The Awakening Analysis

Ben Wong

Kuhn

English 11R

9 October 2013

Feminism

        Edna had to sacrifice many things in order to escape the cult of domesticity. Many of her actions were juxtaposed. Women and birds were juxtaposed, men and women were dichotomized, and the land and sea were dichotomized in order to create a new word: feminism.

        In chapter XXXII, Chopin juxtaposes Edna’s newly-bought house to a pigeon house. The juxtaposition between her house and the pigeon house depicts her decision to be an act of freedom. Although Edna didn’t move very far, she finds a very important difference where “it [her new house] at once assumed the intimate character of a home while she herself invested it with a charm which it reflected with a warm glow” (85). This clearly highlights her comfort in her own house where she doesn’t feel the oppression of the cult of domesticity from her husband. Mr. Pontellier, her husband, only saw Edna as a woman who takes care of children instead of a person. This is clearly uncovered in chapter III where he thinks “if it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it?” (6). This undoubtedly exposes Edna’s struggles in the cult of domesticity. It wasn’t the house that caused her to move away - it was her husband’s lack of thoughtfulness. In her decision to move, she is juxtaposed to migrating birds that are escaping. This reinforces the feminist ideology that she can not articulate.

        Men were completely dichotomized from women with the cult of domesticity. Women were expected to completely submit to men while men wasn’t expected to care for the family directly. The cult of domesticity was the root of Edna’s depression and unease. Mr. Pontellier never considers his wife’s happiness and he doesn’t consider her as a human being. This is depicted in the scene where “he did not know; perhaps he would return for the early dinner and perhaps he would not” (3). This portrays his unthoughtfulness for his wife. Edna is still expected to cook for her husband even if he doesn’t come home that night. This doesn’t seem strange or frustrating for Edna at all in the beginning due to the expectations of women at the time. However, she later gains distastefulness to condescendence. This conveys her changing opinions of how women should be treated. In chapter XI, Edna stands up to Mr. Pontellier after being told what to do. She clearly tells Leonce, “‘Don’t speak to me like that again; I shall not answer you’” (28). This marks her rebellious stage where she will later completely removes herself from the cult of domesticity temporarily. Although she did leave Mr. Pontellier and have multiple affairs, she never actually made a difference on the status of women. Every man she encountered continued to treat her as an object. She thought that if she escaped her marriage, she would escape the cult of domesticity. But at the time, every man would treat her the same way. Edna’s realization of this led her to say goodbye to Robert with a meaningful message: “‘I love you. Good-by - because I love you’” (102). This conveys her understanding of what she must do to in order to escape the cult of domesticity. She must leave behind all men in order to escape.

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