The Analysis Of The Causes For The Heroine's Awakening In The Awakening

When published in 1899, The Awakening, a classic by Kate Chopin (1851-1904), was immediately confronted with extensive controversy, because the book, concerned with touchy subjects such as extramarital affairs, deserting home, leaving children, and the like, called into question the values and attitudes towards women in the entire society. The heroine Edna hopes to escape from the thralldom of marriage and pursue romantic love, authentic self and individualistic emancipation. However, she deviates too far from societal moral codes only to find herself a solitary soul, incessantly vacillating between ideal and reality. Eventually, leaving the society she cannot tolerate, Edna submerges in the deep sea to procure the freedom and relief she longs for, realizing her journey to the awakening.Just like its heroine, The Awakening seemed to sink in the sea and returned to the public view half-century later. Critical circles analyzed the works from different perspectives ranging from the theme to creative style and skills, etc. Besides its strong feminist color, The Awakening reveals some elements of Transcendentalism. Quite a few critics have analyzed the novel from the angle of feminism. Several papers mentioned that the book reflected some points of Transcendentalism with no further detailed and systematic account.Based on relevant theories such as feminism and Transcendentalism, the thesis intends to analyze the factors that contribute to the progression of the protagonist's awakening, her complicated mental headway as well as the reasons causing her death. The body of the thesis includes three chapters:Chapter One analyzes the social factors that influence the heroine. Victorian moral outlook on women still permeated in the south at the end of the 19th century. In the Creole society where the heroine Edna lived, females were part of their husbands'possession with subordinate position and they played the role of daughter, wife and mother. In the family, females just passively met their husbands'need and tried their best to be a good wife and a devoted mother. The factors, such as suffocating marriage, the influence of social environment and the pursuit for romantic love, impel Edna to gradually break away from home bondage. In a piecemeal fashion, she wakes up to the significance of herself as an individual and moves to independence, both mental and economic.Chapter Two, combining with transcendental view of nature, analyzes the important role of natural factors-birds, the sea, the isle, and the garden-in Edna's awakening. Birds should fly freely in the air. However, in the novel, the parrot and the mocking-bird are encaged; "a bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water." The scenes correspond to Edna's encounter. The sea awakens her physical sense, leads her to self-analysis and finally helps her to obtain the freedom, accompanied with the disillusion of her dream of love. Faraway from the noisy city, the Grand Isle and the Cheniere Caminada provide repose room for characters in the novel and produce a striking contrast with the city, New Orleans, where they live and work. The natural beauty of the isles inspires Edna to lapse into continuous meditation and comparison. As a relatively independent enclosure of nature, the garden provides free space and fresh air for the heroine entrapped in city life. At last she abandons the old self and constructs a new self, swimming in the sea and achieving spiritual freedom in nature.Chapter Three discloses personal elements in Edna's awakening. She is inclined to solitary contemplation and introspection. From the perspective of feminism, the masculine dominance deprives the females of their time and space to discover their self; the oppression caused by patriarchal society compels women to discover and know themselves, thereby rebel and fight against the society and fate. In terms of Transcendentalism, there exists a mysterious relation between nature and man, man can only acquire halcyon and tranquil mind in nature, and man can be enlightened through solitary meditation. By learning to swim in the sea, Edna is revealed, gradually conscious of the significance of freedom and independence. In solitude, she overcomes the fear caused by the sea and accepts the embrace of the sea; she experiences and observes the surroundings, scrutinizes her self, ponders on the meaning of life and seeks after "life's delirium".Through the analysis of Edna's awakening process form different points of view such as societal, natural and personal, the thesis draws a conclusion that there are a number of factors contributing to female self-realization and self-liberation, including social requirements, self meditation, environmental influence, etc. These factors reflect Chopin's thought about the relations between woman, society and nature. The author offers no effective solution to female predicament. Edna's drowning in the sea is ultimately forced by her intolerance of the society. Spiritual victory is achieved at the expense of life after all. The conspicuous conflicts of the heroine as a natural woman with herself as a social woman mirror Chopin's concern with the female living situation, especially their mental state.Females should exist as independent individuals and each individual deserves to realize the value of the self. Edna's final choice is thought-provoking. Why do woman have to pay such high price for personal liberation? What is the relation between woman and nature? From the perspective of treating the relation between woman and nature, feminism and Transcendentalism share something. The heroine of The Awakening completes her progression of awakening through the agency of multiple factors.