The Awakening

As it is the title of the novel, The Awakening, written by a so-called pro-feminist in

her age, Kate Chopin, significantly indicates that the novel is about something or someone
waking up. Yet before one awakens, one must sleep first. One thing that certainly makes
this book interesting is just simple questions: what is it that Edna, the main character
represented as a non-motherly woman with a rebellious mind, awakens from, and why should
she awaken? Fortunately, one of the most famous female writers, Kate Chopin, in this well
written novel which is full of complex symbolism and ideology, did not only both explicitly
and implicitly tell readers about what Edna tries to awaken from but also delicately describe
how she gradually awakens. Through each chapter, readers would be able to perceive how
she little by little develops her rebellious thoughts, just like someone awakening from sleep.
There are many controversial points to discuss; however, what we are going to talk
about is feminism. As you can see in this novel, the first chapter begins with the sound of a
parrot and a mocking bird. If you read it superficially, you will not notice anything, but
deeply, the two birds refer to Edna, the protagonist of this story, and Mademoiselle, Ednas
friend respectively. Edna who usually speaks a language which no one can understand is like
a parrot that speaks many things but cannot be understood. Similarly, Mademoiselle, Ednas
friend, in Leonces point of view, usually speaks something that people can rarely understand,
and is also the only one who can understand what Edna says.
Another interesting point is that after Robert has gone to Mexico, Edna has turned
herself into the stage which she has no feeling towards anything. It seems like she has lost her
attention of being herself. As we can see that after she listened to Mademoiselles music,
she realized many things in her life were wrong. She felt the emotion inside of her moaning
and screaming to break free. She had been kept in the place where she had no right for her
own, and her husband also had the absolute authority. She had been expected to be the Angel
in the House which was the term that you had to devote yourself for your children and
husband. For example, in the article named professions for women written by Virginia
Woolf, the author had referred to the Angel in the House as a women who deprived herself
from being herself and always guided the way as if there was no other right ways. I see the
Angel in those contexts as a stage of mind which you have been told to believe and this is
something you have been growing up with until it has become a part of yours which is really
hard to overcome. Back to Edna, she seems like to be in the middle of nowhere. She has no
intention to be the old Edna, but also has no intention to move on to the further steps because
her beloved one has gone from her.

However, you can see it clearly why Edna has had a hard time to except what she
feels and whom she loves in the scene when her father comes to visit; it is because even her
own father still encourage her husband to be more authoritative over her. It implies that what
kind of circumstances she has been growing up and this is why she has to keep her
inappropriate desire (in others people eyes) as deep as she can. Then, she meets Alcee, a man
who awakens her deep desire of passionate feeling, but not love. He reminds her where she is
for now even if it is hard for her to acknowledge her own need because the angel is still with
her even though she is a bit far away from it. I guess that is because Edna is like other girls in
that generation who has not experienced this kind of passionate feeling because they have to
act like cultivated girls and then marry to men who are good enough. Therefore, when Edna
meets Alcee, even it is not love, but what he gives to her is passion which excites her and
lures her. Thus, the story shows us the two different clauses of the awakening of Edna; first,
Love that she has for Robert. Second, Passion that she has for Alcee. Both of them drive
her out of her comfort zone which is being a plain girl who dedicates herself to family as a
general role of women defined by men. Also, you can see that Edna has changed a lot since
the beginning when she was so shy and reserved; on the other hand, now, she almost has no
regret after kissing Alcee because it is not love and it is just some experience. After that, she
decides to move out off her house and lives her life at her own place. I see it as a swimming.
She is swimming farther than she was, but it is still not far enough. Later, Robert returns
home from Mexico. They feel awkward when they meet after being apart for awhile, but then
they start to continue from what they were and Alcee has become only an experience. I am
not going to judge about wrong and right, but it shows that Edna has some gut to be in this
stage of relationship. Both of them, Edna and Robert, finally confess what they feel to each
other. This scene is like they are swimming in the sea. Robert thinks that Edna is ready to
swim farther than she ever did with him, but unfortunately it turns out to be that she just
cannot be able to swim farther than she did with him. She just stops right where she was and
it seems like she will never be able to swim along with him. Edna has come really far, but she
still cannot be able to kill the angel. She cannot be his wife as he asks for even if she truly
loves him. After that, when she returns from her business to meet up with him again, she
found out that she eventually has lost him and she has done for nothing. She realizes that she
has come so far, but it is not enough; therefore she starts swimming in the sea again. She
reaches to the farthest point she were last time, but this time, she will never stop. She
continues swimming until she cannot be back any more. She eventually kills the angel along
with her own life.
There was a comprehensible essay in criticism, written specifically about the ending
of the novel by George M. Sprangler. In the essay, Sprangler says that Mrs. Chopin
provided a conclusion for a novel other than the one she wrote, a conclusion for a novel much
more conventional and much less interesting that The Awakening.1 His opinion toward the
1 George M. Sprangler, Kate Chopins The Awakening: A Partial Dessent, Novel, III

(Spring 1970), 249-55.

ending of the novel was concluded that He (Sprangler) regards Ednas suicide as a
pathetic defeat that is inconsistent with the depiction of her previous strength and
achievements and accuses Chopin of a lapse from psychological subtlety into banal
sentimentality.2 This makes this writing both sentimental and moralistic; the Ednas suicide
is represented as conventional sentimental novel, while her rebellious thoughts throughout
many chapters are represented as moralistic. After all, it is agreeable that the writer, indeed,
reduced the strong will and determination of Ednas character for a certain reason; otherwise,
the ending of the story would never have been Ednas suicide, which is too conventional for a
clever and assertive-minded like Mrs. Chopin.

2 Suzanne Wolkenfeld, Ednas Suicide: The Problem of the One and the Many,