Review: The Awakening by Kate Chopin

“but whatever came, she had resolved never again to belong to another than herself.”

-The Awakening, Kate Chopin

It’s a little controversial book, this one. I found many bad reviews about this book and they are well justified with the facts but I had a great experience reading it, so I’m very nervous about writing this review. I want to do justice to this brilliant classic that portrayed such an important topic at a time when it was such a hush-hush topic (to be honest, in many ways it still is) while still trying to validate some of the bad reviews it got (not because of conformity, but because they are real facts, some of them).

The Awakening is a story of a woman called Edna Pontellier who is married and has kids but she is not your cliche stereotypical mother character who only knows how to live for her husband and her children. No, she knows that she has a life of her own. The story starts with Edna vacationing in the Grand Isles, an island where she meets a man called Robert and falls in love with him.

Not just for this reason alone does her awakening starts, but she also goes through a series of events such as understanding the fact that her husband thinks of her not as a person but as a trophy or something that he owns. A treasure. She realises how as a child she never had the opportunity to express herself and how she had always been the obedient girl that everyone expected her to be. In one of the scenes, when another character called Madame Reisz played piano, it almost brought her to tears because of the series of emotions and flashbacks she got from it. We also see that even when she awakens this uniqueness to her domestic, house wife self, she is not understood by the people around her and is taken as selfish. Basically, this story is considered as a modern feminist take on how housewives forget their real identity.

Now, the reason for my nervousness on writing about this book varies on many levels. There were many parts that I loved about this book but there were few things that did make me question my stance. You see, it’s one of those situations where I see why the main character did things that they did and I understand them but I also do not approve of those acts or justify them in anyway.

Edna Pontellier is definitely a conflicted, and highly morally grey character. She is married but she does not love her husband all that much. He doesn’t appreciate her either. On days when she seeks liberty on doing things that she’s passionate about like painting or swimming, Mr. Pontellier is worried that she’s not doing her “duty” because how dare she amuse herself or prioritize her life, and not look after her husband and her children.

People don’t like this book because Edna cheats on her husband and falls in love with another man. With this in consideration, some people have found an option to blame feminism because “Oh my God, this is what feminism stands for, apparently, to hate men and cheat men you marry.”

And…no, cheating anyone whether you are a man or a woman is just wrong in my dictionary, at least and I assure you “hating men” is not what feminism stands for, cause I’m a self described feminist myself. Secondly, it’s a feminist book because Edna wakes herself to realise that she is not a servant in anyone’s life and that she is the only one who can shape her life the way she wants, and that nobody has a say in it. Not even her husband. But again, that does not justify the act of cheating.

Some people also hate this book because “Edna is not a good mother” and that is the exact ideology that this book fights for. She does love her children but that should not mean that she has to devote her entire life to them. Feminism is having a choice. Edna exercises it. She even uses this dialogue to put her point across,

“I would give up the unessential; I would give up my money, I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself. I can’t make it more clear; it’s only something I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me.”

There are many other great things about this book, like I liked the quick pacing and how the story took place in a linear timeline without throwing any unnecessary information. The diction is also very easy to understand. But what I loved about the book was the subtle use of symbolism throughout the book.

The author did a brilliant job in using symbols. There’s a mention of Edna’s life and how she was not very able to express her emotions well which lays a very convenient foundation for the usage of symbols, for many who feel restricted about something they unconsciously desire, they interpret things differently through dreams or symbols. In this case, Edna often images herself as a bird. In fact, not just Edna but all women are portrayed as such. There’s a line that Madame Reisz gets to speak in one of the scenes that I really love, that symbolizes Edna as a bird:

“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.”

Yeah, love that line! ❤

Also, the “awakening” of Edna is shown as the “voice of the sea”. It is symbolised as if the sea is calling her and every time she goes for a swim, she’s either frightened that she might go too far or lose herself in it. The said voice of the sea makes her realise of her freedom, her capability and even her sexual desires.

“The voice of the sea is 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 voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.”

Other than Edna’s conflicted character, I really loved Madame Reisz’s character if you couldn’t tell already! She’s a badass. She is blunt, does what she wants, doesn’t care about anyone or what they think of her! I wanna be like her. There’s nothing more to say. *fangirls*

Now, let’s get to the dirt. Things I didn’t like about this book. Firstly, the extra marital affair didn’t convince me on the romance to root for it or anything. It was all just confined to physical intimacy and desires that was fine but I wasn’t shipping them because I didn’t feel any emotion except for maybe that one time when the guy, Robert wrote a letter about Edna. Yep, that’s that.

Secondly, I expected a little more from the ending but here’s my dilemma again. I know why it didn’t happen. When things do not seem to work out for Edna in any way, when Robert leaves her too and she feels guilty about not being a socially approved definition of a “good mother”, she feels trapped and even more conflicred and…

(SPOILER ALERT- She drowns herself in the sea. )

Yeah. I wanted her to maybe run away from her place and start a new life or something but I know why she didn’t do that. It’s because she didn’t want to carry the guilt that she abandoned her children like that, so maybe she just felt that it would be easier to take her own life because she could’t keep living her life the way she has been anymore. I hate that but I also love that it is realistic.

Another thing I loved was how Kate Chopin didn’t SHOW her readers how Edna took her life, she again used the power of symbols and used a bird fluttering and drowning in the sea instead which is a great way of talking about something as sensitive, triggering and traumatizing as suicide. I have talked invaribaly about how one can write about sensitive topics in fiction here, be sure to check it out if it interests you!

Overall, I think that this book opened a lot of eyes on such an important topic and aspect of feminism, and at such a time! It’s incredible. I think the plot was amazing and the characters morally grey and confused with a story that is more realistic than moralistic, I guess I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars! Would recommend ❤

Thank you for reading!