A Search For Selfhood—Transcendentalism In The Awakening

Kate Chopin, one of the most outstanding woman writer in the late19th century America, has created the female images who revolt against the patriarchal authority and strive for her self identity and autonomy. In The Awakening, the protagonist Edna hopes to escape from the thralldom of marriage and pursues romantic love, authentic self and individual emancipation. However, she deviates too far from societal moral codes only to find herself. Therefore, when published in1899, The Awakening is immediately confronts great hostility among the contemporary reviewers. Kate Chopin is also alienated from literary community. After the burial of half a century, there comes the revival of Kate Chopin with the uprising of feminist movement since1950s. More and more scholars and critics begin to take a new look at Chopin and her works, especially her masterpiece, The Awakening.One shining point which plays an important role in Edna’s awakening is the sea where her every decisive step in the awakening journey happens. Such as her oppressive cry, her first swimming, and her last rebirth, etc. Based on the analysis of the imitate connection between the sea and Edna, the thesis intends to analyze it from the perspective of Transcendentalism and study the protagonist’s campaign against the fetters of the conventional society and her journey of pursing her own identity.The thesis consists of fives chapters.Chapter one mainly gives a brief introduction to the Transcendentalism, including the historical background of Transcendentalism, the essential of Emerson’s thought and his philosophy. Emerson, the fonder of the Transcendentalism, advocates that nature is the garment of over-soul. He ever acclaimed:"The universe is composed of nature and soul."(Emerson1989:904) and man can accomplish independence and spiritual perfection with the help of the Nature.Chapter two talks about Edna’s dilemmas of incipient selfhood and her spiritual enlightenment gaining from the sea. The patriarchal society subordinates the female to the male. Like a caged-bird, they do not have any rights. Fettered by the glorious life, women are full of inner emptiness. Whereas the protagonist Edna is not a typical mother-woman. Living in such a social circumstances, she is not willing to be a housewife. She does not realize clearly vacillates between her foils. Her dilemma, like Hamlet’s "To Be or Not To Be", has come into being. While going vocation on New Olean, Edna makes close communication with the sea which inspires her longing for freedom. She starts to attach importance to inward contemplation. Sea, as a tutor, guides her to be self-rediscovery.Chapter three analyzes Edna’s accomplishment of individual independence. This includes two parts. The first part is her rebellion against female’s traditional roles in patriarchal society, and the second part is her searching for freedom. Inspired by the sea, Edna believes in her intuition. She challenges the authority of her husband and questions the role of the mother. Abandoning the responsibility forced by male dominance, she begins to persist on her own ways, and even has the erotic love with a play boy, Arobin. In her awaking journey, she has transforms Mrs. Pontellier to herself.Chapter four states that Edna’s quality in awakening process results in her last suicide. Although she enjoys her physical and spiritual awakening as an individual, she gradually realizes that it is infeasible to get a successful revolt in such a patriarchal society. No one can really understand her. For she has already crossed the line.The closer she gets to her self-identity and independence, the farther she is from the world. So she can’t help but to sink into the sea for her eternal freedom and spiritual rebirth.Through the study of Transcendentalism and explicit analysis of Edna’s awakening process, this thesis may claim the following conclusions:Transcendentalism can be regarded as the stimulus which helps man to vale himself, and seeks for freedom for spiritual perfection. However, Edna experiences the awakening journey from the ignorant regardless of the social taboo in that time.She is doomed to be isolated from the society, and going into the sea is an extrication and rebirth.