"Sleepwalking"

"The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, dancing, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace."(32)

This is only one of the many overwhelmingly tender and exquisitely sensory passages contained in Kate Chopin's controversial novel, The Awakening. This piece details the endeavors of heroine Edna Pontellier to cope with the realization that she is not, nor can she ever be, the woman she wants to be. Edna has settled for less. She is married for all the wrong reasons, saddled with the burden of motherhood, and trapped by social roles that would never release her. When Edna's one chance for change; her only hope, Robert, deserts her, she realizes that these dreams are unachievable. It is this grim acceptance that steals our heroine's last shard of optimism from her. Edna Pontellier's suicide is completely believeable, justifiable, and understandable. This world was too cruel for her tender spirit; this life too stifling for her to bear. None of this surprises me. How many women (or men, for that matter) go through life with their eyes closed? How many find it easier to simply shut out the ugliness and horror that surrounds them? Finally seeing the loathsome existence they are a part of can simply be "too much" for many to sustain. Utter despair and hopelessness soon devour that fragile soul, with frailty too great for this existence.

Mr. Pontellier's thoughts reveal much about Edna's nature to us, and perhaps most of her mistakes as well. He feels that "his wife failed in her duty towards their children" (26). Edna is "not a mother-woman" (26). "She was fond of her children in an uneven, impulsive way. She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them" (37). There is nothing wrong with lacking the maternal instincts that Edna does. What is wrong is living in a society that makes you feel guilty for not bearing litter after litter, and then fussing about them until your dying day. Thus, Edna endures her thoughts in secret shame: "Their absence was a relief, though she did not admit this, even to herself. It seemed to free her of a responsibility which she had blindly assumed and for which Fate had not fitted her" (37). Mrs. Pontellier was not meant to be some matronly icon. This situation is a prime example of the life she did not voluntarily choose, but was forced to live. Edna was, in truth, no less of a woman for her instincts (or lack thereof). She only had the misfortune of living at a time when such choices were unacceptable, when women were still judged by the softness of their bread and the size of their brood.

In addition, Edna had more or less stumbled into her marriage, which was "purely an accident" (36). She did it to spite her parents, because Leonce "worshipped her" (37), and because she realized that "no trace of passion or excessive and fictitious warmth colored her affection, thereby threatening its dissolution" (37). While this is practical and realistic, it sounds remarkably unlike a marriage out of love; a marriage that would fulfill her desires.

Edna may have felt a slight stirring of the embers that coated her heart before then. However, her first direct encounter with her unhappiness is at Grand Isle. Firstly, her husband, who "sees her as a valuable piece of property" (21) is revealed for the self-absorbed, controlling man that he is. Yes, he is kind. Yes, he treats her well…but these tokens do not make him any less oppressive. A lovely prison is a prison nonetheless. Something inside Edna is roused, and although she can't name it just yet, it is changing her attitude, her emotions. "An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish" (25). She sustains herself from the very moment of this "awakening" on only the fantasy of her love with Robert, casting away all reality and responsibility until only that affair remains. She begins totally renovating her life, drawing her strength and motivation from the fire that had been kindled inside her by a love for this man. What is important about the relationship is not the fact that it is an affair with a man her own age. It is not the dangerous thrill of feasting on "forbidden fruit". It is not the lust Edna is so ashamed of, or tenderness of newly discovered love. What is important is the empowerment she derives from it. The discovery that she can nurture this independent nature, and forge an existence for herself. Gradually, Edna is building up the courage and strength to become her own woman, filling her unfurling butterfly wings and preparing for the flight of liberty. Thus when Robert, who feels there is "no earthly possibility" (39) of Mrs. Pontellier taking him seriously, abandons her, he is abandoning a still undeveloped creature; an emotional infant that he has created. Once he views the repercussions of his actions, he flees in selfish and cruel thoughtlessness. Edna is left to view the darkly winding path ahead of her in solitude. The process of her growth was interrupted halfway through and Edna finds herself suddenly alone, no longer seeing a light at the end of the tunnel; her inspiration has been revoked.

Edna has slept for years and years. She slept through motherhood, through marriage, and though most of her adult life. When she was enlivened, it was by a mirage. She followed this apparition, aspiring to a life she could (in reality) never achieve. But how can a woman conceive of these things and then forget? Once our consciousness has been roused we cannot snuff that candle, put in on a shelf, and return to a life in darkness. Edna has been awakened; she has realized the unjustness of life, and of her own role in it. With this new awareness, there was no way for her to continue the current charade she participated in. There was also no way her world would have allowed her to pursue the notions of independence and freedom she had perceived. The social roles she was trying to break away from would never really have released her. "Leonce and the children…were a part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul" (137). I find myself wishing that she had never opened her eyes; that she could have lived out her days blissfully ignorant of the circumstances which bound her. This being impossible, even more than the idea of a life of her own, Edna chose the only possible option to escape from an existence full of unfulfilled desires and unhappiness.

Edna re-enters the sea; scene of her first taste of power and emancipation. She returns because it offers her the only other possible freedom she is allowed; the freedom of death. It is not an act of weakness, or romanticism…it is that of a woman claiming her liberty, her strength…and her self…one last time.