Harman 1 Edna as a Barrier to Social Critique in The Awakening In The Awakening, Chopin uses the main character, Edna,

as the primary lens through which the story is told. Though the story is told in third person, the narration takes the events external to Edna and filters them through her emotions. This produces a tension not only between the third person narration and the perception of Edna, but also between the forward movement of the plot that takes place external to Edna, and the forward movement that takes place internal to Edna. Added to this tension is the fact that even the events of the story that take place external to Edna are still subject to filtering through her perception and subsequent emotions, creating a barrier between the reader and the actual events and objects of the story external to Edna. That Edna also judges the events external to her based how she feels about them, rather than what she thinks about them, makes this barrier between the story and the reader even greater. The Impressionist nature of the book produces a character that does not allow for direct narration of the events of the story to the reader. This ultimately prevents the story from acting as a truly effective social critique. All of the above tensions and oppositions surround Edna, who stands at the center of them all, and this position of Edna within the narrative places her between the external events and objects of the story and the reader, forcing the reader to assume that all women feel the same as Edna if the reader is to take The Awakening as social critique of the oppression of women within society, particularly the Southern, Creole society that is the setting of the story. Yet Edna, by virtue of her often irrational emotions and vague expectations, automatically prevents the reader from reading her as a representation of real life women. For the reader, in the attempt to read The Awakening as a social critique, to assume women are as irrational as Edna would, in and of itself, defeat the entire purpose of the critique by placing

Harman 2 women in a position of inferiority compared to men by virtue of the very irrationality that the book would force one to assume about them. This reading of the story as a social critique first begins to fail within the primary tension between the third person narration and the filtering of that narration through the perceptions and emotions of Edna, as well as the other auxiliary characters. Seymour Chatman captures this phenomenon well when he writes, The story is narrated as if the narrator sat somewhere inside or just this side of a characters consciousness and strained all events through that characters sense of them (Chatman 98). This is precisely the effect one encounters in The Awakening, with the narrator so often subject to the perceptions of the characters in relating the events of the story as they take place. The narrator almost exclusively relates the story through the emotions and perceptions of the characters. At the same time, the narrator also often inserts subsequent commentary about the characters perceptions (Xianfeng 103). This frequently leaves those aspects of the story that are external to the characters subject to filtering not merely once, but twice; through the characters, and then again through the narrator. This dual filtering serves as a two-tiered barrier between all of the events external to the characters and the reader, which then creates the first of many levels of opposition and tension that surround the character of Edna throughout the narrative. This particular tension is driven primarily by the language of the narrative. While the narration provides vivid description, that description is limited in scope due to its focus on the emotions and senses of the characters, mainly Edna, who are perceiving whatever object (object being either a physical object, a person, or an event external to the character) it is that is being described. This often limits the narration in what objects it is able to describe, since it is drawn to those objects being observed by the characters due to this overt focus on the perceptions of the

Harman 3 characters. It also limits the narration in the manner in which it can describe these objects, since, of course, the emotions invoked within the characters by these objects has primacy; the actual, objective reality of an object is consequently forced to be of secondary or no concern to the narration. This twofold limitation imposed by the Impressionist nature of the book leaves the third person narration style then feeling awkward in the occasions when it does not filter an object through a character. A primary example of this opposition between the third person narration and the perceptions of the characters can be found in the passage in chapter three that describes Ednas treatment of her children. The description in this case is being (for the most part) filtered through Mr. Pontelliers perception: He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mothers place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his brokerage business. He could not be in two places at once; making a living for his family on the street, and staying home to see that no harm befell them. He talked in a monotonous and insistent way. (Chopin 5) One sees that this passage is detailing Mr. Pontelliers perception of Ednas treatment of the children. It does not grant the reader direct access to Ednas actual treatment of the children, her treatment of them being the object external to the characters in this case. The filtering of the object through the character is quite clear in this passage. Yet, at the very end, the narrator inserts his/her own perception of the object of Mr. Pontelliers voice, and, by extension, his perception of Ednas treatment of the children. The narrator describes Mr. Pontelliers talking as

Harman 4 monotonous and insistent, a clearly negative view on the part of the narrator. This illustrates an occasion of the dual filtering of an object through both a character and narrator. These limitations imposed upon the narrator by the emotions and perceptions of the characters also produce tension between the narrator and characters, which then pervades the book, since third person narration cannot offer as fluid or natural a description of a characters emotions and perceptions as first person narration can. Third person, even third person omniscient, is still external to a character in ways that first person obviously is not; that the narrator of The Awakening, in providing his/her own additional perception of the characters perception, mainly Ednas, clearly illustrates this. Thus, as stated above, this external nature of third person, and the consequent tension produced between the narration and the characters, is the first level of opposition that places Edna between the objects of the story and the narrator. The second level of opposition is found in the tension between the forward movement of the plot that takes place internal to Edna and that which takes place external to her. The nature of the narration, as it is described above, creates a dichotomy between these two loci of plot movement; while they interact, they are not interdependent. Their interaction does often result in the forward movement of each, although this very interaction simultaneously emphasizes the distinction between the loci, since interaction, by its very nature, presupposes separate and distinct categories or objects. One sees that this distinction is not merely produced by the narrative style; rather, it is embedded within the very narrative structure of The Awakening. Take, for example, the end of the book, the climax of the plot and narrative structure, when Edna commits suicide. Chopin writes: [Edna] went on and on . . . She did not look back now, but went on and on, thinking of the blue-grass meadow that she had traversed when a little child,

Harman 5 believing it had no beginning and no end. Her arms and legs were growing tired. She thought of Leonce and the children. They were a part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul. (Chopin 117) One sees that the suicide, itself, is a physical and thus external event of the plot, in that her arms and legs were growing tired. Yet, this external event is driven by the internal event of the culmination of Ednas despair and depression, in that [Leonce and the children] need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul. Yet, following the causality even further back along the plot lines, Ednas despair is also primarily driven by the external event of Robert ultimately rejecting her because he believes she belongs to Mr. Pontellier; Robert is unable to condone Ednas rebellion against social norms, and unable to defy societal expectations to the extent she does (Pizer 142). This triggers Ednas fatal despair with herself and with society. If one continues deconstructing and examining the plot(s) in reverse in such a manner, the relationship between the internal and external movement of the plot becomes apparent and one can follow the causality of the internal plot as distinct from the external plot, and vice versa. The loci of plot can be found to clearly influence each other, but remain distinct categories of their own. Lastly, there is the opposition between the real and the perceived in the narrative. Since the narration focuses on the emotions of the characters that are invoked by an object, rather than the object, itself, there is a natural tension between the objects and the characters perception of the objects. A perfect example of this is the passage in chapter twenty-eight, which says, Edna cried a little that night after Arobin left her . . . there was her husbands reproach looking at her from the external things around her which he had provided for her external existence (Chopin 85). Edna sees these objects as a reproach, and perhaps rightfully so, but that is not what they

Harman 6 actually exist as, nor what they were intended to be by her husband, Mr. Pontellier. Yet, the reader views the objects through Ednas perception of them, without regard for the manner in which the objects exist beyond Ednas perception of them. This also leads to a tension between the various characters as well, since their perceptions naturally differ, and indeed, that is ultimately the tension that leads to Ednas suicide. This tension, however, is auxiliary, since it is a theme of the story, rather than an inherent aspect of the narrative structure. It does contribute, though, to this opposition of object versus character perception of the object; the friction between the characters allows occasional breaks in the filtering of objects through the perceptions and emotions of the characters. This juxtaposition of the objects (on the rare occasion when narrator does not filter them through a characters perception) against the overwhelming use of the characters as mediators between the objects and the reader ultimately brings this filtering into greater focus. It signifies to the reader the difference between the objects as they exist external to the characters and the objects as they are perceived by the characters. In the end, the perceived reigns supreme over the real. Now, between every one of these oppositions stands Edna. She is the very center of the narrative structure. She stands between the other characters in relation to each other, between the third person narration of the story and the storys events and objects, between the external movement of the plot and the internal movement (indeed this is the most crucial opposition, since the fluctuations of Ednas consciousness IS the internal movement of the plot), and between the real and the perceived. In many respects, Edna consequently fuels these oppositions. It is this location of Edna within the narrative structure, standing between these oppositions and driving them, that ultimately prevents The Awakening from functioning as a true social critique.

Harman 7 First, by standing between the third person narration of the story and the storys events and objects external to her, Edna stands as a barrier between the readers and the society that the book is supposedly critiquing. The society, itself, is an object external to Edna, which places it out of the readers grasp along with so many other objects external to Edna. The reader does not have direct access to the society as an object; it is filtered through the perceptions and emotions of Edna, preventing the reader from truly assessing the real nature of the society in which Edna lives. What the reader sees is not the society; rather, one sees merely another facet of Ednas consciousness that has constructed the society, and that facet is then only seen through the narrator. The social critique that so many scholars have read into The Awakening must be of Ednas and/or the narrators perceptual representation of the society, not of actual society as it existed at the time when the book was written, or even of a realistic representation of that society. Edna also stands between the internal movement of the plot and the external movement of the plot. The internal movement of the plot takes place within Ednas consciousness and is produced by Ednas perceptions of objects external to her. It is then dominated by her whims and desires, which slowly take over her perceptions as she gives them increasingly greater reign over the rest of her self and her actions. Approaching this dominance of Ednas desires in view of Freuds structural model of the psyche, author Mehmet Recep TAS theorizes that Ednas id is not properly balanced out by her ego (TA 416). TAS writes: Considering Freuds psychodynamic model of abnormality, it is likely to propound that Ednas illegitimate affair (that is, her pleasure impulse coming from the id) is an affirmation that her ego is not strong enough to refrain her to act in such a manner which is not in agreement with the customs of the society (that

Harman 8 is, with the superego) in which she lives. (TA 417) This theory demands the conclusion that Edna is simply unable to function properly within society, as other people are. Her superego (her morality) is cast aside in favor of the deeper desires of her id. This is apparent throughout the novel; at every turn, Edna casts aside her husband and her children, and the lifestyle to which she willingly pledged herself. She even casts aside Robert, whom she claims to love, by having a casual affair with Arobin. She knows that this is unacceptable and admits it, feeling reproached by him after her affair with Arobin, yet she continues on in her new lifestyle, casting all limitations aside (Chopin 85). Peter Ramos describes Ednas state of mind well, writing that she believed that freedom is only a state of negationa freedom from restrictions, rather than a freedom to take up and act on ones choices (Ramos 150). Consequently, Edna has no means of interacting with the society in which she wishes to be free. This intense delusion of Ednas prevents her from acting as a rational being. The internal movement of the plot reveals more and more as the story progresses this obvious abnormality and intense delusion, and even sociopathic tendency, that Edna has. This prevents the reader from viewing her as a representation of oppressed women in a patriarchal society. Edna is not rebelling against society out of a desire for equality; she is rebelling in a desire to free all of her impulses and whims due to her egos inability to regulate her id (TA 417). Her frustration and depression are driven by her childish desire to get everything she wants without having to pay the consequences, and her suicide is the ultimate escape from having to pay for the consequences of her actions. Professor John Glendening describes this as an increasingly pathological narcissism that leads to her death (Glendening 42). Given this, to then assume that Edna is a representation of all women is to assume that all women function from

Harman 9 psychological abnormality and intense narcissism. This would suggest that they are not only psychologically inferior to men, but also undeserving of the intellectual and social equality with men that the scholars who read The Awakening as a feminist social critique believe Edna so desires. Ultimately, Edna as a character and as a placeholder within the narrative structure prevents The Awakening from functioning as a social critique, and leads one to question whether it was ever intended to be a social critique, or even a feminist work in general. Ednas irrationality, narcissism, and psychological abnormality all appear to work against any potential intent on Chopins part to suggest that women are the equals of men. Not once is a male character portrayed as psychologically abnormal like Edna in The Awakening; the male characters are rational, and even provide Edna with the small measures of freedom that she obtains. Arobin, for example, provides an outlet for the sexual freedom that Edna seeks throughout the novel. Ednas ultimate placement in the narrative between the narration and the objects of the story and between the two foci of the plot also prevents the reader from adequately viewing and accurately judging the society which Edna lives in and is subject to, and which scholars misread her to be critiquing. In the end, the character of Edna simply does not allow The Awakening to function as a true social critique.

Works Cited

Harman 10 Chatman, Seymour. Point of View. The Narrative Reader. Ed. Martin McQuillan. New York: Routledge, 2000: 96-98. Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. USA: SoHo Books. Print. Glendening, John. Evolution, Narcissism, and Maladaptation in Kate Chopins The Awakening. American Literary Realism 43.1 (2010): 42-73. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. Pizer, Donald. A Note on Kate Chopins The Awakening as Naturalist Fiction. Kate Chopins The Awakening. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Blooms Literary Criticism, 2011: 137144. Web. 1. Dec. 2012. Ramos, Peter. Unbearable Realism: Freedom, Ethics And Identity In The Awakening. College Literature 37.4 (2010): 145-165. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. TA, Mehmet Recep. Kate Chopin's The Awakening in The Light of Freud's Structural Model of The Psyche. Journal Of International Social Research 4.19 (2011): 413-418. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. Xianfeng, Mou. Kate Chopin's Narrative Techniques And Separate Space In The Awakening. Southern Literary Journal 44.1 (2011): 103-120. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.