Kate Chopin in "The Awakening"

When someone begins reading a novel, there are many viewpoints they may take as they progress through the story. Some of the perspectives are historical, in which you relate the happenings of the book to the time period in which the author wrote the story; the reader response, where the reader pays specific attention to their emotions and feelings to what is occurring; and the biographical, where the reader has some knowledge of the author and compares their life to the characters in the story, just to name a few. When reading The Awakening, the biographical approach seemed most interesting since research about the author, Kate Chopin, was required. This stance allows the reader to see how much of the author's life was used in the characters and storyline of the novel they wrote.

The author of this story, Kate Chopin, was born as Katherine O'Flaherty in 1851. Her first novel, At Fault, was published in 1889 and her second and final full length novel, The Awakening, appeared in 1899 with much controversy. This story focused around a woman who wanted to break away from societies conformations and be her own person, independent of men. When Chopin wrote this story, that wasn't a topic that was openly discussed in public so she received much criticism for approaching it. It became much more popular and well received during the early 1970's because of the growing concern for women's rights.

Kate Chopin had a very close relationship with her father, Thomas O'Flaherty, and saw him as an amazing father figure and role model. So when O'Flaherty passed away in a train accident when Chopin was only ten years old, it caused tragedy in her life. Since he was removed from her life at a young age, she didn't have a lot of experience with elder men. This seems to run parallel with Chopin's novel; there weren't a lot of male figures in her story most likely because she didn't have them around as she was growing up. In the story, the main character Edna Pontellier, didn't come in contact with many men, there was her husband Leonce but he was away from the house for a large majority of the time, Robert, the man of her attraction, and then there were several other men who appeared briefly throughout, never making a significant difference. Kate came in contact with men during her childhood but never for a long enough period that they had an effect on her life, much like Edna's experiences.

The death of Kate Chopin's father meant that her mother became the head of the household and she also attended an all girls' school where she was taught by nuns. The fact that all the authority figures in her life were female made her want to believe that men didn't suppress women. It's hard to believe something so horrible is happening when you don't personally witness it first hand. Chopin used this in her novel, giving Edna this same personality trait, the belief that women were equal to the status of men. The entire story focuses around Edna wanting to be independent of her husband, to the point where she moves into her own smaller house, known as the pigeon-house. By the end of the story, she didn't allow men to hold her back from what she wanted to do. According to society she was to stay home, entertain her husband's business friends, raise the children, and take care of the house. She however, wanted to be her own person, not what society wanted her to be and would therefore leave the house during the day and hired servants to take care of the children and the house. Edna didn't believe that men and society could hold her back, much like Kate didn't believe that women weren't equal in society to men.

When Chopin was growing up, her great-grandmother, Victoria Verdon Charleville, oversaw much of her education, including music lessons. When she would have a successful lesson her grandmother would tell her stories, which wasn't considered proper in those days because more often than not, they were about the wrongdoings of some of the most prestigious and prominent families in the St. Louis area. Kate's grandmother could be compared to the character of Mademoiselle Reisz in the story. She often played the piano and was teaching Edna how to become an artist, informing her on how she would have to be dedicated to her goals and ignore what other people were saying about her. Mademoiselle Reisz also told Edna stories and gave her advice on what she should do about her romantic feelings for Robert, a taboo subject in those days, much like the stories that Kate's grandmother would tell her about.

Chopin met her husband, Oscar Chopin, a Creole businessman and married him in June 1870. He was from New Orleans and his cotton broker business was based there so she moved from St. Louis to be with him. They had six children whom she loved and cherished dearly. In The Awakening, Edna married a Creole businessman and moved to New Orleans to start a family with him. She had several children and although she loved them, if she weren't around them, she didn't really notice or care about their whereabouts. The characteristic of being very fond of their children is found more closely in the character of Adele Ratignolle, the ideal female, according to societies views, because she was a loving mother and wife who stayed home to raise the family and never did anything mischievous. Kate Chopin doesn't only portray herself in the main character of Edna, but other characters throughout the story as well.

Kate Chopin and her husband Oscar Chopin appeared to have had a happy marriage. Oscar didn't show any signs of being disapproving towards her scandalous piece of literature and allowed her to have the freedom to do as she wished. In the story, Edna and Leonce didn't have the same happy marriage. Any time there were troubles, Leonce would leave, usually going to the club to be with his friends, believing that that was the best thing he could do for Edna. The happy marriage that Kate and Oscar had may be portrayed in the marriage of Adele Ratignolle and her husband who led very happy lives together.

The entire Chopin family used to spend their spare time vacationing in Grand Isle, enjoying the sun and the friendly faces. This is the same location Kate Chopin uses in her novel for the Pontellier family, as well as many other families from the Creole community in which they were from. It was most likely easiest for Chopin to use this location in her story because she was familiar with the area and could make it as most realistic as possible.

In December of 1882 Kate becomes a widow when Oscar Chopin dies supposedly of swamp fever and complications from the disease. Although Chopin doesn't use this exactly in her plot, this is where you see some role reversal from Kate's real life to the fictional characters of The Awakening. In the story instead of Edna becoming a widow, she ends up committing suicide and leaving her husband as a widow to take care of the family. In the story it was possibly because Edna wasn't happy with anything that happened in her life and there was no avoiding it. If Edna had given in to societies idea of conformity she would have been miserable but if she continues her lifestyle she would have been shunned. Chopin possibly included this because she didn't want to mimic her entire life story into her novel.

Not only did Kate Chopin lose her husband, but her mother also died shortly after, leaving her in immense pain. The tragedies she faced brought her to search for self-identity, wanting to know who she was, not what people wanted her to be. Edna goes through the process of trying to find herself and tries to become the person she wants to be, not what society says the ideal female should be. She decides to live on her own and be only responsible for herself and her own wants and wishes. She falls in love with another man besides her husband, Robert Lebrun, which was not what the perfect female would do but she wanted to give in to her sexual desires. This is yet another character trait that links the life of Kate Chopin to that of Edna Pontellier.

The Awakening was the last piece of literature that Kate Chopin wrote, most likely because of all the controversy there was in society over it. In these times, the late 1800's, it wasn't considered appropriate for women to speak out and be rebellious enough to show that they don't have to be controlled by men. It was thought of as a feminist way of thinking and was not accepted by most of society, especially male reviewers. When Edna strayed from the societies view of the ideal female, she was criticized but that never stopped her from wanting to be her own person. Even though she wasn't conforming to society, she still was not happy with herself and eventually committed suicide in the ocean that she learned to love. Here it was seen that although Chopin didn't literally commit suicide, she died away from the literacy in her life, while the character of Edna removed herself from the life that was making her so unhappy.

What you get out of a story depends on the way it is being read. It can be read at face value and just get the readers own personal reaction out of it, known as the reader's response. The reader can look at the history and culture of the time period and setting of the story and see how it factually relates and compares, the historical or cultural approach. There are many ways of going about reading a novel, but when reading The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, I chose to go about it in a biographical way. I researched Chopin and then tried to make connections with her life to the lives of the characters in her novel. Reading a novel in this way allows you to not only learn about the author, but it makes you think closely to make the comparisons, it is necessary to read into it at a deeper level than just face value.

Bibliography

"Biography of Kate Chopin." http://www.empirezine.com/spotlight/chopin/chopin1.htm>

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993.

"Kate Chopin." http://www.angelfire.com/nv/English243/Chopin.html