Kate Chopin: Naturalist or Feminist - Essay Example

?5 July Kate Chopin- Naturalist or Feminist? The Awakening, an existential novel about solitude is distinguished from most of such fiction by its female protagonist, Edna Pontellier. As Harold Bloom puts in, “She is an engaging personality, neither very talented nor intellectually curious, and disinterested in Creole or any other domestic habits… here is the awakening of an ordinary woman to love the sensuous world, and her own spirituality” (1). As a woman, she has had so little sense of a self alone that the new-found ‘awakening’ suggests entirely new arenas and modes of activity which leads her into the abyss of solitude. Within this realm of solitude when she understands her failure, she embraces death, with the same mixture of dread and delight as when she first discovered her solitude. This aspect of Edna’s awakening is important for the status of Chopin as a writer, for she portrays her heroine above but not of culture which Edna desperately tried to grasp. Whatever feminist beliefs Kate Chopin held, she makes it clear that Edna is largely unaware of- and certainly unconcerned with- the reasons for her actions and that her awakening is a realization of her sensual nature, not of her equality or freedom as an individual. Some critics tend to associate Chopin’s novel to the feminist tract; however, Chopin’s motives tend to be of a Naturalist rather than Feminist, for much of Chopin’s portrait of Edna depends upon the Lousiana Creole setting she chose and the naturalistic literary convention of her day. Chopin concentrated to a greater degree on the life of sensation and careless enjoyment that the Creoles lived. Creole society occupied the southern half of Lousiana. The descendants of French and Spanish colonists of the eighteenth century, the Creoles were bound by Catholicism, strong family ties, and a common language. The cultural patterns of the Creole society have been romanticized by local colorists like Chopin in their works. Through her characterization of Edna, she wanted to scrutinize the Creole society and its reputation for an easygoing attitude. For this purpose, Chopin has not placed her heroine in a rigidly moralistic environment. She eloquently translates Edna’s feelings, her emotions and experiences when she enters the ‘sensuous’ Creole environment. Chopin reproduced this little world through her naturalistic techniques with no intention to shock or make a point, rather for her these were the conditions of civility. This attitude of the novelist clarify Edna’s position as an outsider, whose behavior is not shocking or inexplicable, for her position allows Chopin to deal with the clash of two cultures. Edna’s awakening is a product of the clash of cultures that she experiences. It is important to note that Edna initially finds it difficult to participate in the easy intimacy of the Creoles. She describes herself as “self-contained”, and remains largely so until the end of the novel, in the sense that she incorporates no doctrine or set of principles outside herself. However, she does become a fully sexual being. Therefore, her awakening is more or less a sexual one rather than an approach towards an independent self. Her approach is rather physical in terms of her leaving her husband’s house and entering her own independent house named as “pigeon house”. Here, it is important to note that Chopin carefully translates Edna’s new-found independence in the imagery of “pigeon house”. As the name suggests the house gives an impression of a trapped existence, which can never free itself from the bounds of sensual nature of the Creole society. That is to say, though Edna tries to form a new identity she is still entrapped in the male dominated society guided by her own unconscious longing for Robert Leburn. Edna’s actions are partly the result of her will, in allowing herself expose to Robert’s charms, and mainly the result of her position in the Creole society. Her sexual awakening begins with the flirtations of Robert, but it is apparent that this, too, is a part of the society in which Edna finds herself. No one is surprised that Robert is attentive to her- in fact it is expected even by Edna’s husband. However, the relationship between Edna and Robert is expected to have limits. Sensing these limits, Robert very “gentlemanly” goes away from Edna’s life. It is from here onwards that readers get the true meaning of Edna’s awakening when she translates her sexual feelings towards Robert into the love for him. Her awakening is of a somnambulistic character in which Edna sleepwalks towards the promise of sexual fulfillment, which she hopes to find in Robert and then in Arobin. Realizing her failure in achieving her goal she drowns herself into the sea, “an abyss of solitude”, that drenches every drop of her strength. To further Chopin’s position as a Naturalist, it is important to undertake her naturalistic technique of using symbols and imagery. Chopin uses romantic imagery to develop Edna’s sexual awakening. Through her imagery, Chopin causes Edna to be hypnotized by the sensuous Creoles and by the warmth and color of Grand Isle. It is the personification of the sea that dominates all the images. The sea undoubtedly the central symbol of the novel, and like all the natural symbols is basically ambiguous. This ambiguous nature of the sea is important to understand the true nature of Edna’s awakening, for it embodies all the sensuousness of the new environment that she experiences and also regulates the ambiguity of her awakening which has its roots into the sexual pleasure. The sea with its ambiguous and sensuous nature, aptly matches Edna’s sexual fulfillment that she can find only by drowning herself into the abyss of solitude. The sea which at first spoke sensuously to Edna of freedom becomes finally the symbol of her liberation, but also ironically, of her complete withdrawal from society, her total isolation. This tension between freedom and restraint is evident in the use of other symbols as well. The imagery of bird is eloquently used by Chopin to demonstrate the true emotional and mental state of Edna. We are constantly reminded by the novelist to interpret Edna’s strength and will to that of a bird. An ideal bird soaring towards the freedom and independence needs strong wings in order to soar above the level of plain tradition and prejudice. Thus, expectedly, when Edna walks to the beach at Grand Isle for the last time, a bird with the broken wing hovers above her fluttering down into the water. This setting not only heightens the climax of the novel, but also provides a glimpse of Edna’s broken will and strength. The disabled bird fluttering down towards the water seals Edna’s fate. Therefore, through her use of naturalistic imagery, Chopin embraces Naturalistic approach in defining Edna’s state rather than Feminists for Edna’s actions are result of her sexual drives over which she has a little control. Many critics have aligned Chopin’s work with the transcontinental “New Woman fiction”, preoccupied with the desire to throw identity away and live beyond culture. This feminists interpretation of “A Solitary Soul” is particularly poignant because the soul is a female soul, characteristically defined as someone’s daughter, wife, mother and mistress. According to them, Chopin in painting a solitary soul of a woman in search of fulfillment has adopted a feminist approach. They find no answer to the question imposed on the independence of a woman that is-how to be free in one’s self and for one’s self but still meaningfully connect to others. For them in order to find fulfillment it is important for the heroine to draw herself into the abyss of solitude; the only way she can preserve her awakened selfhood is by giving her life. She realizes that she cannot accept restrictions that nature and man have conspired to impose on her, the perpetual frustration of desire that living entails. Awakened by a realization of her sensuous self, Edna grows in self-awareness and autonomy. But it is a lonely and isolated autonomy that exacts a terrible price. If we follow this approach, we would rather find Edna’s actions Feminist. Her suicide which is seen as a definition of an utter failure by Naturalists, would then paradoxically be celebrated by Feminists as an action of surrendering her life in order to save her awakened selfhood. However, the solitude that covers up Edna’s awakening is itself of an “intoxicating” nature. It is indeed in the moments of intoxication that she discovers her body, her freedom, her will, herself. Therefore, her awakening seems more like a sensuous journey abandoned without reaching its aim. Edna’s somnambulistic state in maintaining her new-found freedom highlights lack of command over her own feelings and actions throughout the novel. Sailing to the Chenerie for Mass, “Edna felt as if she were being borne away from some anchorage which had held her fast” (The Awakening 115). This statement has been interpreted by feminists, as meaning that she wants to be freed from her marriage. However, there are two reasons why this can’t be true. One is that she is “being borne” by something other than her own will. This highlights the passive nature of the statement. More importantly, she has no thought of her husband or her marriage at this point in the novel. Chopin here merely provided words to express Edna’s emotional state. In giving herself over to emotion, Edna has allowed her decisions to be made below the conscious level, so they surprise even her, and she gives little thought to the consequences. Her sense of reality leaves her conscious mind with her act of writing her last letter to her husband. By doing this she abandons herself to the Fate and the awaited consequences with indifference. After this act, she lives her life in accordance to the Creole manner. In this way her movement is seen more towards accepting the ways of the Creole society rather than away from the male-dominated Creole society-a society where women translate their sense of fulfillment into the sexual desires which only men can satisfy-thus bounded towards the patriarchal dominance. In what sense, then, has Edna been awakened by the alien Creole environment? On a much deeper level Edna awakens to the reality of her own nature in relation to life. In seeking to possess Robert and be possessed by him, she has allowed herself to be duped by the sensuous freedom of the environment into thinking that she can satisfy her deepest human longings. Robert himself represents unattainable, the possibilities that life offers, but never actualizes. This point can be understood by describing the image of “mother-woman” as represented by Adele Ratigolle. She is portrayed as a counterpart to Edna’s solitary actions. Through the character of Adele, Chopin paints the picture of a perfect mother-woman who idealized her children, worshipped her husband, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface herself as an individual. By reason of her marriage and children, Edna rightfully belongs to the group represented by Adele, but she is not and cannot be a mother-woman. The result is that she pities the “colorless existence” of Adele Ratigolle as a devoted wife and mother. The question that demands our attention is that-if Edna remarks Adele’s existence as colorless then what is her life then? At least Adele Ratigolle is happy in her life, she not a solitary soul like Edna who is unable to translate her thoughts in accordance to the reality. Which results in a life filled with solitude. Edna’s attempt to free herself from the chains of patriarchy finds no considerate catalyst. She gets herself out of her husband’s house in his absence. Furthermore, her actions are governed by her wish to be “possessed” by Robert, a man, thus surrendering herself to the desires of male-dominated society. Robert merely acts as an instrument of Edna’s awakening and the focus of her passion. Arobin both mirrors and contrasts Robert. According to Harold Bloom, “her feelings for Arobin confuse her and finally convince her that, without Robert, she will be only promiscuous” (2). It is due to the neglect of Robert’s demanding love that Edna finally surrenders herself to the Fate. Therefore, can her act of suicide which according to some feminist critics is a true sense of awakening, be regarded as an act of breaking the bonds of the male dominated society? The last scene of the novel, that of Edna’s suicide, reveals a regressive act coming from “a sense of inner emptiness” and a failure to fulfill in real life her infantile yearnings for fusion. In effect, Edna drifts into death because she does nothing to stop it and in this action she has not controlled her own destiny. What Kate Chopin shows beautifully are the pressures working against woman’s true awakening to her condition, and what that condition is. The struggle is for the woman to free herself from being an object or possession defined in her functions, or owned, by others. Despite her middle-class advantages-money and the freedom to pursue talent-Edna Pontellier, the heroine, is finally unable to overcome by herself the strength of the social and religious conventions and the biological mystique that entrap her. Kate Chopin has written an important novel about the inner emotions of a woman trapped into the ways of an unknown society. It’s importance lies in the author’s open acceptance of the sensual nature of women, especially considering the era in which the novel was written. This aspect of Chopin’s work gives her a Feminist status; however, the novel is also an important examination of cultural patterns, and especially the collision of two cultures. Edna’s awakening to sensuality occurs as a direct result to the exposure that the Creole society provides her. Encouraged to develop her new-found awakening, Edna sacrifices her marriage, her motherhood and even her own selfhood which ultimately results in her death. In attempting suicide which was not consciously planned, Edna in a way is more controlled by her emotions than society and men. In order to color this aspect of Edna’s strength, Chopin carefully plans her heroine’s path towards self fulfillment which can only be achieved in her death. Chopin writes her novel from the perspective of a naturalist, giving Edna little control over her own destiny. There is in Chopin’s novel, no stance about women liberation or equality, indeed, the other married women in the novel are presented as happy in their condition. Perhaps those who read the novel as a feminist document are also affected by a clash of cultures: their own and that which the novelist inhabited. Notes 1. Bloom, Harold. “ Introduction- List of Characters”. Bloom’s Guides Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. (New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008) 16. 2. Bloom, Harold. “ Introduction- List of Characters”. Bloom’s Guides Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. (New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008) 17. WORKS CITED 1. Bloom, Harold. Bloom’s Guides Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008. Read More