Kate Chopin’s 1899 novel The Awakening has been recognized as a forerunner and pioneer of several literary genres, most prominently Southern and realistic fiction. The content of The Awakening reveals a stunningly modern narrative in which the main character, Edna Pontellier, also foreshadows the feminist progression of the twentieth century. The themes and symbols Chopin employs offer sharp social criticisms of the period, especially with regard to gender and the place of socioeconomically advantaged white women. While Chopin is exploring the degree to which women’s voices and overall agency are restricted, she is also putting forth the idea that Western society in the nineteenth century is neither equipped nor inclined to handle or support an independent woman.
One of the ways in which Chopin conveys the concept of women’s independence in this period is through her use of birds as symbols. Birds of several species mirror the experiences of the primary female characters in the novel. Madame Lebrun’s parrot, for example, reflects the lives of the Creole women of Grand Isle. Like the parrot, the Creole women are free with their voices and opinions (Chopin, 1, 12-13). However, both the parrot and the women are ultimately caged, or restrained by social conventions which dictate the restriction of their movement and place in society.
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Edna, too, deeply experiences this restriction as she explores the bounds of her life as a mother and wife. The bird symbol is invoked in Edna’s flight from her husband’s home to a smaller abode, called the “pigeon house” because of its resemblance to the structures in which domesticated pigeons are kept (Chopin, 124). Although this might seem like a promising step toward independence, Edna is still ultimately cooped up in a plainer cage. Further, the awkwardness of her brief but unsatisfying affair with Alcee Arobin highlights how Edna’s actions will not address or resolve her feelings about her domestic confinement or her emotional affair with Robert Lebrun.
Lastly, the bird with a broken wing Edna sees as she approaches the ocean at the end of the novel might be read in a few ways (Chopin, 156). It might represent ultimate freedom despite injury—the injury Edna endures in her efforts to break free from Victorian constrictions—or perhaps her failure in those efforts. I think it reinforces the idea that, at that present moment, there is no place in society for an independent society and women who seek liberation will be punished for their efforts.
Another way in which Chopin explores that notion is through the theme of solitude. Edna is a solitary person in all of her environments. She is certainly emotionally detached from her family and peers throughout most of her novels and, in leaving her husband’s home, she physically separates herself from others in order to learn and express her own true self. This is ultimately unsuccessful because Edna lacks any substantial social support. Edna’s suicide at the end of the novel, however, might be interpreted as a final act of self-possession. It is an act of control which speaks to Edna’s agency over her own body. Further, Chopin employs another prominent symbol, the ocean, as a mirror of solitude. Earlier in the book, the ocean is symbolic of Edna’s rebirth or awakening when she teaches herself how to swim. In the end, Edna gives her body to the ocean because she still sees the sea as a place where she might shed societal restrictions and finally find a measure of freedom.
Edna’s narrative illuminates the limited options available to nineteenth century Western women and I think Chopin’s writing certainly advocates for progressive social change with regard to gender. However, The Awakening reveals how deeply aware Chopin is of the social structures which hinder such efforts. Further, the society within which Chopin was operating did not possess the capacity to understand or sustain a woman who sought liberation from the domestic sphere. The Awakening criticizes that reality by presenting death as the only viable option for escaping an unfulfilling life.
- Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Bantam Classic, 1981.
