Symbolic Language and Action in Kate Chopin's The Awakening

Abstract

Symbolic Language and Action in Kate Chopin's The Awakening Liam Purdon One of the most intriguing features of Kate Chopin's The Awakening is the novel's blending of realism with "a symbolic sensibility," the symbolic representation of subjective experience as critique of social institutions, an idea Elizabeth Fox-Genovese first identified and described over thirty years ago (286). This feature of Chopin's unique and subtle literary artistry, few would disagree, is deployed deftly to introduce and develop her principal character, Edna Pontellier. One aspect of this non-discursive, metaphoric narrative strategy used to further the thematic point of the novel that has not yet been fully explained, however, is the way in which description of accidental incident is transformed by Chopin, as if by a "magician's wand," into symbolic action or language freighted with meaning. To appreciate this dimension of the "symbolic sensibility" Chopin brings to this work for the purpose of creating the narrative's impressionistic realism, one should initially turn to the book's final chapters as the most advantageous point at which to begin interrogating how both symbolic action and language function under the direction of this remarkably imaginative and innovative American author. Most unusual near the novel's end, in Chapter 36, is something that happens at Catiche's café in the final encounter between Robert Lebrun and Edna. Readers will remember that, by this point in the story, the two had already reunited by accident several days earlier at Mademoiselle Reisz's apartment, though that reunion was interrupted later the very same evening by Alcée Arobin's unannounced arrival at the "pigeon-house" (Chopin 985). Now, at Catiche's, the chance to continue at the point where they had left off is theirs for the taking, and despite the encounter's initial awkwardness, Edna readily pursues the opportunity, Robert reluctantly in tow (990). [End Page 549] As soon as the initial exchange of pleasantries is completed, Edna and Robert, through word and deed, participate in what turns out to be a gender-role reversal of the normative social order consisting of the presumed masculine domination of the feminine in late-Victorian Creole New Orleans.1 Almost from the encounter's beginning, a suggestive masculinizing of Edna's character becomes evident as the result of her aggressive and domineering manner, an effectuating, in a sense, of the masculine element occurring in the many well-documented descriptions of her androgyny deployed throughout the narrative. She is the one, for example, who initiates the dialogue in this instance. Shortly after that, she insists Robert eat some of her food. Then she follows with an interrogation, asking Robert directly why he has avoided her since his return from Mexico. Finally, she becomes judgmental, insisting he is the very "embodiment of selfishness," one whose selfish motive causes indifference to what she might be thinking or how she might be feeling in response to his neglect (990). Before he even has a chance to reply, she also qualifies this suggestive masculinizing of her character by calling attention to her own implicit gender-role reversal when acknowledging that her verbal aggressiveness, more than just a prologue to her rebellion (Urgo 22), will be perceived as the effect of her being "unwomanly," a condition the singularity of which she underscores by repeating the word: "I suppose this is what you would call unwomanly; but I have got into a habit of expressing myself. It doesn't matter to me, and you may think me unwomanly if you like" (Chopin 990; emphasis added). To complete this seemingly accidental, suggestive behavioral gender role-reversal, the first in the novel's set of such events, Chopin has Robert [End Page 550] play the normative part of the subordinate Creole woman by passively responding to each expression of Edna's masculine aggression. Noticeable at this moment is the immediate fact that he almost pales, the result of his being surprised, embarrassed, and perhaps even frightened (Bartley 737). His expression of uneasiness, too, is evidenced especially as Edna's interrogation becomes increasingly personal and specific. Each time his companion addresses him, it is clear he is hardly able to...