How is Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" typical of a Victorian novel?

by sarawh (student)

How is/isn’t The Awakening typical of a Victorian Novel?

The Awakening was published in 1899 by Kate Chopin at the height of her popularity. Kate Chopin grew up surrounded constantly by intelligent, strong and independent women; so her childhood was lacking a male role model. As a result of the atmosphere in which she was raised in, rarely being witness to the tradition of male domination and female submission which defined many 19th century marriages, throughout her novel, The Awakening, the themes of female freedom and sexual awareness are very much present. These controversial topics would have been subject matters which were socially unacceptable during the Victorian Era. By the way in which Kate Chopin presented them in showing support and a sympathetic view toward the actions and emotions of the sexually aware and independent female protagonist, Edna Pontellier, the novel would have received a negative and shocked reaction from its readers.

The Awakening is typical of a Victorian Novel in the way that in the Victorian Era a woman of the late 1800s had very few opportunities for individual expression and independence. Women were expected to care for their families and perform her domestic duties around the house; resulting in them being prevented from seeking the satisfaction of their own wants and needs. Women had no choices and most lived in a state a little better than slavery and they had to obey men, because in most cases, men held all the resources and women had no independent means of subsistence. Women were considered the property of her husband and this general idea of male domination can be clearly ascertained throughout the novel. For instance the readers are first introduced to Leonce Pontellier who is observed in the novel as ‘…looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage’. This quote is our first encounter with Edna Pontellier and it alone shows how men viewed their wives as a possession in which they owned and could order around; their own personal slaves. According to Mr Pontellier, his wife has no independence, no personal self-fulfilment, and she must only live for him. The idea of women being treated like objects and the men controlling them is displayed through the line ‘I can’t permit you to stay out there all night. You must come in the house instantly’. This again is Mr Pontellier ordering his wife around as if she were nothing but his mere slave; thus conforming to the typical Victorian marriage where the man was seen to be in charge. The father of Edna Pontellier is seen in the novel to be reinforcing this view through the conversation held with Mr Pontellier where the Colonel states how ‘Authority, coercion are what is needed. Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife. Take my word for it.’ This insinuates that the Colonel himself had treated his own wife like so; displaying how this is a tradition which is followed meticulously by the larger part of society in the Victorian Era. It also reveals the general knowledge of how men thought the way in which to control their wives well was with a great deal of authority, and to ‘put your foot down good and hard’ making known your demands and how you wish them to be done; again reinforcing the idea of male domination.

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The novel is also typical since it displays how a woman in the Victorian Era was moulded and formed in a specific way throughout childhood and early years of life in order to later become a perfect depiction of what a faultless women and wife should be in society. The Awakening shows through Edna Pontellier how woman’s emotions and feelings were to be suppressed and the women to not be herself and reveal her own emotions and desires until after she was married; until then she was to portray a typical socially acceptable Victorian woman, who was to be eventually picked by a man to be his wife. The novel expresses how Mr Pontellier believed his wife to be delirious when she started to rebel and show traits of independency, however due to the way in which women were raised ‘he could not see that she was becoming herself’ finally. Edna was ‘casting aside that fictitious self’ which is stated in the novel to be ‘assumed like a garment with which to appear before the world’. This supporting how women portrayed an ideal representation of themselves when in company of others in society, however it was not their true self being shown. The novel also indicates how it was typical of women in the Victorian Era to marry before they fell in love, in many cases in was to do with them marrying into wealth, which was perceived to be more significant than following the heart’s desire; ‘she grew fond of her husband’, insinuating that she had not always been fond of her husband and was only now after marriage and children beginning to ‘grow fond’.

Although men in the Victorian Era were reportedly in charge of women, Edna Pontellier defies this typical role of women in the novel The Awakening and challenges the Victorian Society through the way in which she seeks independence. Edna is first seen to be challenging socially acceptable behaviour in the Victorian society through the way in which a ‘feeling of exultation overtook her’ when she started to swim and she grew ‘daring and reckless’ wanting to ‘swim far out, where no woman had swum before’. This could relate to the title The Awakening since it could insinuate how Edna awoke from her submissive state with new joyful emotions showing her happiness and freedom. Following this ‘awakening’ Edna started to defy the traditional role of a woman in the Victorian Era, establishing a need of independence to a degree in which no women had attempted before.

The writer, Kate Chopin, is portraying defiance in Mrs Pontellier against her husband challenging the Victorian society and maybe encouraging social change through the way in which she shows Edna Pontellier standing up to her husband; possibly expressing her view of how women should confront and challenge men. She shows this rebellious nature of Mrs Pontellier after her awakening through how she defies her husband’s orders and challenges his supremacy ‘I don’t wish to go in, and I don’t intend to’. She also establishes her independence by how she refuses to be submissive and demeaned by him ‘Don’t speak to me like that again; I shall not answer you’. Chopin also seems to encourage social change throughout society by displaying how although women had a typical role to follow they should do so with independence and equal authority, possessing their own minds and in charge of their own lives. The novel portrays how Edna’s refusal and ‘absolute disregard’ towards her ‘duties as a wife’ angered him. Again revealing how men believed themselves superior and in control of their wives. Edna is portrayed as a strong woman, awakening and emerging as her own. Demonstrated by how she grew ‘insolent’ and disregarded these typical and socially acceptable views resolving to ‘never take another step backward’ in her quest for independence and control over her own life because she states how she ‘knows she will like it, like the feeling of freedom and independence’ from the restrictions that have ruled her life and suppressed her emotions.

Finally, an essential part in the novel The Awakening is when Edna states how ‘The years that are gone seem like dreams-if one might go on sleeping and dreaming-but to wake up and find…better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life’. This quotation, which has been drawn from a conversation Edna Pontellier, has with Doctor Mandelet in one of the final chapters XXXVIII. This extract could be considered to be the general moral of The Awakening. Even though Edna’s awakening leads to her suffering and eventual suicide, Edna displays that she thinks the suffering was worth the enjoyment, understanding and fulfilment which she got out of awakening and finding her independence and self-awareness. Edna expresses how she believes that the slight freedom she experienced was worth a lifetime of the semi-conscious submission that defined her former existence.

In conclusion it can clearly be seen that The Awakening is typical of a Victorian Novel since it portrays how woman had a certain role within the household which they were expected to keep in line with and never exceed over that line, possessing their own thoughts, feelings or actions; they were to be suppressed and be constantly submissive to men. It is also typical due to the way in which marriage was seen to be a social event that if married to someone who was high in society, you were set to lead a well provided lifestyle. It is also apparent in the novel, again supporting that it is a typical Victorian novel, that you do not reveal your true self until after the marriage. Finally it is typical because many Victorian novels challenge the ideal image of the perfect woman in the Victorian society and encourage some form of independence through this, which again is displayed in The Awakening.

Sarah Barnes