Student Type
Undergraduate
College Affiliation
College of Arts and Humanities
Department
English
Submission Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
Since the release of Kate Chopin’s foundational feminist novel The Awakening, scholars have speculated about what the protagonist Edna Pontellier’s journey says about 19th-century womanhood. Utilizing a framework established by queer theorists Adrienne Rich and Elizabeth LeBlanc, I argue that Edna represents a “metaphorical lesbian,” who rejects her expected social role to live a women-centered life. This identity manifests through her relationships with the feminine “mother-woman” Adèle Ratignolle and the more socially-independent pianist Mademoiselle Reisz. Edna’s displeasure with both these contrasting lifestyles contributes to her return to the sea, an unambiguously female figure Edna simultaneously views as a mother and a lover, in hopes of perfectly capturing her desired “lesbian” life. I conclude that the tragedy of The Awakening is Edna’s inability to make a better life for herself in the present because she desperately wants more freedom than the time will allow.
Recommended Citation
Aldrich, Mary, "The Awakening’s Edna Pontellier, Female Companionship, and the Sea" (2023). 2023 Student Academic Showcase. 1.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/src_2023/Oral_Presentations/Session2/1
Included in
The Awakening’s Edna Pontellier, Female Companionship, and the Sea
Since the release of Kate Chopin’s foundational feminist novel The Awakening, scholars have speculated about what the protagonist Edna Pontellier’s journey says about 19th-century womanhood. Utilizing a framework established by queer theorists Adrienne Rich and Elizabeth LeBlanc, I argue that Edna represents a “metaphorical lesbian,” who rejects her expected social role to live a women-centered life. This identity manifests through her relationships with the feminine “mother-woman” Adèle Ratignolle and the more socially-independent pianist Mademoiselle Reisz. Edna’s displeasure with both these contrasting lifestyles contributes to her return to the sea, an unambiguously female figure Edna simultaneously views as a mother and a lover, in hopes of perfectly capturing her desired “lesbian” life. I conclude that the tragedy of The Awakening is Edna’s inability to make a better life for herself in the present because she desperately wants more freedom than the time will allow.