The Heroine's Rebellion and Frustration under Patriarchy

Abstract

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening(1899) has been a solitary book. Generally recognized today as the first aestheticslly successful novel to have been written by an American women, it marked a significant epoch. The Awakening broke new thematic and stylistic ground as Chopin went boldly beyond the work of her precursors in writing about women s longing for sexual and personal emancipation. Events unfold against a back-drop of elegant homes and secluded resorts. The peculiarities of Creole life and temperament, and the sensuous atmosphere of life in New Orleans and at summer resorts on the Gulf, are happily sketched and outlined in this dramatic tale. Most of Edna’s awakening take place in the unconfined outdoors, in the sensual tropical paradise of Grand Isle. Chopin tells a story of Edna Pontellier who awakens to the injustice of her society and to her own sexsuality, who rebels against patriarchal restrictions, and attempts to realize her inner being through sensuality, love and art. Also, she shows a galaxy of women who adapt perfectly well to the unjust social order in a variety of different roles. Kate Chopin compares and contrasts Edna’s state with a number of others in the book, developing her theme through the polarities of self-absorption(Mademoiselle Reisz) and willing surrender of self to another(Adèle Ratignolle).