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Shellei Kittrell ENG 112/B Kenneth Rose February 7, 2012 The Awakening, Body or Soul Kate Chopins novel, The Awakening, is the story of a woman. Edna Pontellier is a turnof-the-nineteenth-century, upper middle-class, wife, and mother who awakens to herself and discovers she is at odds with the roles in which she finds herself. Chopin uses sensuous, descriptive language in presenting her female characters and their environments, which serves to highlight the rigidity of the social roles in which they are placed. This is one of many dichotomies Chopin uses to create tension, and develop the underlying theme of the choices women must make between honoring their inner selves, and conforming to the outward roles society demands. Chopins main character, Edna Pontellier, expresses this duality early in the narrative[a]t a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual lifethat outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions (Chopin Kindle Location 304). Ednas tension throughout the story is in trying to reconcile this dual life. In describing Edna Pontellier, Chopin shows us almost immediately that Edna is someone inclined to deep thought and contemplationMrs. Pontellier's eyes were quick and bright [] She had a way of turning them swiftly upon an object and holding them there as if lost in some inward maze of contemplation or thought(Chopin KL 105). Her physical description as well, is designed to show us that Edna is not your average beautiful woman, but somehow nobler*t+he charm of Edna Pontellier's physique stole insensibly upon you. The

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lines of her body were long, clean and symmetrical; it was a body which occasionally fell into splendid poses *+ the noble beauty of its modeling, and the graceful severity of poise and movement, which made Edna Pontellier different from the crowd (KL 319). With this description, Chopin has introduced the inward and outward nature of Edna, and set the tone for her characters development. Edna is undergoing a transformation, awakening from a lifetime of repression to find herself. She has long been aware of the dual nature of her existence, as described above, but the Edna we see emerging is what we might call the observer, or higher selfan entity capable of knowing itself in many dimensions, and in none. In short, Mrs. Pontellier 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 about her (KL 293).The author uses this passage to show us the depth of Ednas awakening, and also to begin her development of Ednas struggle against her social roles. Juxtaposed against this description of a noble, self-aware, contemplative woman is her husband Leonce Pontelliers attitude towards his wife. He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it? (KL 147-149). Though seeming to be concerned for the welfare of the children, Mr. Pontelliers real concern is that his wife does not conform to the social standards of wife and mother. It would have been a difficult matter for Mr. Pontellier to define to his own satisfaction or anyone else's wherein his wife failed in her duty toward their children *+ In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. *+ They were

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women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels (KL 185). Here Chopin introduces the idea that Edna is not as ensconced in her social roles as her husband would wish, or society dictates. This also opens up the question of the role of mother as an instinct or a choice; to be a mother must one necessarily fill the mother-woman role as has been described? One of these mother-women is Adele Ratignolle. Many of them were delicious in the role; one of them was the embodiment of every womanly grace and charm (KL 195). Adele is a woman who has taken the role of wife and mother and made it her own. In strong contrast to Ednas more cerebral nature, Chopin describes Adele as a fully fleshed earth goddess. There was nothing subtle or hidden about her charms; her beauty was all there, flaming and apparent: the spun-gold hair that comb nor confining pin could restrain; the blue eyes that were like nothing but sapphires; two lips that pouted, that were so red one could only think of cherries or some other delicious crimson fruit in looking at them (KL 198). The use of sensuous language like this added to the negative reception of Kate Chopins first novel. The Chicago Tribune went so far as to call it a sex fiction (Bloom), overlooking entirely the novels commentary on the confining roles of women. The critical reception itself echoed the dichotomies seen in the novel, some praising it for its social commentary, others dismissing it as merely a romance novel.

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Adele though, has not been confined by her roles in society; she has managed to make the roles work for her. Unlike Mademoiselle Reisz, who in making the choice to pursue a life of music disregarded other female social roles, Adele has made music a part of her matronly role. She was keeping up her music on account of the children, she said; because she and her husband both considered it a means of brightening the home and making it attractive (KL 510). By this action, Adele has molded the role to suit herself, as opposed to Ednas need to throw off the roles. In Adele, Chopin has given us a contrast to the roles of both Mademoiselle Reisz and Edna. Even Edna is drawn to the mother-woman Adele. Enamored with Adeles physical presence seated there like some sensuous Madonna, with the gleam of the fading day enriching her splendid color (KL 257), but even more so to the nurturer that Adele is, highlighting again her dual nature. This nurturing, mother-woman influence helps the repressed Edna begin to open up. She was flushed and felt intoxicated with the sound of her own voice and the unaccustomed taste of candor. It muddled her like wine, or like a first breath of freedom (KL 405). Chopin is showing us here the depth of repression that Edna has been living under, in that her first revealing conversation causes her to feel drunk. Perhaps though, the strongest influence propelling Edna towards her desire for freedom is that of the ocean. The sea is more than backdrop in this story; Chopin uses the sea almost as a character itself[t]he voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation (KL 298). Chopin hints at Ednas connection to the sea in her midnight emotional breakdown

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[t]here was 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. It broke like a mournful lullaby upon the night. The tears came so fast to Mrs. Pontellier's eyes that the damp sleeve of her peignoir no longer served to dry them (KL 158). On this night, when Ednas tears are flowing, the ocean is mournful. The sea, as the context for the liberating freedom and sensuality Edna finds in the act of swimming, both speaks to the soul and enfolds the body in its soft, close embrace *+images of rapport between nature and Edna's burgeoning sense of self (Pizer). Another night the sea would have a much different effect on Edna. *U+nder that mystic moon (KL 556), the guests of Lebruns cottages walked down to the ocean for a swim. Chopin weaves an eerie mystical mood on the way to the sea; There were strange, rare odors abroada tangle of the sea smell and of weeds and damp, new-plowed earth, mingled with the heavy perfume of a field of white blossoms somewhere near. *+The white light of the moon had fallen upon the world like the mystery and the softness of sleep (KL 567). On this night, the sea was not mournful, *t+he sea was quiet now, and swelled lazily in broad billows that melted into one another (KL 570). It is on this mystical night that Edna, finally able to swim, becomes empowered, *a+ feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul (KL 578). The author has created the mystical scene as a metaphor of the dreaming, sleepwalking state Edna has been existing in, and from which she now awakens.

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She turned her face seaward to gather in an impression of space and solitude, which the vast expanse of water, meeting and melting with the moonlit sky, conveyed to her excited fancy. As she swam she seemed to be reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself (KL 584). The melting of the sea and sky seems to echo the effect that the sea, which both speaks to her soul [and] enfolds her body (KL 299), has had on Edna, blurring the lines between her two worlds. Here Chopin also gives us a glimpse of what awaits when Edna leaves behind her wornout roles, and reaches out for a new life. Prior to her empowering moonlight swim, Edna experiences a moment when her inner and outer worlds collide. The mental experience she usually enjoys from listening to music while images of people and ideas of emotions flow through her mind's eye, is instead a spiritual and physical awakening. She waited for the material pictures which she thought would gather and blaze before her imagination. She waited in vain. She saw no pictures of solitude, of hope, of longing, or of despair. But the very passions themselves were aroused within her soul, swaying it, lashing it, as the waves daily beat upon her splendid body. She trembled, she was choking, and the tears blinded her (KL 548). This may be the moment when Ednas awakening begins. By the time she returns to New Orleans, the ocean and the island have worked a transformation in Edna, which emboldens her to attempt to reconcile her inner and outer worlds, as she attempts to define her self-identity. Where the ocean represents the spiritual awakening and liberating freedom of Edna, New Orleans represents the conforming physical

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and social realities in which she lives. Here Chopin uses her descriptive skills to paint the picture of the materially comfortable life Edna had previously chosen for herself. The softest carpets and rugs covered the floors; rich and tasteful draperies hung at doors and windows. There were paintings, selected with judgment and discrimination, upon the walls. The cut glass, the silver, the heavy damask which daily appeared upon the table were the envy of many women (KL 1028). Ednas role as wife to Leonce provides this physical comfort as much as it also defines an aspect of Ednas identity. Through Ednas quest for self-identity, Chopin raises the question, how do we define ourselves? How can Edna define herself except in light of the roles she assumeswife, mother, social matron, lover, or artist? In trying to reconcile her inner and outer worlds, and claim her self-identity Edna tries to throw off the socially defined, outwardly conforming roles she has chosen, only to find herself taking on new roles. She rejects her role as social matron, but engages in a new society of different friends. She rejects the physical security of her role as wife, but takes on the role of artist to provide for herself. In her aspiration to self-ownership, Edna claims title to a self that exists only in relation to her status as the property of others (Stange). Chopin has brought us to the real crux of the issue facing Edna, and most women of the era; more than just how to live an independent life that is not dictated by the roles others would place her in, but how to define her self in the absence of those roles. In an effort to live freely without any restricting roles, Edna decides to live in the moment, following only her natural instincts. Edna was blindly following whatever impulse

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moved her *+ and lending herself to any passing caprice (KL 1172). Dr. Mandelet observes the first physical effects of this while observing her at a dinner party, he notices that Edna seemed palpitant with the forces of life. . . . There was no repression in her glance or gesture. She reminded him of some beautiful, sleek animal waking up in the sun. (Hicks). In a later conversation, Dr. Mandelet will see the much different effect on Ednas soul, when she realizes there is one role she cannot simply throw off. "I don't know that it matters after all. One has to think of the children some time or other (KL 2266). We begin now to see that Edna is realizing her inability to reconcile her inner need for an independent self, with the outward self that must live in relation to the world. Though Edna may be able throw off the socially conforming role of mother, "she is unable to counter the instinctive hold that her children have upon her (Pizer). In order to fulfill her instinctive and spiritual need to mother her children, Edna will have to step back once more into the physically confining, socially conforming roles she has just managed to escape. In an ironic twist by Chopin, we see that the one aspect of Ednas life that inhabits both the inner and outer worlds, her children, is the same aspect that will not allow her to reconcile these worlds. Her children, through her act of bearing them and then loving them, are of great consequence to her and constitute an insurmountable obstacle in her effort to live a free and independent existence(Pizer). However, once Ednas mind has been opened to the possibilities of freedom, and defining her own selfhood, it cannot be closed again. In Ednas final conversation with Dr. Mandelet, Chopin shows us that even though Edna cannot reconcile her two worlds, still, she

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would not return to her sleeping self. The years that are gone seem like dreamsif one might go on sleeping and dreamingbut to wake up and findoh! well! perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one's life" (KL 2266). In the end, unable to reconcile the dual nature, unable to define her own self-identity, the only course of action that Edna can see which will allow her to not give herself up, body and soul, to the enforced social roles she rejects, is to swim away into the unlimited in which to lose herself (KL 584). The tension though, is not resolved. This is what makes Chopins novel a masterpiece claimed by feminists as a landmark work; we are left to work out the answers, to reconcile the dichotomies, for ourselves.

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Works Cited Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and Selected Short Stories. New York, Chicago: Herbert S. Stone & Co, 1899. Project Guttenburg (2011)Kindle Edition. 1 Feb. 2012 Pizer, Donald. "A Note on Kate Chopin's The Awakening As Naturalistic Fiction." Southern Literary Journal 33.2 (2001): 5. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. Bloom, Harold, ed. "Background to The Awakening." The Awakening, Bloom's Guides. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. Toth, Emily. The Awakening: Unveiling Kate Chopin. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, (1999): 211-214. Quoted as "On Misreading The Awakening" in Bloom, Harold, ed. The Awakening, Bloom's Guides. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, (2008). Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Feb 2012. Bloom, Harold, ed. "Background to The Awakening." The Awakening, Bloom's Guides. New York: Chelsea House Publishing (2008): n.pag. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Feb. 2012 Xianfeng, Mou. "Kate Chopin's Narrative Techniques and Separate Space in The Awakening." Southern Literary Journal 44.1 (2011): 103-120. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb. Ringe, Donald A. "Romantic Imagery in Kate Chopin's The Awakening." American Literature 43.4 (1972): 580. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. Stange, Margit. Personal Property: Wives, White Slaves, and the Market in Women. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, (1998). Quoted as "On the Concept of SelfOwnership" in Bloom, Harold, ed. The Awakening, Bloom's Guides. New York: Chelsea

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House Publishing, (2008): n.pag. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. Ramos, Peter. "Unbearable Realism: Freedom, Ethics and Identity in The Awakening." College Literature 37.4 (2010): 145. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. Harmon, Charles. "`Abysses of Solitude': Acting Naturally In Vogue and The Awakening." College Literature 25.3 (1998): 52. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.