University of South Carolina

The Awakening of the Pious Woman

Kayla Engel

Dr. Davis

English 437

Spring 2015

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The awakening of the pious woman is a narrative pervasive throughout literature. The

woman, through an uncovering of self, breaks away from the conventions of society and exists in

a realm in which her sexuality and desires are free to traverse as she sees fit. Two novels

intriguingly examine the awakening, both sexual and personal, of a female protagonist. Kate

Chopin’s The Awakening and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple explore the virtuous woman’s

discovery of self and how this event occurs. Through these awakenings and how they occur,

these authors argue that socially acceptable marriage is a contractual relationship in which

women remain stagnant. It is only in passion-driven relationships with others and past times,

relationships founded not in practicality but in an inner desire, that women find true happiness.

Both novels begin with female protagonists analogous to one another in their role as a

pious woman. Chopin’s Edna is living in a world in which she is her husband’s possession. The

society in which she exists is one that establishes her role as a wife to be that of a supporter of

her husband and caregiver to her children. Her existence is meant to revolve on the axis of his

world, rather than one she has created for herself. Frequently, throughout the beginning of The

Awakening, Edna is referred to as her husband’s property and his domestic help. Mr. Pontellier,

Edna’s husband, views his marriage contractually in that, “Mr. Pontellier had been a rather

courteous husband, so long as he met a certain tacit submissiveness in his wife” (Chopin 108).

Edna’s role is one in which she is quieted by her husband, virtuous in her acquiescent behavior.

An instance in which this is evident is when Mr. Pontellier claims that his and Edna’s

child, Raoul, is sick with fever. When Edna expresses her belief that he is in good health and that

she does not wish to tend to him, what occurs next is, “He reproached his wife with her

inattention…If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it” (Chopin
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48). Despite Edna’s reservations and dissent, she performs the role of wife and goes to check on

their son. The space in which Edna exists is one that clearly establishes her as a virtuous woman

who is subservient to those around her, serving the needs of her husband and children, rather

than herself. Her marriage is contractual in that it is her duty to serve her husband her children.

Similarly, Celie in Walker’s The Color Purple is confined to a life of subservience.

Married to Mr. _______, Celie tends for his children, works in his field chopping cotton, cleans

his house, and performs an array of other domestic duties. Celie is trapped in a chasm of

submissiveness in which her own desires and needs are disregarded. Because she pays no heed to

her own needs and focusses on those around her, Celie is celebrated by others as, “Good

housekeeper, good with children, good cook. Brother couldn’t have done better if he

tried” (Walker 21). Her role is one in which she works tirelessly for others, forgoing herself, and

it is a role that ultimately causes her to be viewed as a virtuous and pious woman— the perfect

wife bathed in submissiveness. Her relationship with Mr. ________ is an arrangement that is

contingent upon her passivity and subservience.

While both women are viewed externally as the virtuous and pious woman, both authors

clearly tease out the belief that an outwardly display of the qualities that embody a perfect

woman, wife, and marriage do not equate to an inner contentment. In The Awakening, Edna’s

fulfilling of her role as wife is one that is deteriorating to her spirit. Her marriage caused “An

indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part if her consciousness,

filled her whole being with a vague anguish” (Chopin 49). Though outwardly Edna seemingly

fills the role society has declared fit for her, internally she is withering in her husband’s
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oppressive hand. Her picturesque marriage that others envy is one that internally is degrading

and unfulfilling.

In this same manner, Celie clings to her role as a wife as a means of survival, rather than

a means of happiness. Celie remains in her role of the virtuous woman because, “I think bout

Nettie, dead. She fight, she run away. What good it do? I don’t fight, I stay where I’m told. But

I’m alive” (Walker 22). In the same way the her role as a wife is inimical to Edna, Celie’s role as

a wife is one in which she allows herself to be beaten and raped, yet she remains submissive so

that she may stay alive. This role as a virtuous woman brings about no happiness for both Celie

and Edna, and is instead presented as Chopin and Walker as a form of control thrust upon them.

Their marriages are forced and provide no benefit to the women, leaving them in a state of

despondency.

By the end of each novel, Celie and Edna have gained autonomy over their lives and

experienced an awakening, both sexually and spiritually. Both of these protagonists, who begin

their respective novels as virtuous women, find this awakening through another person and

passion outside of their marriage. Chopin’s Edna remains submissive to her husband until she is

attended to by Robert Lebrun. Lebrun requests Edna accompany him down to the beach, and

though she refuses him, he eventually persuades her to join him. Venturing down to the beach

because of Lebrun’s convincing, Edna has a realization that, “In short, Mrs. Pontellier was

beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations

as an individual to the world within and about her” (Chopin 57). Because of her relationship with

Lebrun and her passion for him, she begins to question her place in society and explore her own

desires.
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In this same manner, Edna finds joy in her passion for music, a passion inspired through

the help of Mademoiselle Reisz. This relationship proved more beneficial than that of Edna’s

marriage because, “It was then, in the presence of that personality which was offensive to her,

that the woman, by her divine art, seemed to reach Edna’s spirit and set it free” (Chopin 133).

Once again Edna is finding passion and joy not in her husband, but through a relationship outside

of her marriage — that of Mademoiselle Reisz and music. Through these relationships and

Edna’s relationship with Lebrun, Chopin shows that marriage is unfulfilling and women must

explore their own passions other relationships to find happiness and experience an awakening.

Walker presents this argument as well through Celie’s relationship with Shug Avery.

Before her relationship with Shug, Celie has no sexual drive or passion, but because of Shug

Celie begins to explore her sexuality. After having Celie learn about her own body and its

desires, Shug begins a sexual relationship with Celie. This relationship is one that gives Celie joy

and pleasure, feelings absent in her own marriage. When speaking to Shug, “Nobody ever love

me, I say. She say, I love you, Miss Celie. And then she haul off and kiss me on the

mouth” (Walker 118). It is outside of her marriage that Celie finds pleasure, both sexually and

emotionally, revealing the argument that marriage is ultimately unfulfilling for those involved.

Celie also finds this pleasure in creating pants and owning her own business. In this passion as

well as her relationship with Shug, Celie says, “I am so happy. I got love, I got work, I got

money, friends and time” (Walker 222). Celie’s joy comes not from her marriage but from her

hobbies and relationships, just as Edna’s joy comes from music and men outside her marriage.

Both of these women reinforce the belief that marriage is contractual, and true happiness is found

by exploring one’s self and desires.