A New Controversy

That's right, we have now begun a new book. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, is a feminist book first published in 1899, which according to the book description was received with great controversy. It was uncommon for women to speak out in this time period, so that could explain the reaction. However, when seen from modern times, The Awakening is considered a very influential classic.

The story starts very low-key, set out to describe Mr. Pontellier in his daily occurrences. A small mention of his wife and his children bring a clearer view into his background, but there is not much description about his interactions with the people around him. Mr. Pontellier leaves the house one night and everything seems perfect, but it doesn't stay that way for long. Without much warning, the reader is faced with an ever-present issue. At night, when one of the children is diagnosed with a fever by his own father, and Mrs. Pontellier refuses to care much, Mr. Pontellier questions "If it was not a mother's place to look after her children, whose on earth was it?" (21) Man's opinion about women's place in society is then introduced to the reader. Mr. Pontellier is sure that the children had to be looked after by the mother, and his job was only to earn the money.

The reader isn't sure about the author's position in this debate, but it is probably going to be revealed later in the story. Most women accepted this ideal of how they should behave and what role they should fulfill, but it becomes apparent that Mrs. Pontellier has a problem with this when she finds herself facing "an indescribable oppression... [that] filled her whole being with a vague anguish." (22) The problem of woman's role in society is then present in the reader's mind for the rest of the reading, but Chopin stops talking directly about it as if wanting us to remember it when reading the story but not seeing only that.


The perfect woman according to Mr. Pontellier (and for all we know, according to Chopin too), is described in The Awakening as being those who "idolized their children, worship their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels." (26) This obligates women to forget about their self needs and care only about being there for others. Comparing, then, Mrs. Pontellier with this image of perfection and saying that she was not like the others explains just how much her uncaring nature towards her children was frowned upon by society.


Mrs. Pontellier doesn't feel like she is like all the other "mother-women" living in Grand Isle. It seems as if until now she has done her best to fulfill her role in the most accepting way possible, but it now becomes apparent that she is looking for a change. In chapter VI, "Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her." (34) This quote is enough to suggest to the reader a change in character from the idle Mrs. Pontellier. We are now expecting to see the story develop through Mrs. Pontellier's defiance of society's plans for her life.