The Kind of Feminist That I Was
At the time, I felt that Chopin reached out to me, and liberated me from succumbing to the typical life that awaits a woman. Chopin told me that it is okay for mothers not to feel 100% affection and devotion to their children, that wives can have careers, that having desires that can only be fulfilled by breaking away from the roles of a mother and a wife is a part of human rights. I wrote my end of term research paper by exploring a theme from The Awakening and felt, upon completion of the essay, truly awakened.
Three years down the road, I still feel that The Awakening is one of the best novels on feminism that I have ever read (the others being Their Eyes Were Watching God [Zora Neale Hurston], The Color Purple [Alice Walker] and Woman At Point Zero [Nawal el Sadaawi]). However, my view on feminism has changed. Ahh. Life is indeed a process.
Meanwhile, my research paper with its grammatical errors and all.
Locations and Its Influence on One's Mindset
Location is a part of the settings in a novel. A novel can be set in a real place, a fictional one, or even a general location where not much details about the place are described in the story [1]. Location is an important part of a novel because it serves as the background of the story, and not merely as a space where characters interact with each other or have their profound moments on their own. To be exact, locations are not only plot devices, but they should be able to assist characters transformation over the course of the story. Every single description must be relevant to either the character development or the plot [2]. Therefore, it is essential that locations in a creative work is examined in details and not be discarded lightly as they hold background information about the characters' pasts, their present lives and their possible future undertakings. Besides that, locations, or the environments where the story takes place, can be particularly important if the writer is a naturalist. Naturalists believe that characters are not moral agents; they are in fact amoral and should not be blamed for the actions over the course of the story. Instead, how they behave and react is absolutely determined by the environment they inhabit. Therefore, a careful analysis regarding the setting of the story should not be ignored in this case.
In her novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin has chosen several locations in order to tell the life story of Edna Pontellier. The novel opens at Grand Terre, an island in the Gulf of Mexico where Edna and her family, which includes her husband Leonce and her sons Raoul and Etienne, are vacationing for the summer. Grand Isle is described to be isolated and can only be reached by "a steamer at the wharf" (14). The fact that the island is surrounded by the wide blue sea has given Edna some sense of freedom and carefreeness, because by being away from her home in New Orleans, Edna is able to literally let her hair down and just enjoy life. She has no social obligations to be fulfilled when she is vacationing, and there is also no social status to be upheld so she is able to spend most of her time doing things that she likes, instead of what she has to do. These include bathing in the sea with Robert Lebrun as described by Chopin early on in the novel: "The gulf looked far away, melting hazily into the blue of the horizon. The sunshade continued to approach slowly. Beneath its pink-lined shelter were Mrs Pontellier, and young Robert Lebrun" (7).
It is important to note that the existence of Robert Lebrun on the island is essential in the novel because he is a part of the environment that would spark changes in Edna's life. Robert is the son of Mrs. Lebrun, who runs the cottage where Edna stays at. He gives a lot of attention to Edna and dotes on her. For instance, "during his oblivious attention, he once quietly rested his head against Mrs. Pontellier's arm" (20). Edna is flattered, and finds herself infatuated with Robert, especially when her own husband does not appear to give much attention to her. Edna claims that she "could not have told why, wishing to go to the beach with Robert" (25).
At first, Edna's close relationship with Robert might mislead readers into thinking that Edna's awakening is purely sexual. After all, Edna does not love Leonce and the fact that she is viewed as his property and has to oblige to his every wishes while he rewards her with material goods does not help his case either. However, as much as she is fond of Robert, Edna is also fond of the beach and the sea. She thinks that "the voice of the sea speaks to the soul" and by being close to the sea she "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 around her" (25). Besides from playing an important role in awakening Edna's passion, the environment on the island also awakens Edna from her seemingly perfect life with Leonce. One night after his return from the Klein's hotel after a game of billiards, Leonce went into the bedroom in "an excellent humor, in high spirits, and very talkative" (12). He wakes Edna up, and Edna upon hearing "no sound abroad except the hooting of an old owl in the top of a water-oak, and the everlasting voice of the sea that was not uplifted at that soft hour, and a mournful lullaby broke upon the night" (13), broke down and cried due to some unconscious disappointments and irritations on her side toward the way her husband has been acting. This scene is another proof of how influential the environment of Grand Isle is in evocating Edna's passion for what her life could be and also her frustration of how her life has been.
Edna's awakening might sound "sexual" at first because it takes a man for Edna to realize how deprive of excitement her life has been, but the awakening takes a whole different spin upon Edna's return to New Orleans. Now that she is back in the society and the urban environment that prohibit her from being in close, direct contact with nature, Edna has to oblige to the norms that she has been used to before her awakening. One of the customs that she has never failed to do is receiving callers on Tuesday afternoon as described in details by Chopin: "Tuesday being Mrs. Pontellier's reception day – there was a constant stream of callers" (83). Edna has been doing this for a while, "This had been the programme which Mrs.Pontellier had religiously followed since her marriage, six years before" (84). However now that she is more aware of herself as a human being, Edna begins to resent the life that she used to lead. She feels trapped in her "very charming home on Esplanade Street in New Orleans" (83). Even though "it was a large double cottage, with a broad front veranda, whose round, fluted columns supported the sloping roof," (83), it is a prison to Edna because she is no longer able to immerse herself in her passion and desire as she is able to on Grand Isle. Therefore, Edna starts to rebel by refusing to meet her callers. This angers her husband who "had been a rather courteous husband so long as he met a certain tacit submissiveness in his wife" (95). Besides from expecting absolute obedience from his wife, Leonce also has his own ideals about women, and wives. He believes that "the utmost folly for a woman at the head of a household, and the mother of children, to spend in atelier days which would be better employed contriving for the comfort of her family" (95). However, Edna post-awakening does not share the same ideals, at least not anymore, causing frictions between them.
Even though Edna finds the house in New Orleans to be a prison at first, the silence in the house after Leonce has left for work has initiated her to take arts seriously again. Chopin writes "Edna spent an hour or two looking over some of her old sketches" (90) and after some time begins to paint again. She "was working with great energy and interest" and although she does not accomplish a lot, Edna gets a sense of achievement out of it, "even in the smallest degree" (96). Now that she is painting again, it has become a mental escapade for her from the house that oppresses her thoughts and desire. She is brought back to the beach in Grand Isle where "she could hear again the ripple of the water, the flapping sail" (96). This pseudo-contact with nature has reawakened her passion and she finds living in the big house bearable. Conversely, as much as Edna enjoys the expansion of her newfound freedom, she also realizes the social limitations that could and would oppress her. Thus, even though "she was happy to be alive and breathing," Edna was also "unhappy" (96).
It is actually a good thing for Edna to be able to recognize the limitations around her. This is actually a part of her awakening into a woman who is not only aware of her self worth, but also as someone who is aware of the environment she lives in. Edna's awareness has prompted her to try to change her living conditions. At first, she tries to get away from the physical and mental prison of a home she lives in by visiting Adele Ragtinolle. The Ragtinolles "lived in commodious apartments over the store, having an entrance on the side within the porte cochere" and it has a "large and pleasant salon which extended across the width of the house" (91). However, the visit instead of comforting her has made "Edna felt more depressed" (93). This is because when she was at the Ragtinolles,' Edna has witnessed the "domestic harmony" (93) between Adele and her husband. Instead of making her jealous or envious with the couple's marital bliss of which she herself is deprived, Edna feels pity for Adele for possessing "blind contentment" (93) with her life as a wife and mother. Adele's contentment is exactly how Edna feels before she is awakened, and I believe it scares her to see her past self through her own eyes, even if it is no longer applied to her chosen path of life.
After that Edna tries to escape the routine of her life as Mrs. Pontellier by seeking for Mademoiselle Reisz's companionship. Edna gets along well with the elderly lady, who is also an excellent pianist because they share some similar outlook on life, especially when it comes to issues concerning women liberation. Mademoiselle Reisz lives in a humble establishment in which in one "room she slept and in the third and last she harbored a gasoline stove on which she cooked her meals when disinclined to descend to the neighboring restaurant. It was there also that she ate, keeping her belonging in the rare old buffet, dingy and battered from a hundred years of use" (103). However, being a musician, she still manages to squeeze in "a magnificent piano" even though it "crowded the apartment" (103). Edna's first visit to Mademoiselle Reisz's apartment is significant in the novel because Mademoiselle Reisz has "had a letter" from Robert who wrote to her "from the City of Mexico" (105). The news about Robert's letter, which contents "was nothing but Mrs. Pontellier from beginning to end" (105), rekindles Edna's feelings towards the young man.
However, when she is allowed to read it by Mademoiselle Reisz, Edna is again transported to "one midnight at Grand Isle when strange, new voices awoke in her" (107). This is some sort of a reminder to Edna that her infatuation to Robert is only superficial because the man is only the door that opens Edna's heart, mind and soul to the life and person she can potentially be and have if she is not "trapped" in her current situations. Therefore, even though she is not really in love with Robert, Edna likes to entertain the idea of being in love with him because he makes her feel special.
The reawakening of her attraction towards Robert, combined with a few other things that have taken place including Leonce's attempts to have her diagnosed for a disease so that she could be cured, Edna decides to permanently leave the house on Esplanade Street. The house has become her prison and by living there, Edna does not feel that she could express herself fully, be it through her paintings or through interactions with other men. Thus, Edna plans to buy a new house that is "tiny with little or nothing, with one servant" (132) where she would be not only physically away from Leonce's properties, but also financially free from her husband because Edna plans to pay for it using her own money. The money would come from several sources including money from "her mother's estate, which her father sends by driblets" (132). Edna has also "won a large sum this winter on the races" and "is beginning to sell her sketches" (132). She decides to do it this way because she "likes the feeling of freedom and independence" (133). Edna also does not inform Leonce, who is away on business, about her intention to quit the house so that he would not be able to stop her before she settles down in her new establishment. However, before she moves out, Edna has thrown a very lavish party for her friends. The party actually is Edna's way of bidding her old life (which is symbolized by the big house) goodbye and celebrating her newly chosen path in life (the new house). Even better, she makes Leonce pays for all the expenses for the luxurious party.
At the end of the novel, Chopin once again takes Edna back to Grand Isle. This time around, Edna goes there by herself. Besides that, the island also does not appeal to her in the same way as it did when she was vacationing. This is mainly due to the fact that Robert has finally left Edna for good. Thus, Grand Isle without Robert does not mean anything to Edna. Instead of awakening Edna in the same way during the past summer, "the voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude" (189) and Edna is instantly soothed. Chopin writes "the touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace" (189). However, as Edna starts and then continues to swim in the sea, she becomes more and more exhausted. She could not, or refuses, to stop and go back to the beach because the exhaustion is in truth a metaphor to her own life. Edna has been awaken and enlightened on the island but when she goes back to the city, she comes to realize that they are so many limitations that forbid her from exercising her newfound desires. Thus, she goes back to the island not to re-awaken her dying passion but to let it go instead, even if it means letting go of her own life in the process.
Kate Chopin has done a good job at choosing different locations in order to showcase Edna's states of mind and feelings. Even though the geographical locations are mainly revolved around the island of Grand Isle and the city of New Orleans, Chopin has also used the domestic spaces of her characters such as the Pontellier's house, the Ragtinolles', Mademoiselle Reisz's and Edna's small new house, to describe the progression of Edna's liberation. The differences between the locations are articulated perfectly and it helps in order to understand Edna better, especially with the decision that she takes at the end of the novel.
References
[1] Landow, George P., "How to read a Novel – Some Places to Begin," http://www.victorianweb.org/technique... Accessed November 15, 2008
[2] Ball, Magdalena, "The 3 Most Important Elements of Fiction Writing," http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/3... Accessed November 15, 2008
