The Awakening by Kate Chopin: Themes

Identity/Freedom

Edna's entire story revolves around discovering herself as an individual rather than as her contribution to society.

    At the beginning of the book, she feels out of place among the other women at Grand Isle, who practically worship their husbands and devote their lives to their children.  Edna doesn't feel fulfilled by motherhood nor marriage like they do, and hence feels like her current domestic role doesn't feel like her "home", but that it just feels like a "house" (do you get what i mean).  When she forms a relationship with Robert through genuine human connection, it awakens an emotional desire within her, because she is finally seen as a person rather than as someone's wife or mother.  It makes her realize how empty and trapped her life feels and makes her begin her journey of self fulfillment.  Later on, she learns how to swim on her own.  This gives her a powerful feeling of independence and autonomy.  This is the first time that she feels actual freedom.  When she returns to New Orleans, she returns to painting, a passion that she ignored to focus on her duty as wife and mother.  It becomes a way for her to express herself and reclaim her identity from before her marriage.  She also begins selling her paintings, giving her a sense of independence and financial freedom since she can now earn her own money.  

I forgot to mention this in the summary, but she calls her new house that she lives in without her family, the "pigeon house" since its so small that its like a birdhouse.  She moves into this new house, which she finally feels like is her "home".  This action represents her rejection of being defined by her husband and the society that expects her to be dependent on him, and also shows her attempt to live completely independently.

However, after Robert leaves her because he feels like she cannot have complete freedom with him there, it highlights Mademoiselle Reisz' warning to Edna.  Mademoiselle Reisz gave up on a traditional life to be an independent woman with complete freedom.  Robert leaving makes her realize that she cannot have both because of the constraints of society.  She returns to Grand Isle, takes off all of her clothes, symbolically stripping herself of society (dresses reminding her of her womanhood, her wedding ring reminding her that she is bound to a man, etc.), and jumps into the ocean, plunging herself into freedom for the last time.  She reflects on her life and realizes that she can't live as her own person in society.  Her final moments show her conflict between her desire for freedom and the limitations placed on her.

Gender Roles

First of all, Adéle Ratignolle is portrayed as the "ideal" woman.  She is beautiful and youthful, devoted to her husband and kids, openly affectionate, and feels fulfilled by motherhood.  She is the epitome of what women were expected to be.  Although Edna is friends with her, they're only surface level friends because deep down, Edna is just curious about her in a "why do you think like that?" way.  Her discomfort highlights her rejection of this traditional role.

Second of all, when Léonce starts to get worried about Edna's weird behavior, not because he's genuinely worried about her unhappiness, but because he's worried about how her behavior will damage his reputation.  Also, at the beginning of the book, when he finds out that she got sunburnt from hanging out at the beach too much, it's stated that he looks at her like a prized possession that was damaged.  Léonce, like countless men during the Victorian era, views his wife as an ego-boosting cleaning robot instead of as an actual person.  To him, Edna is just a Roomba molded into the shape of a person.  He also treats her her strange behavior as a problem to be cured rather than an identity crisis.  The doctor further views her change in behavior through a gendered lens.  He believes that she's just being hysterical and that she's just emotionally unstable because women ☕️ instead of acknowledging her desire for independence and freedom.  The doctor reflects the unfortunately common problem back then of women's issues being treated as diseases to be cured rather than being understood on a human level.

    When Edna later starts an affair with Alcée Arobin, a man well known in New Orleans for being a play boy, it creates a double standard that further deepens the theme of gender roles.  While Edna's involvement with Robert or Alcée would cause scandals and moral condemnations because she is a married woman who must therefore remain chaste (a.k.a. no boombayah), Robert and Alcée are socially tolerated.  Sure, they have sort of bad reputations, but EDNA's involvement is what would get them in trouble.  This contrasts exposes the unequal expectations set for men and women, and adds fuel to Edna's dissatisfaction with her life.

    Also, when Edna witnesses Adéle's childbirth, she is disturbed by how self-sacrificial it is.  Childbirth destroyed Adéle mentally and physically, and makes Enda realize that she can't sacrifice that much of her livelihood for motherhood.  However, Adèle later urges Edna to consider her children above all else, reinforcing the belief that motherhood should override a woman’s identity.

    Finally, the ending.  Robert ultimately leaves her because although he loves her, he realizes that he doesn't have the balls to challenge the heavily gendered society that values masculine honor and feminine purity.  His departure shows that ALL men end up benefitting from and (unfortunately) uphold the system that limits women.  Robert leaves and chooses social respectability, while Edna is forced to deal with the consequences of desire.  Edna realizes that there is no path in life for her.  In a society where being socially acceptable means giving herself up completely for motherhood or existing quietly in marriage, there was no socially acceptable place for woman who wants complete emotional, sexual, and personal freedom.  Motherhood would mean sacrificing her entire identity.  Being a wife would mean being a useless accessory to an individual while dissolving herself completely.  With nowhere left to go, Edna decides to  remain an individual and heads to the sea.

    The sea is the only place where Edna can experience full freedom.  The fact that she has to completely leave the social world in order to experience autonomy shows how deeply rooted gender roles and the patriarchy are in the world.  Freedom for women could only exist outside of society.  

One really important thing to note is that Edna's suicide isn't the result of personal failure.  It instead reveals the cruelty of a system that offers women hope without survival.  Edna spends the whole book growing, discovering herself, acting with courage, hoping to become her own person, only to be shown that society doesn't provide a sustainable way for her to live as an individual.  She kills herself not because she is weak and can't handle the love of her life ghosting her, but because the gender roles surrounding her are so unforgiving.