Often do stories chronicle the true nature of human perspective, condition, and moral dilemmas through the use of a protagonist who finds themselves caught between multiple conflicting understandings of how to operate correctly within a society. In such cases as these, these stories/ tales that is, one may find that even the smallest of realizations or the most minute of conflicts has the ability to pose warping effects upon an individual’s identity- and thereby- methods of operations within a given society. The culmination of a society, to a large degree, can be attributed to the close drawing of morals within the population in question. It would not be so far off to assume then that morals are a product of one’s social surroundings i.e. society. Should one’s moral standings, or- let us broaden the perspective here- perspective/ viewpoint deviate too far from that of their societies uniformity, there should be no doubt that either a moral dilemma shall ensue, or the deep inquisition of one’s self on the level of identity. 

       When we speak of a society in terms of the protagonist with statements such as ‘their society’ or by simply implying their predisposed set of morals, we must understand that the protagonist belongs to this society. The protagonist is a product of their social surroundings and relative demographic. This is important because if the protagonist loses touch with the basic mold of their society, they will indefinitely find themselves alone and torn between what they are told is correct and what they feel is correct. A scenario such as this can be seen in Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” which had a working title of “A Solitary Soul” to return to the notion of being alone within a society.

       In “The Awakening” the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, can be seen both alone and torn between her awakening identity and the social circumstances which bind her. Although the text picks up well into Edna’s adulthood, the execution is by no means in medias res as her true story has not yet begun. Early in the novel Edna’s identity can be defined by her status as a mother, a wife, and a woman in the late 19th century. She is bound not only by general demographic and social implications, but more specifically by her place in the world thus far.

       Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Edna becomes enamored by a taste of freedom and passion which she initially experiences while on vacation with her husband on sort of an island getaway off the coast of New Orleans- between the Gulf of Mexico and Caminada Bay. It is here that she meets Robert who becomes a love interest of hers as a result of his free spirited nature. Edna, who was the least bit free spirited witnesses Robert and the numerous other characters on the island such as Mademoiselle Reisz and Ratignolle, and she is granted a bit of perspective before returning to the states. One instance which could have given Edna a spark of passion and a bit of perspective occurred when Robert and Edna retreated to Cheniere Caminada- a separate area in the bay- for a church service. During the service, Edna became taken by a wave of “oppression and drowsiness” (Chopin, 576) which could be translated to anxiety, so she fled the church. Robert gathered her outside and offered to bring her to Madame Antoine’s house for some rest. After waking up in Madame Antoine’s with no one else around except Robert, Edna joked “How many years have I slept? The whole island seems changed. A new race of beings must have sprung up, leaving only you and me as past relics.” (Chopin, 577). This can be understood as one of Edna’s many epiphanies throughout the novella as her strict and otherwise depressed/ oppressed spirit are contradicted by a sense of adventure and pursuit of personal longing. The reader can witness her easing up and developing deeper flirtations with Robert. Perhaps this is symptomatic of her distance between herself and the world at large, in which case such a moment would produce great nostalgia. 

       There are two general ways of interpreting this text, either Edna experiences ‘awakenings’ all throughout the novel until her untimely suicide, or said suicide is a result of one large realization and thereby ‘awakening’. However, the most accurate interpretation of the text in relation to the true human experience (real life i.e. a practical application of the text) may be to realize each of her awakenings, flourishings of passion, realizations, throughout the story as epiphanies which alter her state of consciousness so much so that she is given no choice but to arrive at her final conclusion, and what can be deemed as the one true ‘awakening’. It would be a waste of both time and space to identify each and every one of her epiphanies throughout the novel, one needs only to know that these realizations provide her with new understanding in a hermeneutic manner; in other words, each new understanding proved a direct correlation with her perception of life as a whole. Therefore, in order to fully grasp the significance of epiphany and its psychological repercussions in relation to "The Awakening", one must first consider the implications of hermeneutics (the hermeneutic spiral) in regard to Edna's realizations; furthermore, this cautionary tale of Edna’s deviation from social constructs reflects the fragility of human identity in the form of a cautionary tale.

       Following her time on the Grand Isle Edna and company (Leonce and the kids) return to New Orleans where her newfound perspective is allowed to fester, and her pursuit of personal interests and passions is no longer as simple as a trip across the bay with Robert. To supplement this notion, Robert has journeyed to Mexico to pursue career opportunities, leaving Edna with little warning. Edna attempts to cope with her stirrings for a time, pondering the moving music of Reisz which forced her to flurries of passion never before felt, and the swelling attachment she had drawn for Robert. In light of her surroundings (society), 19th century New Orleans, Edna sets her mind to continue her pursuit for something greater than her function as a wife, a mother, and a mere woman. It is at this moment that Edna becomes alone in her uncontemporary strife, Robert or no Robert, relationships or no relationships, Edna is in this alone.

       To round back to the role of hermeneutics or the hermeneutic spiral in this story, Edna’s embracing of her rawest identity was idle and only occurred after reaching adulthood and being exposed to the correct climates and conditions which allowed her to incubate. In essence she was a late bloomer, and the vessel for her blooming at all was derivative of otherwise small realizations and emotions which merely contradicted that of her given society. Women and men are subject to a sort of base understanding of the world which is symptomatic of their surroundings, a mold if you will. Edna broke the mold, and therefore contemporary society no longer had a place for her, and due to her newfound understanding, based upon understanding the separate components of her life which were fashioned out of predisposed oppression and injustice, she is no longer able to return to the mold or operate within societies standards without destroying her very identity. There is powerful textual evidence to support the fragility of her identity, and identity in general, where Edna states “... I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself. I can’t make it more clear; it’s only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me.” (Chopin, 585).

       What is even more interesting is that Edna confides this in Ratignolle who, by all accounts, represents the very mold which Edna has broken. So it can be seen here that the juxtaposition of Edna's consciousness in conflict with that of her peers and surroundings is the embodiment or her 'awakenings' and  sheds further light on her perceived loneliness in this plight; to reiterate, the working title of the novella was 'A Solitary Soul'. To supplement this fact, her identity has effectively been dusted off, revealing her true self verbally to Ratignolle of all people is very telling. Edna’s identity, from the perspective of the general society which Ratignolle symbolizes here, has been effectively compromised. The discussion of identity within “The Awakening” is a significant one, and draws direct correlations with reality.

       Identity concerns the philosophical and psychological facets of what it means to be, and typically, any definition or discussion is bound to be diluted because the topic itself is subjective. Identity is simply one’s self defined state of being, their understanding of self, it gets tricky when one attempts to implement some sort of subjective response to an individual’s identity (as we are doing here with society vs. Edna) because now one’s identity is defined by the subjective. The thing about identity is that it is really quite intangible and actually fluid. If the body is a vessel which holds one’s consciousness and manifests them as a physical being in a world of physical beings, then the identity is the basin which allows one to keep track of themselves in relation to the outside world and vice versa. If we consider this, then we must also understand that for Edna, the world opened up to her all at once, and realizations of passion came pouring in, filling her like a glass until she overflowed. The difficulty with this glass or basin if you will is that it can not be emptied until it is shattered.

       Consequently, the irreversibility of an 'awakening' as can be found in the case of Edna Pontellier is profound due to the lasting effects which cease only in her demise. Talk about fragile, one’s identity can be permanently altered by short occurrences which result in their incapability to operate within a society and body which they have dealt with for the majority of their life. Awakening like this can, and does, result in some personality alterations such as depression, indifference, and impulsiveness- all of which can be found within Edna’s character progression. Edna's depression is symptomatic of her newfound understanding of life and the embracing of her true passions, the culmination of her epiphanies and by the end of the novel she realizes that the pursuit of freedom, passion, solitude, etc. are utterly futile; her position is already relatively fixed. 

       Speaking of the end of the novel, Edna’s realizations morph into what could be defined as an awakening. Inch by inch (recall hermeneutics) her realizations changed her once docile and relatively apathetic core character, the one introduced at the beginning of the book, into a woman whose eyes were permanently forced open to the revelations which have made their home around her since birth. Hailing from a Presbytrian Kentucky family, Edna has grown with the preconception of a woman well before finding her home in New Orleans amongst a more liberating Creole culture- exposing herself to men such as Robert Lebrun. Like a peach tree nailed to trellises, her progression as a person in regards to understanding, ego, and identity has been warped in a way by the environment in which she dwells. After tearing away from her pre disposals as a late 19th century woman, a wife, and a mother, Edna is not so much a rebel as she is a victim, the difference being that a rebel has a caused to fight for and rally against, but for Edna her cause is to protect her floundering identity and there is no use in gathering others to rally against such oppression as Edna’s awakening provides her with direction to her ultimate end. Edna is exhausted by the end of the novel, she has received the notion that her and Robert can never be in love due to Robert’s hesitations and her own responsibilities to her family, she denounces all other extramarital relationships as mere ‘flings’- such as in the case of Arobin, and perhaps most of all, she realizes that there is no escape from the life which has been built around her- walling her up like a Fortunato. Edna no longer sought to seek alternate avenues, live in her own place, pursue her art, or experience love with another man. Her deviation from conventional life was one last vain grasp at attaining independence and embracing her passions as an individual. In some ways society in the context of the novella can be viewed as a sort of disease which Edna only overcomes through her series of epiphanies and ultimate awakening, The disease has ravaged her life by forcing her into a position which she didn’t know was wrong for her or at least she was unaware of the lasting effects that having children, getting married, and being a woman would have on her identity. Her efforts against contemporary society may not appear as fruitless as they are, because she does change and she changes the world around her, but unfortunately it is all too late. Should she have continued to change, her identity would warp in another way, and should she revert back to her old ways, she would indefinitely lose the self which she happened upon through ‘awakening’ and live in misery and longing forevermore. So, she took her whole identity and ran.

      Edna’s final manifestation of self is her suicide- the mentality here is that, if nothing else, her death will be her own. She journeyed to the shore and drowned herself and the very water which she learned to swim in. The act itself was not embodied by the aforementioned sense of futility or even depression, but instead by a deeply rooted understanding that she could never be content in the world as it is. In her final form Edna has the most completed and awake form of self for the duration of her existence. She kills herself in preservation of a beautiful existence so as not to spoil from the test of time and accepting of a passionless life full of oppression. Waiting another instant may have caused her to become entrapped in vessel carrying a soiled identity, whether this would be due to a lack of courage or an acceptance of something less, she did not allow for the risk of a new understanding- a new awakening- as that could very well have deteriorated the passions and self she chased, as well as the identity which she tried so hard to preserve. 

 
Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 1899; Edited by Levine, Robert S. The Norton Anthology:                    American Literature ed., C, Norton, 2017.
 

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Don’t Awaken, Please, Love of God

By: Aaron Tigert