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Feminine Selfhood through the Heroines and Symbolism in Kate Chopins Fiction

Analysis of The Awakening and The Story of an Hour

Introduction

The Awakening and The Story of an Hour are two short stories where the author Kate

Chopin has fully explored feminine selfhood in a patriarchal society. Through the main

characters Edna Pontellier and Louise Mallard, she has managed to perfectly explore the aspects

of feminine selfhood especially the vision and desire of women to fully have their independence

in a male-dominated society. The author uses symbolism such as the home and suicide to further

explore the main themes in the story. The aim of this essay is to examine the ways in which

Chopin has explored the theme of feminine selfhood through the heroine characters Edna and

Louise while at the same time evaluating some of the symbolisms that resonates in The

Awakening and The Story of an Hour.

Short Summary of the two stories

In The Story of an Hour, the main character Louise represents the perfect women who

live in a patriarchal society. She does everything possible to become that perfect woman by
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obeying her husband and living to the expectations of the society. However, Chopin has revealed

that she is not a happy woman and this is seen when she feels relieved by the news of the death

of her husband whom allegedly is believed to have died in an accident. The news became more

of an awakening to Louise because at that particular moment, she begins to think about her life

of freedom where she is not controlled or dominated by societal expectations. Nevertheless,

before she could acquire women selfhood, the husband resurfaces and the shock of seeing her

leads to Louises death.

At the beginning of the story The Awakening, the main character Edna is a wife to her

husband Leonce and a mother to her two sons. It seems they are enjoying life together just like

any other ordinary rich woman who lived in the nineteenth century. However, Edna is lonely

because despite the fact that the husband considers taking her and their sons out on vacations.

Most of the times, he is preoccupied with work leaving Edna lonely and she resorts in spending

most of her time with Adele Ratignolle, who is married though elegant and charming. It is

through their talks that Ednas awakening begins as she began to realize the importance of

freedom in her life. The Creole women were free and their lives were not determined by the roles

that the society had set; they could behave in any manner that is unreserved but no one would

question them (Yemez 4). This is the kind of life that Edna desires as she longs for a free and

open life like the Creole women. She views her life to Leonce as more of bondage because it

does not have passion and desires and yearns for good romance. This leads her into having a

strong passion for Robert Lebrun and later satisfies her sexual desires from Alcee Arobin though

she is not emotionally attached to him. After the husband is gone for work, Edna made a brave

choice to move out of her marital home to live in her own house where she fully declares her
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independence. Later, when Robin rejects her, she ends up lonely and decides to commit suicide

in the sea (Yemez 9).

Why the stories are important

Kate Chopin (1850-1904) having lived in a patriarchal society managed to use literature

work to express the plight of women. She has expressed the ways in which they were weighed

down emotionally, socially, and even physically by the standards that were set by men. During

the nineteenth century, many women were confined at the spheres of the home where their roles

were to take care of the husband, the children and the home at large. A woman was never

allowed to take part in any public event or even be seen in public among men. However, being a

woman herself, Chopin was able to overcome the boundaries that the society had set and used

literature work to encourage other women to take a critical view of their situations in the

patriarchal society (Hicks 112). In The Awakening and The Story of an Hour, she describes

feminist rebellion through the female characters that are eager and willing to do anything

possible including committing suicide to break through the stereotypes and rules that the society

had set. Her literature works might be fiction stories, but they perfectly present the time and the

period together with the role that women played to achieve feminine selfhood in the nineteenth

century.

Feminine Selfhood

In majority of her short stories, Chopin decided to focus more on feminine selfhood as a

way to create awareness to the society that the nineteenth century woman were living in bondage

and had great desires of freedom. This is eminent in the characters Louise and Edna who are

perfect examples of two women who tried to achieve feminine selfhood even though their stories
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end up in tragedy which can be depicted as some form of freedom. In the story of The

Awakening, woman selfhood is visible in the character Edna. During the nineteenth century, a

woman was not expected to complain about their husbands being too busy for them or to meet

their needs. Many of the women ended up living a lonely lifestyle while their husbands were

busy working away from the city.

However, Edna did not live according to the expectations of the society but rather went

out and achieved that which she desired. She did not only move out of her marital home to live a

life of independence which shows selfhood, but also decided to have an estranged relationship

with Robert and sexual affair with Arobin. Edna did not allow the society to dictate the ways in

which she lived which clearly depict that she acquired selfhood by going against societal

expectations. This is the reason she decided to defy the husband and become rebellious to him

something which was contrary to the societal expectations while at the same time showing

selfhood. However, Chopin has managed to show that some despite the resilience and

determination of women to acquire full selfhood, men still acted as a barrier to their success.

Robert though awakened the desires of Edna enabling her to recall her youth, a period when she

was still free without restrictions or a child to take care, he was also a barrier to her achieving

full selfhood. He decided to reject her and leave Edna alone a decision that left her with no

option but to commit suicide to finally be free from the societal expectations and rules

(Kampenberg 142).

In The Story of an Hour feminine selfhood is manifested through the main character

Louise who is presented as an independent and intelligent woman which is a clear depiction of

selfhood. Louise was aware of who she was as a woman and as a wife regardless of the fact that

she was not truly happy as the readers expected. Nevertheless, her strong sense of independence
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can be considered as selfhood because she was an all rounded woman who played the role of a

perfect wife. However, the theme of feminine selfhood is evident in this story at the point when

Louise receives news from the sister regarding the husbands death. This is the point when she

came to the realization that she can achieve her full independence as a woman without being

controlled by societal expectations. The thoughts not only excite her but enliven her and this is

only evident in her private thoughts since the society does not allow her to express those kinds of

feelings. It is at this point that she also realizes that she can achieve and express her forbidden

pleasures which she had hid for a long period. Louise sees her life to be absolutely independent

at this point and prays that the feeling of freedom would last forever. At this point, it seems that

she had already achieved full feminine selfhood but things did not turn out as expected after the

husband turns up. She dies shortly after seeing him which can also be depicted as inability to

achieve full selfhood. It can also be translated that men were barriers to women acquiring their

feminine selfhood rather bound them with societal expectations.

Symbolism in the two stories

In the story of The Awakening, Chopin used various elements to symbolize different

things. For instance, the sea where Edna drown herself in this case can be seen as a symbol of

escape and freedom something that every women in the Victorian period or nineteenth century

longed to achieve. While at the sea alone, she is able to think and reminisce about her life. It

shows that her thoughts are free at this point to think about the universe plus the position that she

holds in life, something she could not achieve while with her family or the men she loved. At the

same time, the water in the sea symbolizes rebirth which is a sign of awakening for Edna. It is at

this point in her life where she will be reborn in a new life where there is no form of loneliness or
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limitations. She will finally be in a space of infinity and the sea symbolizes this new glory that

she is about to achieve in her life.

Another major symbolism in the story of The Awakening is the birds. The cage birds are

as symbol of the life of Edna plus many other women who are trapped by the societal

expectations. The mockingbird together with the parrot represents all the women in the

nineteenth century whose movements and life are limited and in one way or another controlled

by their owners who in this case represent the men in the society. They determine where the

woman would go like the birds and when and where to lock them up. The women like the birds

have wings but they are not able to use them to fly away because of the barriers from the cage

which has shielded them from achieving true feminine selfhood.

On the other hand, in The Story of an Hour, the open window at Louises room is used as

a symbol. She often gazes outside from it which represents the opportunities and freedom that

awaits her ones the husband is termed dead. It is through this window that she was able to see the

sky, the treetops and even the fluffy clouds which represent a different kind of life which is

different from home life (Wang 162). The fact that she could see all these things means that the

day she attains her freedom, she will be able to explore various things across the world.

Everything that Louise was able to hear through the open window symbolizes the experience that

she longs for where she could feel and smell joy and a new life. Whenever she pondered through

the window, she could feel excited meaning that it provided her with life which symbolizes the

life she anticipates to have after the husband have died.

Works Cited
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Hicks, Victoria. Patriarchal representation and domestic liberation: The home in Kate Chopins

short fiction. The University of North Carolina, 2009.

Kampenberg, Kristin..Ednas failure to find her female role in Kate Chopins The Awakening.

Karlstads University, 2006.

Wang, Xuding. Feminine self-assertion in The Story of an Hour. Tamknag University, 2009.

Yemez, Oznur. Loss of self and the struggle for individuality in Kate Chopins The Awakening.

Nalans Vol .1, no 1(2009): pp.1-12.