The Tragic Fate Of Women In The Patriarchal Society

The Awakening, which was published in 1899, is the masterpiece of the American woman writer Kate Chopin(1850--1904). This thesis attempts to explore Kate Chopin's feminist thought embodied in this novel in the light of feminist criticism. Kate Chopin portrays female's social status, martial life and their pursuit of self-identity, freedom and independence in the male-dominated society. A lot of research has been done on the protagonist—Edna, about her awakening on spirit, consciousness and sex comprehensively. In this thesis, the author discusses the existing and ideological condition of the three women—Adele, Reisz and Edna respectively in order to discover what difficulties they face and their tragic fate in such a society. In the 19th century, American women bore a lot of pressure. They had no equal rights with men. What they had were obligations and duties as wives and mothers. They were only their husbands'accessories and property, even slaves. At that time, most females were very happy to act as a good mother and wife as Adele has done in this novel. And Reisz, who is an independent female, is the representative of the awakened women and becomes Edna's close friend and soulmate in the novel. Edna is the protagonist of this novel. She is always in a contradictory and fighting condition. At last, she ends her life in the sea, finds herself in the embrace of the sea and realizes the ultimate awakening. The author uses feminist theories, especially some views in Beauvoir's The Second Sex to analyze the major female characters in The Awakening.By examining the three women in the novel, the author expounds three kinds of women under different existing conditions in the 19th century: resigned women, awakened women and women struggling for self-identity. These illustrate that women's secondary standing is not imposed of necessity by natural feminine characteristics but rather by strong environmental forces of educational and social tradition under the purposeful control of men. If a woman wants to destroy the limitation and pressure which the male-dominated society puts on her, to become an independent and free woman, she has to struggle against the conventional prejudice and limitation with strong will and enough courage. But women could not escape from their tragic fate in the male-dominated society.