Feminist Criticism Example: Kate Chopin’s The Awakening

It is paramount to first define femininity, before we can identify whether works of literature present it as a performance, and not a natural mode of being. The definition of femininity changes with the decades. In the 1920s a feminine appearance was considered to be a flat chest and a downplayed figure, whilst the following decade promoted the more curvaceous, hourglass body. Although there is more depth to the idea of femininity than appearance, these physical components demonstrate the continuously changing expectations of women. Kate Chopin draws upon these ever-changing pressures, presenting the gender as a collective who are expected to be malleable beneath men’s wishes, and the desires that the current society impresses upon them. Her works were composed at the closing of the Victorian Era, where society’s perception of the ‘perfect woman’ was shaped by motherhood and being the ideal wife. Femininity is certainly presented as an unnatural performance in Chopin’s final work, The Awakening (1899) to demonstrate the change in gender roles which society was choosing to ignore. Literature has always been utilised to give those who are suppressed a voice, and Chopin does this for women of the period.

Chopin certainly presents femininity as an ideal shaped by men, therefore suggesting that it is a performance in order to appeal to the opposite sex, and not a natural mode of being. It is said that Mr Pontellier looks upon his wife as “a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage.” The abstract noun “property” explicitly demonstrates that he views his wife as a possession, and one which must fit a mould of femininity in order to maintain an amiable exterior appearance to the judgemental Victorian world. Nicholas Royle and Andrew Bennett refer to Mr Pontellier’s need to dominate in their work, stating that where there are two binary oppositions in existence, there must be a hierarchical force. Mr Pontellier’s feeling of ownership can be evidenced by his declaration that his wife Edna has begun to act in a “peculiar” manner, stating that she is “moping in the street cars, getting in after dark.” The preposition of time “after dark” alludes to a curfew, demonstrating that Edna is firmly beneath the hand of her husband, as a child would be. Chopin could certainly be utilising this to illustrate the subordinate position of women in society. Mr Pontellier begins to worry when his wife rebels against this control and therefore against the feminine ideals she is expected to align to, highlighting femininity as both unnatural and restrictive. Through the presentation of Edna’s confined existence, Chopin could certainly be purging her own frustrations towards the treatment of women in the location she lived, the American South. There, the female sex were seen to belong to a subset of each class, and the men held both legal and social authority. Even white women did not have suffrage in the United States, at the time Chopin was writing.

Nevertheless, it is important to analyse all of the female characters Chopin writes into her novel, to fully assess her portrayal of femininity. This is due to the fact that some women are portrayed to naturally follow the feminine ideals expected of them. After Mrs Pontellier receives a box from her husband, the women in her company exclaim he is “the best husband in the world.” From a reader’s perspective, it is evident that Mr Pontellier is certainly not a perfect spouse. Through this description of effortless bribery, Chopin presents the idea that women who do align to ideas surrounding femininity and therefore obey and worship their husbands are blinded and shallow, consequently placing them beneath a negative light and highlighting her distaste for such a behaviour. F. Scott Fitzgerald refers to this ‘blindness,’ where a written persona Daisy declares “that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” Chopin certainly disagrees with this statement, encouraging female rebellion against feminine constructs and criticising those who choose to align with no revolt.

Chopin depicts this female alignment by threading a number of brief scenes throughout the text, in the form of biblical images depicting motherhood. These act as reminders of how far Edna has strayed from her societal assigned duties as both a wife and mother, or from a wider perspective, the general conventions of Victorian society. Perhaps unexpectedly, Chopin herself did fulfil the social responsibilities expected of her as a woman, bearing six children in the first ten years of her marriage to her husband, Oscar. However, she did present some rebellion through enjoying a wide range of unconventional freedoms, such as escaping to smoke cigarettes or take solitary walks through New Orleans. Madame Ratignolle is not depicted to partake in any such thing, as she symbolises the ideal Victorian wife. She is an example of the “mother-woman” that Chopin enforces the character of Edna is certainly not. In one of the tableaus, she is said to “walk… with… grace and majesty… two of them [her children] clung about her white skirts.” The colour symbolism provided by the attributive modifier “white” creates allusions of an angelic being, and almost a supernatural one. Here, Chopin could simply be creating an image of purity, however the celestial imagery does somewhat drown out the idea of Madame Ratignolle being human. This therefore does suggest that Chopin views the maintaining of such a purity as unnatural and an ideal that should not be expected to uphold by a human. In addition to this description, the reader is informed that the persona has been instructed not to “lift so much as a pin” upon the doctor’s requests. Despite Madame Ratignolle’s other-worldly exterior and being strong enough to bear children, she is still very much underneath the hand of men and their instructions, thus contributing to the idea that femininity is a male ideology that women are submitted to follow.

Following on from this idea, it could be argued that Chopin presents women as a set of two species: “mother-women” and those who are not. The former are described to be “fluttering about with extended, protecting wings.” A close analysis of the concrete noun “wings” raises questions to what Chopin is attempting to achieve within this section. It is difficult to perceive whether the writer is simply referring to the protective nature of these women as mothers, or likening them to enclosed birds that can only perform assigned tasks in an enclosed space. This space could be viewed as a cage, crafted by societal ideals and entrapping the woman it encloses. Society at the time would view these mothers as living the life that was destined for them, but Chopin alludes towards their existence being restrictive and deeply affected by external societal ideologies.

In contrast to this in-depth description, we are not offered images of Edna and her children, but rather left to imagine what these moments would be like on the basis that the character is fond of her children in an “uneven, impulsive way.” Edna’s role as a mother is not idealised and her actions towards her children are often performed out of necessity. Through this lack of information regarding Edna’s raising of her children, Chopin could be suggesting that motherhood should be a private affair, and not something that everyone should be able to view and make their own opinions on.

This idea is compounded when we consider that Chopin certainly does not praise this “mother-woman” species who allow the public to see how they approach motherhood. Instead, she integrates varying portrayals of women to underscore that they do not have to fit one feminine ideal, which she presumably views as unnatural. Her inclusion of the character Mademoiselle Reisz is imperative to this, as she is the perfect example of a single woman chasing her dreams, underscoring that not everyone fits into the mould of the perfect mother Victorian society wishes them to be. In fact, Mrs Reisz’s talent for music gives her some sort of power; her piano playing “shakes a man!” The exclamatory mood of the phrase underscores her ability to entertain and almost overcome the audience she plays for. It is also said that “no one could play Chopin like Mademoiselle Reisz!” In a Victorian world where the male sex dominate, this declarative phrase is certainly encouraging. Nevertheless, a more feminist reading could suggest that the character is still aligning herself to feminine performance. Women were expected to have ‘accomplishments,’ one of which being musical talent, which suggests that Mademoiselle Reisz is still confined by societal convention. Despite this, the persona is still pursuing her main passion as a career, which escapes the feminine ideal of a passive women, thus mostly escaping this conformity.

Edna is portrayed as a character aware of the situation her gender places her in. Unlike many other female characters Chopin portrays, she does not align to the male ideal and declares “I am no longer one of Mr Pontellier’s possessions.” This actually contradicts the laws within Louisiana of the time, a contextual consideration which underscores the fact that women were forced to meet a feminine ideal on both a legal and societal level. The idea of women not being possessions was certainly an alien idea. This is evidenced by Robert’s face growing “a little white,” and questioning “What do you mean?” The character does not understand the concept of Edna having the power to give herself to someone on her own accord, rather than out of duty. Character’s reactions to changing perceptions underscore the radical nature of Edna’s actions in a world where most women are more than happy to perform their feminine duty.

Nevertheless, it can be argued that despite Edna’s actions, she remains dependent on a male throughout and thus subconsciously aligns to the expectations surrounding femininity. Once Robert has left for Mexico, she describes the world without him as “very dull.” The intensifier “very” highlights that she is very much dependent upon him for her happiness. It seems that whatever independence she has become awakened to, it seems insignificant and almost eradicated once Robert is not with her. It could certainly be argued that this is due to her love for him, rather than a lack of independence. However, her constant need of a male presence in her life does suggest that societal views of femininity have had a profound effect upon Edna, creating a life where she naturally feels she has to depend on a male for true happiness.

This is somewhat compounded by Edna’s thoughts as the novel begins to come to a close. Her true desire is for nobody to be dependent on her, and for her to be dependent towards nobody. However, this is because she wants her life to be free to carry out her love affair with Robert. Arguably, Edna does not want to fully escape the feminine performance she seems so frustrated with adhering to. However, before making claims such as this, it is important to consider the context of the time. From a contemporary perspective, Edna may seem overly dependent upon men, but for her time she demonstrates a tremendous sense of awareness of both her female rights and desires regarding independence. Therefore, she is still a pretty revolutionary character for the time, and she is certainly not blinded to the detrimental male expectations of feminine performance that Chopin presents.

Chopin compounds the idea of femininity being a performance by focusing on the difficulties women experience whilst attempting to pursue their careers. The fact that these are usually within the realms of the arts do suggest that the writer utilises the experiences of female personas to reflect upon her own. Edna finds art more interesting than her family, and once she discovers her artistic talents, she no longer conforms to the motherly role deemed fit for her by society. Her solution is to abandon her children, an idea completely alien to the audience Chopin was writing for. This is largely reflective of the ending in “A Doll’s House,” where the mother leaves her children. This was a likely inspiration as Chopin greatly admired the author of the work, Henrik Ibsen. It is interesting that Ibsen submitted to pressures surrounding her, initially altering the ending so that Nora did not leave her children behind. Chopin did no such thing, however this book practically concluded her literary career, due to the criticism it received.

Despite Edna rebelling against social conventions throughout, it can be argued that she does not experience true freedom until the end of the novel, when she is about to commit suicide. Through the consideration of her death at the end of the novel, she could be viewed as somewhat of a martyr for Chopin’s feminist agenda, as she is used to underscore the harshness of the world to a woman who does not conform to Victorian gender expectations. She is described to resemble “some new-born creature.” The compound adjective “new-born” underscores Edna’s naivety to the world around her; she has not experienced a full, well-rounded life due to the performance of femininity society has enforced her to display. When she wanders into the sea, she is said to have gone where “no woman had swum before.” The foregrounded negation of “no,” in addition to the focus upon a specific gender, suggests that Chopin is including this scene as a form of symbolism. Edna hopes to surpass existing convention regarding female behaviour, and this is physically represented by her swimming in a location where no woman has before. Once Edna has discovered both herself and what she deems important, she escapes beyond the ‘performance’ Jehlen describes. Yet, to a more contemporary reader, this seems disturbing. Through Edna’s death, Chopin seems to be suggesting that women cannot escape the performance of femininity in the material world, but yet can only fully escape it upon death, which paints a rather dark picture of the Victorian existence.

Conclusively, Kate Chopin presents femininity as an unnatural performance that some women rebel against, and some blindly adhere to. She underscores the pernicious nature of this societal construct mainly through Edna’s inability to align to her expected role as both a mother and wife, which leads to her eventual escape of the society which has impressed these ideas upon her, through suicide. Some women are portrayed to be happy within these roles, such as Madame Ratignolle, however Chopin does not shy away from presenting these characters as unnatural creatures, who have lost sight of what it truly means to be a woman, and on a wider scale, a human.