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A Deeper Kind of Writing

Kate Chopin is a classic American author. She focuses on self-discovery with a feminist twist using several devices. The majority of her style can be evaluated through her most controversial work The Awakening.
The original title of The Awakening was �A Solitary Soul.� Many believe that the original title, which is now the subtitle, suggests the drive toward freedom when Edna�s real identity can be released from the control of social roles (Justus 46). The self-discovery in Kate Chopin�s writing, especially The Awakening, can be clearly seen. Throughout the book, Edna Pontellier was searching for her nirvana, the release from reincarnation due to the annihilation of ignorance and cessation of suffering (Lu). In the Buddhist light, she symbolically achieves nirvana through her death (Lu). Mrs. Mallard in Kate Chopin�s �The Story of an Hour� attempts to achieve nirvana, even though she does not have much time to attain it. With her husband�s death, she slowly yet gradually realizes her freedom from her marriage through a powerful rise in happiness (Chopin, �The Story...� 63). Mrs. Mallard feels the freedom of her body and soul (Chopin, �The Story...� 64), therefore achieving the first concept of nirvana; anitya or change (Lu). Kate Chopin also has her characters searching for their individual identities. Edna Pontellier is a prime example of the search for self. Kate Chopin clearly states that Edna is �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� (Chopin, The Awakening 25). Edna also realizes the difference between her life and herself, saying that she would give up the unessential for her children, but not herself (Chopin, The Awakening 90). In yet another way, Edna earns an identity through the name that Chopin writes. In the early chapters, Edna is referred to as Mrs. Pontellier, but after her swim, she is rewarded the name Edna, suggesting that she is no longer controlled by convention and perhaps even Mr. Pontellier (Lu). Another character searching for an identity is De�sire�e Aubigny from �De�sire�e�s Baby.� She has never known her parents, and when she is told that she is a negro, she writes to her mother: � �For God�s sake tell them it is not true. You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die� � (Chopin, �De�sire�e�s Baby� 179). De�sire�e is searching for an identity to prove the accusation wrong. Unfortunately, she does not get the desired answer, and with her running away, she is suffering from the false charge and false identity, suggesting her death (Chopin, �De�sire�e�s Baby� 188).

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The feminist twist is Chopin�s work can be seen through her employment of men and happiness. Chopin uses two different kinds of men in her writings to develop her plot: controlling men and ignorant men. Armand Aubigny is a perfect model of a controlling man. He manipulates and shames his wife without a second thought or rejection of the idea that his wife is a negro (Chopin, �De�sire�e�s Baby� 179). In fact, it is his heritage � �that is cursed with the brand of slavery� � (Chopin, �De�sire�e�s Baby� 181). The other type of man found in her stories are ignorant men. For instance, Mr. Pontellier from The Awakening can easily be considered unsuspecting as he simply brushes away the fact that his wife ignored him, and he looks to other things as his distraction. In a way, Mr. Pontellier is in denial and is playing dumb (Chopin, The Awakening 12). When Edna begins to do whatever she pleased, Mr. Pontellier is confused and is unsure of what action he should take (Chopin, The Awakening108). Another illustration of an ignorant man would be Mr. Baroda who is oblivious to his wife�s hint that she will �be very nice to [Gouvernail],� whom she was tempted to caress at one point (Chopin, �A Respectable...� 186-187). The other feminist twist in Kate Chopin�s wok would be happiness, especially in The Awakening. Chopin subtly suggests that a woman may be happy within a marriage or with independence (Fox-Genovese 59). Adele Ratignolle is the �mother-woman� who is even referred to as a �faultless Madonna� (Chopin, The Awakening 14, 20). With her values of life, Adele represents the Creole society and its matrons (Justus 45). She is the wife who is shown to be happy with marriage, whereas Mademoiselle Reisz is the one content with her independence. Throughout her visits with Edna, Mademoiselle is full of joy and is laughing all over (Chopin, The Awakening 117-121). With both Adele and Mademoiselle as examples, the reader is presented with two different outcomes of happiness with or without matrimony, three if including Edna�s marriage.

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