The patriarchal New Orleans society in the 1980s reflected in Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, puts many limitations on individuality. Verbal, creative, and sexual self-expression were not socially accepted freedoms that the women of that time could enjoy. However, this is precisely what the protagonist of Chopin’s novel, Edna Pontellier, strives for. Edna had many awakenings throughout the novel, but her final awakening ended tragically with her giving herself to the sea.
Edna’s emotional awakening begins to be revealed to her by the Creole women, especially Madame Ratignolle, where she is taught to express and talk about her emotions freely. Edna has always been reserved in her speech and finds the way these women talk to be shocking at first, but soon realizes that there is liberation in being able to speak openly about feelings. As Edna accepts this new freedom, she no longer suppresses her emotions and acknowledges and articulates her feelings much better.
After Edna discovers her newfound freedom of speech, she soon finds a means of self-expression through art. Her creative awakening begins when she listens to Mademoiselle Reisz play the piano. “A thousand emotions have swept through me tonight, I don’t understand half of them…” (Chapter 10, Page 72.) Edna finds previously unknown emotions within her and assumes the music to be a call to action for her independence and self-expression. She realizes the power of art and turns to painting to explore her emotional desires, which gives her the strength to seek freedom in other aspects of her life.
Robert becomes Edna’s teacher for her sexual self-expression, but he is only willing to help her sensually discover herself within the social construct. As she discovers her sexual desires more and more, Robert then starts to reject her and fails to understand this “language” of sexual expression. Edna then becomes like the parrot at the beginning of the novel who speaks “a language which nobody understood.” (Chapter 1, Page 1.)
The combination of Edna’s verbal, artistic, and sexual awakening thus becomes her downfall. She realizes that her self-expression is not allowed or accepted in the traditional, patriarchal society that she lives in. Edna is a liberated woman at the end of the novel who understands herself better than ever before. She then decides that she has no choice but to end her life because she cannot keep living in a world where she cannot be fully herself.