're unhappy, without regard to their true circumstances, without regard to any sense of obligations to others, and without regard to whom they will hurt when they choose to walk away to follow an impossible dream.
That said, the protagonist, Edna, is a young woman of enormous privilege and who enjoys a rare degree of freedom to explore her creative talents as well as to gallivant around with a single man, Robert, with impunity. She is married to a wealthy man, has nannies to care for her two young children, whom she leaves alone most of the time until her whimsy makes her want a hug. Her relationship with Robert goes well beyond the bounds of propriety and it's a wonder her husband blithely accepts it. It's a wonder that Edna doesn't also see that she's playing with fire. Well, eventually she does see it--she just no longer cares.
Despite all these freedoms, Edna becomes increasingly self-centered, neglecting even the most rudimentary responsibilities she has running her household or caring for her husband and children. She doesn't care what anyone thinks; she announces she will simply do as she pleases, and with that, she lost my sympathy. She is "awakened" not only by her artistic impulse but by romance with Robert, and this awakening ends up ruining her. Even as her husband indulges her every whim (at the advice of a trusted friend), Edna simply becomes more selfish and more tortured. I think this underscores a crucial truth of psychology: giving to others engenders love and growth. Having unfettered license to do as you please, and to please only yourself, creates ultimate misery.
Chopin never shows the couple having any meaningful conversation, no arguments, no strong effort by either of them to stake the claim they each want. This is a major flaw. Overall, The Awakening seems to have been the precurser to hundreds of books (thousands?) and several films depicting women as heroines simply because they decide they're unhappy, without regard to their true circumstances, without regard to any sense of obligations to others, and without regard to whom they will hurt when they choose to walk away to follow an impossible dream.
The story—which I certainly imagine must have been shocking to many of its initial readers—is well constructed and patiently told. I didn’t really love the writing, but the characters, and in particular the change in Edna’s character—were very well developed.
I did not like the ending, though, in spite of it being perhaps the best writing in the entire book. I just think it would have been so much more interesting to imagine how Edna’s life would progress after—beyond—her awakening. She herself begins to imagine it, even imagining that she would eventually move on from Robert (which I think sounds right). So then why not let her live it? The book needn’t have gone into it; it might still have ended in roughly the same spot. Chopin might have said any number of things to simply hint at what was to come, and ended on that. I honestly think her imminent demise is the moralistic easy-way-out. I also think it hurts the power of the story as a whole, because the beauty of an awakening is really inherent in what she awakens to. And Edna has barely scratched the surface of that, as the story closes. I assumed it would end in such a way, but hoped for more, so I found it disappointing.
I did not like the ending, though, in spite of it being perhaps the best writing in the entire book. I just think it would have been so much more interesting to imagine how Edna’s life would progress after—beyond—her awakening. She herself begins to imagine it, even imagining that she would eventually move on from Robert (which I think sounds right). So then why not let her live it? The book needn’t have gone into it; it might still have ended in roughly the same spot. Chopin might have said any number of things to simply hint at what was to come, and ended on that. I honestly think her imminent demise is the moralistic easy-way-out. I also think it hurts the power of the story as a whole, because the beauty of an awakening is really inherent in what she awakens to. And Edna has barely scratched the surface of that, as the story closes. I assumed it would end in such a way, but hoped for more, so I found it disappointing.
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