Imagery and Symbolism in Chopin’s “The Awakening”, Research Paper Example

First published in 1899, Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” has become a staple of American literature.  Along with other works by Chopin, most notably her short stories, “The Awakening” is routinely read by and taught to college students both for the manner in which it functions as literature and for the way it functions as a proto-feminist tract. It is bordering on cliché to assert that Chopin was ahead of her time, but the unassailable truth contained in such an assertion rescues it from the realm of the overly trite. The themes Chopin explores in “The Awakening” –most notably the questioning of traditional societal roles for women- are now among the most common points of discussion in feminist literature; what distinguishes Chopin and her writing is, simply, that feminist literature did not exist as a subset of literature in the late 19^thcentury. It would be decades before the themes Chopin explored would be commonly explored by the authors and essayists who carved out space for feminist ideas in contemporary culture. In the century since “The Awakening” was published the themes and ideas explored by Chopin have been interpreted in myriad ways by myriad writers, and have been used to support a dizzying array of literary and ideological theses. Among the most notable elements found in “The Awakening” is Chopin’s use of symbolism and imagery related to the notion of “waking up” to new ideas and perspectives, and this symbolism and use of imagery has resonated with generations of writers and ideologues who have interpreted –and occasionally misinterpreted, intentionally or not- Chopin’s words and ideas to fit their own agendas.

There seems to be little doubt that Chopin’s use of imagery and symbolism in “The Awkening” was purposeful, and there is no doubt at all that such use was effective in conveying the overarching themes in the story. As the title implies, the central character in “The Awakening,” Edna Pontellier is undergoing a psychological or even spiritual “awakening” of sorts. Mrs. Pontellier is married to Leonce, a successful businessman, and when readers are first introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier the two are vacationing at Grand Isle, a small resort town on the Gulf of Mexico. The couple inhabit a vacation house on Grand Isle, and the other nearby houses are similarly populated by vacationing married couples and the servants and employees who assist them with the daily activities of, among other things,  preparing meals, caring for children, and hosting luncheons and dinner parties. Edna Pontellier is evincing the symptoms of a bored housewife, though it soon becomes apparent that these symptoms are reflective of a much larger crisis of conscience underlying the sense of unease and anxiety she feels –and displays- in the surface.

There are a number of other characters who figure in the story; among them are the wives and husbands who are staying in the nearby vacation homes. Many of the male characters in “The Awakening” are referenced indirectly; readers become aware of these characters largely through the perspectives of the wives with whom Edna socializes. Even Mr. Pontellier is seen primarily through the lens of Edna’s point of view; although the opening paragraphs of “The Awakening” are devoted to providing readers with a physical description of Mr. Pontellier, the house in which the Pontelliers are staying, and the activities of the family’s children, servants, and even their pet bird, this section is largely devoted to establishing the context in which Edna will be introduced. As Edna enters the scene, the other central male character, Robert Lebrun, enters with her.  While “The Awakening” is Edna’s story, Robert will figure prominently in the process of her “awakening” as Chopin slowly unfurls the plot.

Criticism and analysis of “The Awakening” has, in the century since the book was first published, examined Chopin’s literary techniques and the elements of her story from a variety of perspectives and with a variety of agendas. Many discussions of Chopin’s approach to writing in “The Awakening” make note of the elements naturalism and realism contained therein (Pizer, 2013).  Chopin takes great care to establish the visceral physicality of the story’s settings; from the sandy beaches of Grand Isle to the bustling activity of the city of New Orleans, where the Pontelliers make their home, the book firmly places the readers in a world that is practically tangible. As critics have noted, this use of naturalism was a common device for writers in the late 19^th century; it has been further noted that such naturalism as used by Chopin presaged similar techniques in the works of later writers such as Ernest Hemingway (Pizer, 2013). What makes Chopin’s use of naturalism and realism in “The Awakening” so effective is the way in which it is balanced against the more ephemeral psychological elements that reflect the inner life of Edna Pontellier.

It is in this balance between the outer physical world and the inner psychological world of Edna Pontellier that readers find much of Chopin’s use of imagery and symbolism; perhaps more to the point, Chopin uses imagery as symbolism. Scattered throughout the story are repeated references to the image of Edna literally awakening from sleep; such references are coupled with similar descriptions of Edna falling asleep, or struggling to stay awake, or succumbing to sleep and falling into dream. In chapter three, Leonce returns from an evening of socializing to find his wife “fast asleep when he came in.” As he recounts the events of his evening, Edna “was overcome with sleep, and answered him with little half utterances.” The image of Leonce chatting away as Edna struggles to wake just enough to offer half-hearted response is both direct and simple enough to be easily pictured, while also offering significant insight into the existential state of their marriage and the psychological state of Edna, whose emotional distance from her husband is made quite clear in this brief passage.

This brief exchange between Edna and Leonce offers a window into the larger thematic context that frames the characters and events in “The Awkening.” Chopin, through Edna, questions the traditional roles of women in her time; Leonce, for example, sees Edna’s state of sleepiness as an outright rejection of her maternal duties. Leonce is convinced that one of their children has a fever, and the fact that Edna is both unaware and unconcerned about this is viewed by Leonce as part of her pattern of “habitual neglect of the children.” For Edna, her state of mind at the time is part of a different pattern, a pattern of which she is only slightly aware. Edna realizes that she does not harbor the same instinctual or habitual behaviors that exemplify appropriate and traditional roles of motherhood, but she is less aware of the underlying feelings about this that will surface later in the story.

Images of sleeping, awakening, or fending off sleep are portrayed in other scenes throughout the story. In one such scene, after a night of socializing with other families on Grand Isle, Leonce comes home to find Edna on the porch, wide awake. He had expected to find her asleep, and seems surprised that she is not. Edna is contemplating the rising emotional tide within herself, the feelings of vague discontent that she cannot quite define or understand. In a literal msense she is wide awake, while in a figurative sense she is beginning to awaken to the emotional and psychological changes she is experiencing. When she does finally sleep that night she is troubled by dreams “that were intangible, that eluded her, leaving only an impression upon her half-awakened senses of something unattainable.” Edna is “half-awakened” to the psychological changes looming inside her, and Chopin’s repeated use of such imagery continues to reinforce this theme.

While the literary techniques and storytelling Chopin employs in “The Awakening” are largely used to allow readers to understand that Edna is undergoing a process of psychological awakening, these same techniques are interpreted in a variety of ways by critics. There are undercurrents of sexual tension throughout the story, as Edna begins to awaken to the realization that she is sexually attracted to the character of Robert. Part of what makes “The Awakening” so compelling to contemporary readers is that the themes of sexual awakening and the questioning of traditional women’s roles explored by Chopin in the 19^th century still resonate in the 21^st century. Modern critics are able to interpret “The Awakening” through a variety of lenses; nowhere is this more apparent than in the essay “Si tu savais: The Gay/Transgendered Sensibility of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening” by author Mary Biggs. According to Biggs, Chopin’s work is an exploration of overt sexual themes, and Edna’s “awakening” is the process of her coming to terms with her own sexuality (Biggs, 2004). Moreover, asserts Biggs, Chopin’s dialogical references are indicative not just of Edna’s sexual attraction to Robert, but also of Mademoiselle Reisz’ sexual attraction to Edna (Biggs, 2004). In Biggs’ view, part of Edna’s “awakening” is her coming to a realization about Reisz’ feelings for her, as well as to the realization that these feelings are not unwelcome.

This tendency to interpret Chopin’s work through the perspectives and biases of individual critics is found throughout much of what has been written about “The Awakening.” Once critic pejoratively refers to Chopin’s proto-feminist writing as an emotional “dead end,” asserting that Edna’s presumptive suicide at the end of the story “may feel freeing, but ultimately it offers is no hope” (Streater, 2007). The symbolism inherent in the story’s repeated instances of Edna awakening is, in this criticism, ultimately betrayed by the fact that Edna chooses to free herself from the shackles of her life by ending it, rather than by finding a way to leave it behind while remaining alive. In a marked contrast to this point of view, a different analysis of “The Awakening” sees Edna’s suicide as an act of “self sacrifice” (Davis, 2011); by ending her life Edna avoids confronting Leonce about her true feelings, thereby presumably allowing him to believe that her death was accidental. Perhaps not surprisingly, this same critic examines a number of the naturalistic elements in “The Awkening” and interprets them as symbolic of Edna’s inner psychological life. Where, for example, the opening passages of the story describe, among other things, a caged parrot that speaks in a “language which nobody understood,” this critic viewed the caged bird as symbolic of Edna herself (Davis, 2011).

Criticism and interpretation of Chopin’s “The Awakening” often seems to share some common elements; the tendency to find symbolism in the story is certainly one such common element. At the same time, however, the weight assigned to Chopin’s work in the context of the larger pantheon of feminist literature varies widely; some critics see Chopin as having merely addressed some issues that would come to be more fully explored by later writers, while others see her as “the pre-eminent feminist in American literature” (Bender, 1992). For those who see her as “pre-eminent,” Chopin’s embrace of naturalism is among the core strengths of her writing. More than one critic has noted that Chopin’s writing –particularly in “The Awakening”- served as an outlet for her to discuss “the most profoundly disturbing of all the questions that troubled Western thought during her time”: specifically, the then-recent tome by Charles Darwin, “The Origin of Species” (Bender, 1992). Chopin lived in “a world where men make the rules” (Seyersted, 1969) and much public discourse of Chopin’s time was devoted to discussions and criticisms of the viewpoint that the shape of this “world” was the outcome of natural, rather than divine forces (Seyersted, 1969). As one critic described it, Chopin “accepted, but quarreled, with Darwin;” she “chafed at Darwin’s views on women, even as she revered him” (Bender, 1992). In this view, Chopin believed Darwin was right about his scientific elucidation of the natural world, yet she also believed that the roles of women as determined by the Darwinian model could and should be questioned and challenged.

Chopin’s use of symbolism is addressed by one critic who asserts that such symbolism has “a startling visual context” (Hoder-Salmon, 1992); simply put, Chopin’s use of naturalism and vivid physical detail in “The Awakening” provides a direct, visceral connection between the physical and the psychological realms explored in the book. The story itself is roughly divided between two distinct worlds: the first is the resort town at Grand Isle; the second is the city of New Orleans. This physical dichotomy is mirrored by the division between Edna’s outward existence and the actions in which she engages and the inner psychological world and the thoughts and emotions that she thinks and feels. Throughput the story, Chopin uses physical imagery to symbolize psychological elements; along with the aforementioned caged bird, Chopin writes of “the dark and alluring labyrinth” of a garden as a metaphor for the human mind (Hoder-Salmon, 1992) and vividly describes the Victorian-era fashions which remind readers of the corseted, restrictive societal roles for women.

What makes “The Awakening” such a significant work are these and other ways in which it lends itself to interpretation. Some of the analysis and criticism to which this book has been subjected may be overblown –such as that of the critic who views “The Awakening” as a meditation on transgender issues- but the fact that it is even possible to view the book through such a variety of lenses is a testament to its quite power. Whether one sees “The Awakening” as the cornerstone of contemporary feminist literature or merely as a paving stone on a much larger historical path, Kate Chopin makes it possible for readers to see the world in which Edna resided from the inside looking out. Chopin’s use of rich, symbolic imagery makes it possible for readers to inhabit the character of Edna, and to bring her to life in a way that transcends her death.

Works cited

Bender, Bert. “Kate Chopin’s Quarrel with Darwin before The Awakening.” Journal of American Studies, 26. 02 (1992): 185–204. Print.

Biggs, Mary. ““Si tu savais”: The Gay/Transgendered Sensibility of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.” Taylor \& Francis, (2010): Print.

Church, Joseph. “An Abuse of Art in Chopin’s “The Awakening”.” American Literary Realism, 39. 1 (2006): 20-23. Print.

Davis, William A. “Female Self-Sacrifice in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening: Conflict and Context.” Notes and queries, 58. 4 (2011): 563–567. Print.

Hoder-Salmon, Marilyn and Kate Chopin. Kate Chopin’s The awakening. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1992. Print.

Kate, Chopin. “The Awakening and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin.” Project Gutenberg, 2012. Web. 3 Apr 2014. <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/160/160-h/160-h.htm>.

Pizer, Donald. “A Note on Kate Chopin’s The Awakening as Naturalistic Fiction.” The Southern Literary Journal, 33. 2 (2001): 5–13. Print.

Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1969. Print.