Kate Chopin's Feminist Mentality In Edna Pontellier-the Heroine Of The Awakening

When Kate Chopin's masterpiece, The Awakening, was published in 1899, both the novel and its author were severely castigated. The press characterized the novel as "not a healthy book" and labeled it as moral "poison". And Willa Cather, a feminist woman writer at the time, commented that Chopin should have devoted "that flexible iridescent style of her to a better cause". The formidable negative review kept the novel in oblivion for more than half a century until the latest rebirth of women's movement which intended to discover and re-appreciate women writers together with their works stimulated critical interest in the novel from the 1970s onwards. Nowadays, The Awakening has been included into the pantheon of American literary canons. It has become one of the most often taught of all American novels at colleges and universities throughout the country. The Awakening's remarkable revival has been due primarily to the recognition that this 1899 novel articulates something of contemporary woman's concern. Through recounting an intelligent, sensitive woman's experience of life, Chopin delivered a general critique of a culture that restricted woman's opportunities for emotional fulfillment and self-expression. This thesis is in an attempt to elucidate Kate Chopin's feminist consciousness in terms of her similarity to the heroine in the novel—Edna Pontellier. Focusing on discussion about the historical living environment, the rebellious actions and male characters of the author and the heroine respectively, this thesis tries to explain that Mrs. Pontellier speaks for Chopin with regard to her anti-patriarchal self-realization.This thesis is composed of three chapters besides introduction and conclusion.The introduction provides a survey of the frame of the whole thesis in addition to the background information of both the author and her masterpiece, such as a brief review of Kate Chopin, the critical history and literary features of The Awakening.Chapter One touches upon the historical environment based on which the novel was produced and the similarity of the living community between Kate Chopin and Edna Pontellier. In the second half of the 19^th century, the American public saw a rising of the feminist movement in which New Women strived for their social, economic and sexual independence. It is inevitable for Chopin to voice women's awakenings in her work, though she did not join any woman's organization. Meanwhile, this chapter carries out a review of Chopin and Mrs. Pontellier's living community in Orleans in an attempt to clarify that they experienced a similar lifestyle there.Chapter Two deals with Kate Chopin's feminist aspiration through exploring Edna Pontellier's sexual and spiritual awakenings. There were rigorous moral codes confining women's everyday behavior against which both Chopin and Mrs. Pontellier resist. Chopin tended to violate traditional values of female propriety with her bold comportments in her real life. Mrs. Pontellier takes the extramarital love and artistic pursuit to achieve her self-fulfillment in her fictional being.Chapter Three is devoted to analysis of Kate Chopin's feminist mentality in two groups of relationship. They are the relationship between Chopin and the men in her life; and that between Edna and the male characters in The Awakening. According to the patriarchal adherent, women are under men's control. But men in Chopin's life did not appear to have such power. Her gentle father died when she was very young and hence left little patriarchal effect upon her. Chopin's husband was indulgent with her unconventional behavior and appreciated her personality. Having an affair with Albert Sampite, Chopin proved that woman is not man's possession. Similarly in The Awakening, Mrs. Pontellier's husband is unable to command her and hereby leaves her at her free will. In her extramarital love affairs, Mrs. Pontellier bereaves man of his active and aggressive role by avidly courting Robert Lebrun. In addition, she dethrones man from his position as the dominator by treating Alcee Arobin like a regal empress. Chopin and Edna's experience in dealing with men combine to reveal that the masculine superiority is shaken and knocked down.Through the above analysis, this thesis arrives at a conclusion that Kate Chopin drew on her own life experience to engender Edna Pontellier and let the heroine express her feminist consciousness. Furthermore, Mrs. Pontellier, in a broader sense, uncovered something universal in the 19^th century women in USA, who awakened to aspiration for personal freedom and accomplishment.