Lit Essay 1

Austin Green

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is an early feminist novel published in 1899 that tells the story of a young Edna Pontellier, a half-Creole housewife living among a society of Creole aristocrats. The novels recounts Edna’s “awakening”, and shows the reader the struggles she faces due to her complex, dynamic character as an awakening woman and the societal ramifications she must deal with. One of most interesting aspects of the feminist novel is the way in which Chopin characterizes men throughout the story, and the way in which they affect Edna and continue to spur advancements in her awakening. It is also relevant how vastly different the men in the novel are; no two men are even remotely similar. This concept is most prevalent perhaps in the two men Edna are courting outside of her marriage, Alcée Arobin and Robert Lebrun. Both men are Creole gentlemen in the New Orleans society; however the two men are extremely different characters that affect Edna in very different ways, and yet still prove to be joint influences in the awakening and self-realization of Edna Pontellier. I believe Kate Chopin did this intentionally, and used the characters of Alcée and Robert not only to drive the plot forward, but also as symbols to represent two different aspects of Edna’s awakening; one side being an animalistic drive, a longing for her physically sexual needs to be met; the other side that of a selfish, and yet pure emotional longing for love and sensual companionship. Alcée Arobin is a Creole gentlemen living in New Orleans with a reputation of that as a playboy who targets married women. As Madame Ratignolle states, “Someone was talking of Alcée Arobin visiting you. of course it wouldn’t matter if Mr. Arobin had not such a dreadful reputation. Monsieur Ratignolle was telling me that his attentions alone are considered enough to ruin a woman’s name,” (Chopin, 114). Just the fact that Arobin holds this reputation is relevant; it shows how Edna has disregarded her reputation among the Creoles, and has deviated from societal norms and freed herself of such social constraints. This is indicative of the changes Edna is

Austin Green

undergoing, and Alcée plays a large part in such changes. The end of chapter XXVII and throughout chapter XVIII is a scene in which Edna completely gives into the seductions of Arobin, “He leaned upon the lounge with an arm extended across her while the other hand still rested upon her hair. They continues silently to look into each other’s eyes. When he leaned forward and kissed her, she clasped his had, holding his lips to hers. It was the first kiss of her life to which her nature had really responded,” (Chopin, 98). This passage not only plays as a climax in the plot, but it also reveals certain aspects of Edna’s awakening; that it is in fact at least partly driven by a desire for physical pleasure. The phrase “to which her nature had really responded” has an animalistic connotation. By using the word nature to describe Edna’s innermost desires and feelings Chopin in a sense throws reason and judgement out the door and through the scene shows Edna to act on instinct or rather a desire for physical intimacy (despite her marital status) for the sake of pleasure. This selfish desire is best described by the word animalistic in the sense that lower mammals act on impulse in order to satisfy their physical wants and needs. Strangely enough the same term can be used to describe Arobin quite well- perhaps by Chopin’s device. Arobin is, as stated earlier, a playboy of sorts; he is seen by others in society as a gentleman with ill intentions. Arobin’s repetitive physical advances towards Edna implant the reader with the idea that Arobin, rather than being a man craving emotional love and intellectual companionship, desires a physical connection and pleasure in the women he courts; like that of an animal wanting to find a temporary mate. The relevance of this idea, is that it to a tee is correlational to the physical desires Edna experiences through her awakening. Though Edna realizes the actions in the scene were purely physical, and harbors a “dull pang of regret because it was not the kiss of love that enflamed her,” (Chopin, 99), it does not change the fact that Arobin not only evoked the physical and sexual desires in Edna’s awakening, but that he also symbolizes that side of her.

Austin Green

Robert however,