First ethical issue: Sanctity of Marriage
I mean, come on. You knew this one was coming. You can't discuss The Awakening without bringing up the question of adultery. Was Edna justified in falling in love with a man other than her husband? What about sleeping with another man? Should we take her marital unhappiness into account? What about her historical circumstances?
Don't worry, Ron! I'm about to tell you.
First, you have to understand that I'm a feminist. I believe that men and women are fundamentally equal, and that any differences are socially constructed by our culture. I believe that women can do anything men can do. So when I read The Awakening, I do not read it as a contemporary reader of the novel would have read it. I read it from my own perspective.
I think that marital infidelity is bad. Not the worst thing you can do, but not good, either. I think Edna's flaws are numerous: she is indecisive, sometimes self-absorbed, often too cowardly to communicate when she needs to. If she was a modern woman, I would tell her to break things off with Leonce before pursuing anything with another man. This certainly would have solved her problems; after all, at the end of the novel, Robert leaves her because she is married.
However, I also urge the reader to take her circumstances into account. Sure, marital infidelity is wrong. But Edna didn't live in our society. She lived in a society that looked down on her and judged her for having another man walk into her house. A society that would have considered another woman guilty by association just for walking into Edna's house. Social customs did not allow women freedom. Women's roles were as mothers and wives; Madame Ratignolle is the poster child for this society's ideal domestic woman.
Madame Ratignolle - domestic goddess.
What women do we see who are not married? Mademoiselle Reisz is the only one of note. She is the picture of Edna's life without love, without marriage even, or children. On the last pages of the novel, Edna realizes that even her love for Robert would soon fade, and that if she cannot be free in a world without love - if love is the only outlet she has for happiness - then she cannot ever be truly happy. She would become old, miserable, disagreeable, and lonely, like Mademoiselle Reisz.
So can we justify Edna's actions? While I do not think they are ideal, I think the alternative is equally awful. For Edna to leave Leonce is unthinkable. And anyway, she essentially leaves him in every way she is able - she stops regarding him as her husband and moves out of the house. Her marital infidelity is certainly important, but it is not the most pressing ethical issue of the novel. It doesn't hold a candle to...
Second ethical issue: Patriarchy/Owning Oneself
The patriarchy is the root of all the evils of the novel. Let's face it - The Awakening is a feminist text. Just as Edna awakens to her new self, her sexual desires, and her need for agency and independence, Chopin asks us to awaken to the oppression of women in our society.
Any of this sound familiar?
The beauty of how Chopin treats this issue lies in the disparity between Edna's actions and Edna's ability to gain full agency. On the surface, one can argue that Edna faces no real oppression: she does what she wants, goes where she wants, loves who she wants - she even moves into her own house. However, it is her children who will always hold her hostage. She loves her children, but she is not particularly good at being a mother. However, she can never be free to truly do whatever she wants because she must always think of her children - children she only had because her social role in the patriarchy is to get married and have children.
Is Edna selfish? Of course it seems that way. Her actions are motivated by her desire to do what she wants. But that's the point - Edna realizes that she will never be able to be truly selfish. She must always live for her children. She loves them, even though she was coerced into having them by the social structures in place around her. She will always have to do exactly what she pledged she could never do - give up herself, her freedom, her desires, her independence, for her children.
So no matter who she loves, she will never be free to act on that love. Not as long as she has the children to think of.
Third ethical issue: Suicide
Third ethical issue: Suicide
Since I didn't cover the last part of the novel with you, I owe it to you to let you know on the very last pages of the story, Edna returns to Grand Isle to commit suicide. After Robert leaves her, she reflects on the nature of happiness and fulfillment in her life. As I discussed above, Madame Ratignolle's entreaty "Remember the children" haunts Edna, and she realizes that they will never allow her to live, love, and do as she desires. Her love for her children will always tie her to them. She will always have to give herself up for them; her life and her society give her no option.
Edna swims out as far as she can into the ocean until she is too tired and too far out to swim back.
This raises questions, of course, of the ethical legitimacy of suicide as an escape. Edna - as she well knows - has children to think of. I'm sure she considered that they didn't seem to ever really need her; they are relatively self-sufficient throughout the story, and though she loves them, she is never particularly attendant to them. Does her unhappiness and inability to gain total agency over herself justify her suicide?
I believe that each individual has absolute rights over their own body. That's why you can't take organs from someone unless they're an organ donor. That's why you can't rape someone. Many people treat suicide as murder, but I think every individual has a right to do with their body and life what they want.
Does Edna's suicide hurt other people? Of course. Our dear Monsieur will be without a wife; sadly, she has died without him ever truly knowing her. Her children are left without a mother or an explanation. The only person who may know why she killed herself is Robert, who loves her and will certainly be wracked with guilt for leaving her. But what could any of them have done? Edna is a slave to her social position. Realistically, her options were limited. Edna kills herself because she has no true escape from her unhappy life and no foreseeable way to become happy.
Many critics of the story blame Edna for not being happy about being a mother. Her children, they believe, should be her true happiness. Those people have missed the point of the story. Not all women find fulfillment in their children. Some do, and Chopin is certainly not discrediting that - Madame Ratignolle is a fairy goddess of domesticity, she has a loving, mutually-respectful and fulfilling relationship with her husband. She loves her children and her life. But Edna is not Madame Ratignolle. She must fulfill her life by living her life to the fullest, and she simply cannot do that.
Application to Vocation
I remember when I became a feminist. It was the weirdest thing - my whole life I knew I was a female. But for some reasons, issues of sexism felt distant to me. One day, during a lecture about feminism, I woke up. I turned on. My brain made the connection - these instances of sexism all around me? Those affect me. I am a woman. This oppression and misrepresentation had to do with me. I am not separate from this.
Since that day, I have learned and observed everything I can about gender, gender roles, gender stereotypes, sexism, gender inequality, misogyny, misrepresentation, devaluing of women, violence toward women, rape culture, etc. I correct my boyfriend when he refers to a grown woman as "girl" on accident. I write dissertation-length explanations of sexism to explain to my friends and family why certain things are misrepresentative of or unfair toward women. Feminism matters to me because I want to be able to live a fulfilling life, to have the options Edna didn't have.
Do I want to get married? Probably. Do I want to have kids? Most likely. Do I think those will make my life fulfilling? Not on their own. I need to be able to pursue my interests, my vocation as a teacher or land owner or horse-camp instructor or whatever I want to do. I need to be able to make decisions about my life independently. I need to have agency, and I need to fight for a world in which all women have agency.
My vocation is to educate, and that means both in classrooms and in the world. I need to raise my (maybe) children to respect all people. I need to inform people of injustice and work toward fixing it. I need to spread the word and fight the good fight.
I need to remember Edna. I need to hope no one ends up like her.
Edna swims out as far as she can into the ocean until she is too tired and too far out to swim back.
Courtesy of a google image search for "woman in ocean"
This raises questions, of course, of the ethical legitimacy of suicide as an escape. Edna - as she well knows - has children to think of. I'm sure she considered that they didn't seem to ever really need her; they are relatively self-sufficient throughout the story, and though she loves them, she is never particularly attendant to them. Does her unhappiness and inability to gain total agency over herself justify her suicide?
I believe that each individual has absolute rights over their own body. That's why you can't take organs from someone unless they're an organ donor. That's why you can't rape someone. Many people treat suicide as murder, but I think every individual has a right to do with their body and life what they want.
Does Edna's suicide hurt other people? Of course. Our dear Monsieur will be without a wife; sadly, she has died without him ever truly knowing her. Her children are left without a mother or an explanation. The only person who may know why she killed herself is Robert, who loves her and will certainly be wracked with guilt for leaving her. But what could any of them have done? Edna is a slave to her social position. Realistically, her options were limited. Edna kills herself because she has no true escape from her unhappy life and no foreseeable way to become happy.
Many critics of the story blame Edna for not being happy about being a mother. Her children, they believe, should be her true happiness. Those people have missed the point of the story. Not all women find fulfillment in their children. Some do, and Chopin is certainly not discrediting that - Madame Ratignolle is a fairy goddess of domesticity, she has a loving, mutually-respectful and fulfilling relationship with her husband. She loves her children and her life. But Edna is not Madame Ratignolle. She must fulfill her life by living her life to the fullest, and she simply cannot do that.
Application to Vocation
I remember when I became a feminist. It was the weirdest thing - my whole life I knew I was a female. But for some reasons, issues of sexism felt distant to me. One day, during a lecture about feminism, I woke up. I turned on. My brain made the connection - these instances of sexism all around me? Those affect me. I am a woman. This oppression and misrepresentation had to do with me. I am not separate from this.
Since that day, I have learned and observed everything I can about gender, gender roles, gender stereotypes, sexism, gender inequality, misogyny, misrepresentation, devaluing of women, violence toward women, rape culture, etc. I correct my boyfriend when he refers to a grown woman as "girl" on accident. I write dissertation-length explanations of sexism to explain to my friends and family why certain things are misrepresentative of or unfair toward women. Feminism matters to me because I want to be able to live a fulfilling life, to have the options Edna didn't have.
Do I want to get married? Probably. Do I want to have kids? Most likely. Do I think those will make my life fulfilling? Not on their own. I need to be able to pursue my interests, my vocation as a teacher or land owner or horse-camp instructor or whatever I want to do. I need to be able to make decisions about my life independently. I need to have agency, and I need to fight for a world in which all women have agency.
My vocation is to educate, and that means both in classrooms and in the world. I need to raise my (maybe) children to respect all people. I need to inform people of injustice and work toward fixing it. I need to spread the word and fight the good fight.
I need to remember Edna. I need to hope no one ends up like her.
