The Awakening: Contribution to the New Woman Fiction, Thesis Paper Example

Kate Chopin is one of the most remarkable phenomena in the late half century of the New Woman fiction. Her work The Awakening is essential for the New Woman fiction. Its meaning is beyond measures of time it was created or life of the author. Like the main heroine, the creation was denied of its freshness, trustworthiness, realistic approach of narration and frank addressing of female sexuality and independence in life perception.  The novel was long believed to be an example of feminist fiction; thus, it was believed to have immense influence on the development of the feminist movement. On the other hand, the meaning of the novel is far beyond its possible contribution to the origins of feminism in America. The novel was prohibited in its time and excluded from the socially approved reading list. Subsequently, its influence on the feminist movement was limited and doubtful. On the other hand, the meaning of the novel for the New Woman fiction is another question. The aim of this research is to understand the contribution of The Awakening to the New Woman fiction and sensation novel genre in the universal perspective. In other words, it is aimed to find out why the novel was given a second life and how it influenced the New Woman literature both at Chopin’s time and nowadays. The first part of the research is devoted to the historical retrospective of the New Woman style development and place of The Awakening in it. The second part is concentrated on the novel’s contribution to the New Woman fiction and sensation novel in general, meaning irrespective of the time frame.

According to research conducted by Ann Heilmann, in Chopin’s quest for female self-determination, The Awakening aligned itself with nineteenth-century female traditions of writing, particularly the Anglo-American fiction of the New Woman (87). Heilmann argues that, through the frank attitude to female sexuality, Chopin had developed the theme to a completely new level and excelled her predecessors.  She spoke openly about women’s sexuality and origin of desire in time where a married woman had no legal rights over her body, and when few female writers dared to write about it (88). Establishment of female rights over their bodies and freedom of self-expression in Chopin’s work contributed to the formation of classic female image in the New Woman fiction. This classicism of New Woman imagery can be seen in the works of eighteen-century writers.

Unlike female images in the works of Guy de Maupassant, Madame de Stael’s and George Sand which were described strong-minded and free in their views but still in the context of lovers or family women bias, the heroine of Chopin is seen as advancement and can be compared to the Gustav Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (Heilmann 88). Unlike their predecessors who described female sexuality in the framework of young love, outside marriage relationship or innocent girls’ sentiments, both Chopin and Flaubert showed the development of sexuality in a married woman. They argued that female sexuality of a married woman was denied by society and that women should rediscover it in order to feel free, feminine and desired again. At this point, the stories take different curve. Flaubert stops at Madam Bovary’s realization of her sexuality, but she is not capable of accepting her inner independence. Chopin’s heroine makes a step forward – she entirely understands her inner independence and accepts it (Heilmann, 88). Unlike Tolstoy’s character Anna Karenina, who was denied of independence even in the choice of suicide, Chopin’s heroine is strong enough to decide how to die. Edna’s suicide is “passionate assertion of her new-found identity and unconditional refusal to accept compromise” (Heilmann, 89). Overall, Chopin’s contribution to the New Woman literature of her time is in the creation of new female image. The image of Edna reflected a century of literary searching for the true embodiment of femininity, sensuality beyond the borders of social conditionality or morality. In other words, Edna is a child of Maupassant’s, de Stael’s and Sand’s heroines. She carries parts of them, just like Madame Bovary, but she is one level higher in her emancipation than Emma Bovary. Edna is an embodiment of the new era – era of emancipation, female independence and return to the nature. In other words, Edna is a collective image of all heroines of New Woman fictions written in the 18^th century.

Except for creation of strong and distinct female character, The Awakening has contributed to the sensation novel genre estimation. Chopin’s writing style was influenced by regionalism, or early naturalism, but Susan Lohafer argues that success of this novel is in its realistic and “honest portrayal of female experience” (157). Although The Awakening was much criticized for lacking “artistic intensity in the narration” (Gilmore 63), like the genre of sensational novel itself, the revival of the novel and its increased interest among readers prove that both the novel and the genre are not so simple and lacking artistry as some might have thought.  Being a literature analyst, Lohafer concludes that irrespective of certain seaming artlessness of Chopin’s text or subjective idea of her narration being “too neatly wrapped up”, the main attraction of the novel is in the easiness of its cognitive perception by readers (171). It is a desire to understand female perception of world that attracts readers to this novel. Success of the story is achieved if the background atmosphere of narration is limpid and sensible during the reading. In her analysis of novel’s “storyness” Lohafer is searching for putative stories, which are embedded into the actual text (170). The putative stories contribute to the additional and new meaning of the short story or novel themselves and messages that not every reader can understand. Thus, through the totality of obvious and hidden meanings reader’s attention to the story increases. The seaming misunderstanding or reticence of the hidden meaning make readers return to the story and look for new dimensions in its comprehension. Thus, the short story and sensational novel seaming very simple and comprehensible genres gain depth and “much meaning” within the terms of small size (Lohafer 170). Chopin’s versatility and presence of metanarrative in The Awakening returned the genre of the short story and female experience literature the impulse for evolution and need for further exploration of correlation between readers’ perception and author’s hidden message (Lohafer 172).

Another particular feature of The Awakening which contributed to the New Woman fiction is the expressiveness and impressionistic manner of symbols application. Kenneth Eble suggests that fusion of characters, scenes, moods and actions of Chopin’s imagery creation can be compared to the impressionist paintings of a Renoir (44). “The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, clamoring, murmuring…” is heard through the whole novel (Chopin 18). Readers are kept in the constant closeness to the water – smooth, soft and pure, irrespective of conditionality of life perception. The meaning of the skilled imagery aims not only to express the sensation in the story, but to show femininity and sensuality in the narration and writing style. On one hand, it may seem to be author’s blunder – lack of writing skills; thus, the feelings of the main heroine might be mixed and substituted by the author’s personality. One the other hand, such manner of expressive writing contributes to credibility of the story since author’s femininity is seen in the imagery. On the third hand, the overall atmosphere of sensuality helps readers to feel the world through female senses of beauty and harmony of nature. Except for scenic imagery of nature and its contribution to sensitivity of narration, other symbolical images are present in the novel. The images of the lady in black together with her two lovers and of Edna in the circle of her family are contrasted in order to show Edna’s true desires and actual obligations. This episode also shows conscious and unconscious symbolism of Chopin (Eble 45). Overall, it can be concluded that expressiveness and symbolical richness of The Awakening was aimed to connect reader both with the author’s and main heroine’s feminine perception of reality and female sexuality. In other words, female self-realization of the author and heroine contribute to adequate comprehension of reality. Through such entwine, The Awakening reaches the main aim of New Woman fiction – to make reader see, feel and think the way woman does. Through the explicit sensuality and sexuality of symbolism, Chopin managed to achieve this aim and to establish a literary example to follow.

Probably the most controversial issue of the novel in respect to feminism is the heroine’s attitude to nature of things and the image of nature itself. According to M.T Gilmore, Edna and Chopin represent negative attitude to the nature and deny its essence; thus, they rebel against nature (59). This statement is based on Edna’s expression when she saw the pains of child birth of her friend: “With an inward agony, with a flaming, outspoken revolt against the ways of Nature” (Chopin 115). In the context of this phrase, Gilmore suggests that perception of Edna and Chopin reflect “the crisis of culture’s perception of nature… the  New Woman was a symptom of the crisis” (59-60). In other words, he sees in The Awakening the feminist “anti-naturalism, self-referential agenda of modernism” as behavioral patter of liberation in art and life (Gilmore 60). This article is chosen to show male critics of The Awakening, particularly well felt concerning such issue as nature and femininity. To make this research final and complete the offered article needs some clarification and critics. First of all, Gilmore’s statements are based on one phrase, which can be interpreted in various ways. Of course, Edna was upset by the nature of child birth and considered it to be cruel. Indeed, the process itself has nothing to do with pleasure, but is labor. Secondly, Gilmore considered Chopin and her heroine belonging to the feminist movement, which is not entirely correct. The Awakening indeed proclaimed emancipation, independence and sexual identification, but it had nothing to do with political struggle for equal rights or denial of natural distinction between men and women. The Awakening is about self-exploration and self-identification, quest for female sexuality and return to the origins. In this context, the meaning of nature is revealed. Edna understood herself, her wild and unstoppable nature of femininity. The meaning of awakening was in her return to origins of feminine nature – undeniable female sexuality and sensuality in every aspect of life, harmony with the surrounding environment. In other words, she embraced nature in all her beauty of sensual love, explicitness of emotions, struggle for life and pain of childbirth. Edna committed suicide, not because of her denying natural order, but because of her inability as a woman to live a full life of satisfaction and harmony in the society were wilderness and freedom of nature were denied. By proclaiming this idea in The Awakening, Chopin showed that nature, freedom, emancipation, male and female sexualities are entwined and should exist in balance. Chopin’s concept of nature proved that New Woman fiction is not obligatory feminist, like Gilmore supposed in his article. The natural order is in human self-cognition and mutual respect.

Overall, The Awakening by Kate Chopin made a huge contribution to the New Woman fiction. First of all, it summarized a century history of female heroine’s evolution. Edna of Chopin is the next generation of emancipated female characters who are aware of their sexuality and its wild origins. Edna is not denied of any life options, but she has her own perception and choice. Secondly, the multidimensional perspective of meanings in the novel contributed to the revival of the short story and female experience novel as literary genres of depth. The metannarative of the novel is one of the main reasons of increased interest to it and its resurrection after decades of ignorance. Thirdly, The Awakening contributes to the main aim of the New Woman fiction, meaning making readers see, feel and think from the female perspective, through the symbolism and colorful imagery of the narration. Finally, Chopin shows that female sexuality and emancipation do not deny nature, but are part of the natural harmony of existence.

Works Cited

Chopin, K. The Awakening. The Awakening and Selected Short Stories. 5 – 122. New York, NY: Serenity Publishers.2009. Print.

Eble, K. “Worthiness of the Awakening”. 40 – 43. Bloom’s Guides: Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. New York, NY: Bloom’s Literary Criticism. 2008. Print.

Gilmore, M.T. “Revolt Against Nature: The Problematic Modernism of the Awakening”. New Essays on The Awakening. 59 – 89. Ed. Martin, W. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 1988. Print.

Heilmann, A.“The Awakening and New Woman fiction” The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. 87-104. Cambridge, CA: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print.

Lohafer, S. “Kate Chopin and the Future of Short Fiction Studies”. Awakenings: The Story of  Kate Chopin Revival. 157 – 173. Ed. Koloski, B.  Louisiana State University Press. 2009. Print.