Explore the symbolism present in Kate Chopin(TM)s The Awakening and in Charlotte Gilman Perkins(TM) The Yellow Wallpaper'

University Degree European Languages, Literature and related subjects

Explore the symbolism present in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and in Charlotte Gilman Perkins’ The Yellow Wallpaper

In its broad sense, symbolism is the use of one object to represent another or suggest another. It is the use of objects, characters, figures, or colours to represent abstract ideas or concepts. In fact, in America in the middle of the nineteenth century, symbolism was the dominant literary mode. In this sense, the details of the world and actions of people were used to suggest philosophical ideas and themes. Thus, we get an image of this very kind of symbolism in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and in Charlotte Gilman Perkins’ The Yellow Wallpaper. Indeed, these two American pieces of literature, both written in the late nineteenth century, offer such symbols that it shall be interesting to explore them and find out what they really symbolise in a purely American context.

Marriage, as a symbol, present in both texts concerned, is something worth considering. The first question that comes to our mind after getting an overview of the marriage of the two protagonists of both texts is what does marriage actually symbolise for them. In general, marriage is synonym to marital bliss, to unity and is something that most women wish for. However, in The Awakening and in The Yellow Wallpaper, marriage has a rather negative meaning. In both texts, marriage is in fact symbolical of a prison-like life where the female characters feel suffocated and unhappy. Edna Pontellier, the protagonist of The Awakening, a twenty-eight year old wife of a New Orleans businessman, suddenly finds herself dissatisfied with her marriage and the limited, conservative lifestyle that it follows:

“She perceived that her will had blazed up, stubborn and resistant… She could not realize why or how she should have yielded, feeling as she then did”.

For Edna, marriage symbolise a prison-like life where she is not allowed to live on her own. In other words, marriage here symbolise an ideological prison that subjects and silences women. At the beginning of the novel, Edna exists in a sort of semi-conscious state. She is comfortable in her marriage to Léonce, her husband, and is unaware of her own feelings and ambitions. However, later on, she sees her marriage as the end to her life of passion and the beginning of a life of responsibility. This very marriage prevents her awakening and her emancipation. It is only by breaking away from the shackles of marriage that it becomes possible for her to acquire her own sense of individuality.

For the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper too, marriage is symbolical of this same kind of prison, of suffocation and of subjugation by man. Through marriage, the narrator is imprisoned, unable to exercise dominion over her mind. Her husband’s domineering ways have imprisoned her into a domestic prison. He does not allow her to work or to give way to her passion, which is writing:

“Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do? I did write for a while inspite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal – having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition”.

Thus, marriage, which is generally a symbol of unity, of complicity, of care and of love does not seem to fit in those two female character’s situations. Women in the late nineteenth century’s America forged ahead and challenged patriarchal ideologies. Women could move beyond the constrictions of the ideology, the Cult of True Womanhood. The existence of the institution of marriage, in which men played the dominant role and wielded control , placed women at the mercy of their male counterparts. However, through those two texts, we see how the romanticising of women’s role in the family and home segregated women, barring them from public domain, becomes a thing of the past. Freed from the enslavement of the ideology associated with the institution of marriage, women started to seize the right to self-assertion. We find this in Edna when she breaks free of her marriage and goes away from her husband’s house. We can still find this in The Yellow Wallpaper’s in the sense that she is not able to play the expected domesticated role of the typical wife. This prison-like marriage therefore leads her to insanity.

The symbolism of the house is still very interesting and very much present in both stories. However the notion of the house and what it actually symbolises in both texts is quite different from each other. In The Awakening, Edna stays in many houses: the cottage on Grand Isle, Madame Antoine’s home on the Chênière Caminada, the big house in New Orleans and finally, her “pigeon house”. Each of these houses symbolises her progress as she undergoes her awakening. Edna is expected to be a “mother-woman” on Grand Isle and to be the perfect social hostess in New Orleans. While ...

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However, when Edna and Robert Lebrun slip away to the Chênière Caminada, their temporary rest in Madame Antoine’s house symbolise the shift that Edna has undergone. Staying in the house, Edna finds herself in a new, romantic, and foreign world:

“‘How many years have I slept?’ She inquired…‘A new race of beings must have sprung up, leaving only you and me as past relics’”.

It is as though the old social structures must have disappeared, and on this new island Edna can forget the other guests on Grand Isle and create a world of her own. Significantly, Madame Antoine’s house serves only as a temporary shelter - it is not a “home.” Edna’s newfound world of liberty is not a place where she can remain.

The “pigeon house” does allow Edna to be both at “home” and independent. Once she moves to the pigeon house, Edna no longer has to look at the material objects that Léonce has purchased and with which Edna equates herself. She can behave as she likes, without regard to how others will view her actions. In the end, however, the little house will prove not to be the solution Edna expected. While it does provide her with independence and isolation, allowing her to progress in her sexual awakening and to escape the gilded cage that Léonce’s house constituted, Edna finds herself cooped anew, if less extravagantly. The fact that her final house resembles those used to keep domesticated pigeons does not bode well for Edna’s fate. In the end, feeling alternately an exile and a prisoner, she is “at home” nowhere. Only in death can she hope to find the things a home offers - respite, privacy, shelter, and comfort.

In The Yellow Wallpaper, the symbolism of the house offers this idea of prison. This domestic arena is not the classical house that one would actually expect. Normally, a house is symbolical of security and of comfort. However, in this short story, we find that the house represents a rather claustrophobic place, where there is no freedom. With the husband’s domineering ways, the house turns out to be a domestic prison. The narrator feels trapped within her prison-like room and house. The narrator is imprisoned, unable to think freely, and the structure of the house and its surroundings bears this out:

“…there re hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people… I never saw such a garden, large and shady, full of box-bordered paths…”

Here, we see how everything is separated and divided, boxed in, and locked like a prison, much as the narrator is held captive in her room. In fact, the house itself seems designed for men; larger-than-life mansions are typically symbols of masculine aggression and competitiveness, while it is being a “hereditary estate”, reminds us it was probably passed to men in the family.

It is interesting to note that unlike Edna, the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper cannot change houses on her own. She can only do so with the endorsement of her husband. She is not as emancipated as Edna as to leave her husband’s house. She cannot change houses on her own since the house in which her husband puts her to live in is like a prison with bars fixed on the window of her prison-like room. Unlike Edna, she is still under the strong grip of her husband who has complete control over her life, not letting her to go out of the house at all even if she strongly wills to do so.

We can also find symbolism through the different characters present in both stories. To begin with, Edna herself symbolises the changing role of woman at that particular time. The feminist movement which was just beginning to emerge in other parts of America was almost entirely absent in the conservative state of Louisiana. In fact, under Louisiana Law, a woman was still considered as the property of her husband. Chopin’s novel was scorned and ostracised since it portrays this changing role of woman; since it portrays the emotional and sexual needs for women. Edna symbolises the new notions of female sexuality and equality and also the early American feminism. In short, she defies patriarchy – something which is very much present in her society. She is a symbol of woman’s independence, desire and sexuality. It is by breaking free from her marriage and by doing what she feels is good for her, satisfying her animalistic urges and retaining her freedom from male domination, that she symbolises this new changing role of woman in that society.

The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper symbolises, on her part, female imprisonment within the domestic sphere. Unable to break free from her house, she only has the symbolic option of tending to her house, not of getting an intellectual job in the outside world. However, she also symbolises that attempt to change and becomes emancipated. For example, the narrator’s habit of creeping about suggests that she and other feminists too, must hide in the shadows for now while they plot their strategy but eventually they would attempt to rise up and tear the shackles of domesticity.

Adèle Ratignolle of The Awakening, Mary and Jennie of The Yellow Wallpaper all symbolise the typical woman at that particular time that is the Victorian feminine ideal – the True Cult of Womanhood. Adèle is the perfect epitome of wifehood and motherhood. She idolises her children and worships her husband, centering her life around caring for them and performing her domestic duties. In short, she is the epitome of nineteenth century womanhood. Like Adèle, Mary and Jennie of The Yellow Wallpaper both symbolise the happily domesticated woman who does not find anything wrong with her domesticated prison. While Jennie supplants the narrator as a surrogate wife for John, taking care of everything in the house, Mary, the nanny, takes care of the narrator and the baby. With her name having a possible allusion to the Virgin Mary, Mary symbolises the effect mother-surrogate for the narrator, an idealised maternal figure whose only concern is her child.

There are other symbols present in both stories which are worth considering. In The Awakening, caged birds serve as reminders of Edna’s entrapment and also of the entrapment of Victorian women in general. Madame Lebrun’s parrot and mockingbird represent Edna and Madame Reisz, respectively. Like the birds, the women’s movements are limited (by society), and they are unable to communicate with the world around them. The novel’s “winged” women may only use their wings to protect and shield, never to fly.

Edna’s attempts to escape her husband, children, and society manifest this arrested flight, as her efforts only land her in another cage: the pigeon house. While Edna views her new home as a sign of her independence, the pigeon house represents her inability to remove herself from her former life, as her move takes her just “two steps away.” Mademoiselle Reisz instructs Edna that she must have strong wings in order to survive the difficulties she will face if she plans to act on her love for Robert. She warns:

“The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth.”

Critics who argue that Edna’s suicide marks defeat, both individually and for women, point out the similar wording of the novel’s final example of bird imagery: “A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water.” If, however, the bird is not a symbol of Edna herself, but rather of Victorian womanhood in general, then its fall represents the fall of convention achieved by Edna’s suicide.

The sea in The Awakening symbolises freedom and escape. It is a vast expanse that Edna can brave only when she is solitary and only after she has discovered her own strength. When in the water, Edna is reminded of the depth of the universe and of her own position as a human being within that depth. The sensuous sound of the surf constantly beckons and seduces Edna throughout the novel.

Water’s associations with cleansing and baptism make it a symbol of rebirth. The sea, thus, also serves as a reminder of the fact that Edna’s awakening is a rebirth of sorts. Appropriately, Edna ends her life in the sea: a space of infinite potential becomes a blank and enveloping void that carries both a promise and a threat. In its sublime vastness, the sea represents the strength, glory, and lonely horror of independence.

Edna’s first swim symbolises both rebirth and maturation. When she descends to the beach, she is described as a “little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who . . . walks for the first time alone.” Before her awakening, Edna is afraid of abandoning herself to the sea’s embrace, feeling an “ungovernable dread . . . when in the water, unless there was a hand near by that might reach out and reassure her.” Early in The Awakening, the sea is described as “seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.” The sea represents truth and loneliness, a vast expanse of solitude and vulnerability that Edna has long been afraid to enter. Her relationship with Robert has caused her to begin to develop and explore her own identity. As Edna discovers for the first time her own power, she begins her rebellion. Her swim in the ocean shows that she is no longer dependent on the help of others, as was expected of women, but instead finds strength and support within herself.

Before her rebirth, Edna was trapped in a perpetual childhood of feminine dependency. When she realises that she is, in fact, swimming, Edna shouts, “Think of the time I have lost splashing about like a baby!” Edna’s shout of triumph symbolises her shedding of the prolonged childhood forced on Victorian women. During the first six years of her marriage, Edna had resisted Léonce will only in momentary spurts, always eventually conceding and conforming to his authority. Now, however, she will no longer be ruled as a child. Becoming reckless and over-confident, she wants to swim “where no woman had swum before,” and she reaches out “for the unlimited in which to lose herself.” She extends her arms and explores the expanse of her new world.

Edna’s awakening is not complete with this swim though, for, looking back, the distance to the shore seems to her “a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome.” Dread of death seizes her and she realizes the flip side to independence: she can rely on nothing but her own strength to get her back to safety. Her failed attempt to swim far beyond the traditional waters of womanhood implies that Edna does not have the staying power required to withstand the consequences of defying social conventions.

One might read Edna’s quick exhaustion in the water as a foreshadowing of her death, which is brought about by a similar inability to fulfill her goal of transcending society. Or, her suicide may be read as her “completion” of her first swim. By the end of the novel, Edna comes to the realization that she has no place in the world around her, and her continued awakening and increasing acts of independence have given her the strength and courage she lacked during her first swim, the courage necessary to remove herself forever from the grasp of any other human being.

The lady in black represents the conventional Victorian ideal of the widowed woman. She does not embark on a life of independence after fulfilling her duties as a wife; instead, she devotes herself to the memory of her husband and, through religion, to his departed soul. If Léonce were to die, a widowed Edna would be expected to lead her life in such a socially acceptable manner. Edna longs for independence from her husband, but the lady in black embodies the only such independence that society accepts in women: the patient, resigned solitude of a widow. This solitude does not speak to any sort of strength of autonomy but rather to an ascetic, self-effacing withdrawal from life and passion. It is as though the widow’s identity is entirely contingent upon her husband: the fact of his death means that she, too, must cease to experience the pleasures of life. Throughout the novel, this black-clad woman never speaks. Her lack of self-expression reinforces the lack of individuality underlying her self-governed but meaningless life.

The two young lovers are obvious mirrors of Robert and Edna, displaying the life they might have had together, had they met before Edna’s marriage. At several points in the novel, the lady in black follows the young lovers. Her solitude and mourning symbolise the eventual failure of every union and, thus, the imminent failure of Robert and Edna’s relationship.

Charlotte Perkins’ Short story suggests that the woman behind the wall paper parallels the narrator’s struggle with her expected role in a male dominated society in which she lives in. not only does the wall paper affect the narrator but it has an effect on everyone that comes into contact with it. The pattern of the wallpaper is said to be “a florid arabesque”. Florid means to be gaudy or for show and arabesque pattern is one that twists and winds. Like the pattern therefore, society also is very complex and intertwined; and in order for many individuals to follow society’s rules, they must suppress their true desire and play their expected role to fit in society. For the narrator, this role is that of a woman in the nineteenth century where she is expected to conform and submit to her husband’s rules.

The wallpaper symbolises a reflection of the narrator being trapped in the house. Its ugly, irritating yellow colour could possibly symbolise all the frustrations she feels in her life. It reflects her loneliness. She is so lonely that she has to give this wallpaper personal qualities to satisfy this loneliness. The woman she sees on the wallpaper is a symbol of herself and her life; her repressed other or her suppressed self. The narrator could see the woman in the wallpaper trying to break free out of the bars that held her. This symbolises the wife’s situation. She wants to break free of her sickly, boring, and lonely, bed ridden life and her subconscious would not permit that freely to her. In the act of tearing the wallpaper, the narrator assists the double to break free from the forms that confines her. Yet, this act can also be viewed as not intended to free her from male repression but to eliminate the rebellious self which is preventing her from achieving her ego-ideal, a destruction of the other self.

The authors of both The Awakening and The Yellow Wallpaper have successfully made use of symbolism. They have used the typical literary mode dominant at the time they wrote their books, that is in the nineteenth century. In making use of symbolism, their texts inevitably acquire readerly interest which draws the reader in understanding the story better. Symbolism, in short, makes up the beauty of the story. It might also have been a narrative technique used by those authors to give a better picture of American culture and society in the nineteenth century. The two stories might both be symbolical of the oppression of women in a paternalistic society and how woman is trying to break free from this very paternalistic society.