{"id":16,"date":"2013-08-21T21:03:45","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T21:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/portfolio.snc.edu\/meganbania\/?page_id=16"},"modified":"2019-12-06T17:18:22","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T17:18:22","slug":"essay4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/english305.graceknudsen.knight.domains\/presentation-portfolio\/essay4\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexuality and Reproductive Rights in Chopin\u2019s The Awakening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThe bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings\u201d (Chopin 96). Without this strength, no social change can truly be brought about. The feminist movements of the nineteenth century embodied this resilience that Kate Chopin describes in her 1899 novel The Awakening. <\/em>Seeking for the right to their own bodies and to equal sexual status with men, women fought against social ideologies that forced them to be subordinate to their male counterparts. Chopin addresses these movements in her development of the characters of Edna Pontellier and Adele Ratignolle. The women in Chopin\u2019s novel are used to present the different struggles that nineteenth century feminists worked against in their pursuit of sexuality and reproductive rights, along with representing the efforts that were used to fight back against oppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Chopin\u2019s novel can be analyzed for the commentary it provides on feminist rights and the female experience, it is important to note the attitudes and goals of the feminist movements at the time that the novel was written. Jennifer Gray writes that \u201cnineteenth century feminist discourse was an oppositional ideology, a resistance to obstacles of female fulfillment\u201d (Gray 53). This \u201cfulfillment\u201d exists in the freedom of women to pursue their own desires. The feminist movement worked towards desires of employment, property, sexuality, and reproductive rights. Edna\u2019s embodies the movement towards sexual equality in the novel, refusing to be caged by the patriarchal society in her desires and to \u201cnever again belong to another than herself\u201d (Chopin 92).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), Ophelia (detail).<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Feminists of the nineteenth century criticized\nthe double standard between male sexuality and female sexuality, and Chopin\nshows the bias in these standards through Edna\u2019s sexual awakening in the novel.\nEdna\u2019s relationship with Robert and Arobin show her search for sexual\nliberation as she seeks out sexual relationships that she actually feels\npleasure and benefit from. Edna\u2019s kiss with Arobin is described by Chopin as \u201cthe\nfirst kiss of her life to which her nature had really responded\u201d (Chopin 96). Edna\u2019s\n\u201cnature,\u201d or her honest self, is finally acknowledged through her intimacy with\nArobin in the scene, showing that her husband had never allowed her to truly\nexplore her desires and feel \u201cnatural.\u201d Throughout Edna\u2019s entire life, she has\nnever been given the chance to seek out her own sexual and romantic pleasure.\nInstead, women were forced to remain responsible for their husband\u2019s pleasure\nand to sacrifice their own in exchange. With her attraction to Robert, Edna \u201cfor\nthe first time recognized anew the symptoms of infatuation which she had felt\nincipiently as a child\u201d (Chopin 53), a feeling she was never able to feel in\nher adult life with her husband. By allowing herself the ability to be intimate\nwith men that she actually desires, Edna\u2019s relationships with these new men\nexist as acts of rebellion, and the seizure of her own autonomy that her\nhusband had previously kept a hold of. The social chains seek to make Edna feel\nguilty about her relationships with Robert and Arobin, such as her husband\u2019s\nanger with her and friends\u2019 encouragement to return to her wifely duties by\ntelling her to \u201cthink of the children! Remember them!\u201d (Chopin 127). These\ninfluences do not stop Edna from seeking out her true desires, however. This\ndetermination captures the essence of the feminist movement: seeking to fulfill\noneself before fulfilling the desires of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revered social status of\nmotherhood stands as another blockade to a woman\u2019s self-fulfillment, however.\nAs Edna becomes sick and tired of her role as a mother, she reflects the same\nattitude as other feminists at the time. The \u201cmother, a role dictated for\nmarried women by hegemonic ideology in her society\u201d (Gray 54), seemed to be the\nonly position that a woman could hold in the nineteenth century in order to have\na fragment of respect by the patriarchy. Motherhood also is the result of sexuality,\ntherefore any form of sexual expression that a woman was allowed to have at the\ntime was socially required to result in bearing children. There was no other option\navailable for women that could warrant the approval of society at this point in\nhistory. Edna describes her children as \u201cantagonists who had overcome her\u201d\n(Chopin 132), showing that she does not believe herself to fit into the role of\nmother. She does not fit in the mold that society has made for her and is\nforced to follow the life set out for her, rather than pursuing her own\npassions. Edna is forced to care for her kids despite knowing that she yearns\nfor a life outside of being a mother, but she, like other women at the time, is\nforced by social convention to remain their caretaker and nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dangers and oppression that lies\nin forced childbirth is shown through the character of Adele Ratignolle. Late\nnineteenth century discourse and the patriarchal hold on women\u2019s reproductive\nrights are reflected by Adele\u2019s coercion into motherhood by her husband\u2019s\ndemand. Adele is forced by her husband to have multiple children, with each of\ntheir births described as \u201cscene[s] [of] torture\u201d (Chopin 127). During the\nnineteenth century, there was a large movement of women who refused sexual\ncontact with their husbands because they \u201chad good reason to fear the physical\nconsequences of pregnancy and childbirth\u201d (Freedman 199). This fear is\nreflected in Edna and her aversion to Adele\u2019s lifestyle as the \u201cmother-woman.\u201d Despite\nthe knowledge that Adele\u2019s female friends have of the pain and suffering that\nAdele goes through with each of her children, the patriarchal society praises\nAdele for her choices and \u201cesteemed it a holy\nprivilege [for women] to efface themselves as individuals\u201d (Chopin 11). Along\nwith the fact that the woman\u2019s body was forced to only fulfill their husband\u2019s\nsexual desires, the body was also demanded to provide the husband with another\ncommodity in the birth of children. No part of the nineteenth century woman\u2019s\nbody was allowed to exist only to her. Rather, men claimed ownership over every\naspect of them and denied them the fulfillment of their own desires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Xuebing Du<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Adele Ratignolle is critiqued in the novel for her complacency in feminist politics, as Chopin marks her character as a perpetuator of wifely oppression. The conditions of Adele\u2019s marriage to her husband are praised by society, stating that \u201cif ever the fusion of two human beings into one has been accomplished on this sphere it was surely in their union\u201d (Chopin 65). However, nineteenth century feminists critiqued this type of marriage and fought back against the support of marital tradition because \u201cthey believed it was prescriptive and embodied a classic example of patriarchal values\u201d (Basch 349). Chopin critiques Adele\u2019s role as the \u201cmother woman\u201d through Edna\u2019s disagreement with her lifestyle when she states that she \u201cwould give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself\u201d (Chopin 55). Those who accepted their roles in society by becoming mothers or by accepting any other form of subordination by society were enablers of the patriarchal oppression. Adele shows the traditional side of nineteenth century women, holding onto their oppression and becoming complacent. Chopin uses Adele\u2019s character to highlight the vast difference in autonomy that Edna shows in her pursuit of desire in the novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chopin responds to these cases of\ninequality by showing how to fight back against patriarchal forces.  Feminists described the state of marriage in\nthe nineteenth century as a labor contract: \u201cthe mother was, legally, a\nbabysitter performing part of her labor contract. The husband could also fire\nhis wife, should she fail in several of her duties, by divorcing her\u2026 The whole\nfunctioned to ensure that the wife, because of her dependent status, continued\nto perform her wifely duties\u201d (Zeigler 69). This dynamic between husbands and\ntheir wives was consistently unequal, as men dominated power over their wives\nand treated them as property rather than as equal partners in their\nrelationship. Edna is cognizant of this fact in her relationship with Leonce\nPontellier, yet \u201cwhen Mr. Pontellier became rude, [she] grew insolent. She had\nresolved never to take another step backward\u201d (Chopin 66). Edna demands\nfulfillment whether her husband can provide it or not, and fights back when\nLeonce tries to silence her. In her resistance to backing down against her\nhusband, Edna embodies the feminist movement of taking ownership of one\u2019s self\nand refusing to allow herself to become subordinate to a man, in this case\nbeing her husband. This \u2018step backward\u2019 also represents feminists\u2019 constant\npush for constant autonomy rather than sacrificing their freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given all of the methods in which\nfeminists sought to find liberation, a final solution to their demands can be\nfound through the absolute rejection of social standards and even the rejection\nto live in one\u2019s own oppressive society. How are women to proceed if they are\nnot given full autonomy and fulfillment? The answer lies in Edna\u2019s fate by the\nend of the novel. A feminist cry of \u201cgive me liberty or give me death!\u201d can be\nheard in Edna\u2019s suicide, as she realizes that the oppressed roles she as a\nwoman must play is not a life worth living. Chopin describes Edna being\noverwrought by oppressive forces who \u201csought to drag her into the soul\u2019s\nslavery for the rest of her days. But she knew a way to elude them\u201d (Chopin\n132). Rather than Edna\u2019s death being interpreted as \u201cgiving up,\u201d Edna\u2019s suicide\nresonates as a rejection of the standards she is forced to uphold, and instead\nthe upheaval of her regular life in order to find her own liberation. Edna\nbelieves that if fulfillment cannot be reached in the world that she lives in\nnow, perhaps fulfillment exists in death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chopin\u2019s novel stands as a piece of history documenting the different forms of discourse among women\u2019s rights activist of the nineteenth century. Sexuality, reproductive rights, and overall equality are argued for both by feminist movements of the time and by Chopin\u2019s writing. By providing insight into the different issues and giving a face to the feminist movement in the embodiment of Edna Pontellier\u2019s character, Chopin reflects the strength and resilience of a group of individuals driven towards change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basch, Norma. \u201cInvisible Women: The\nLegal Fiction of Marital Unity in Nineteenth-Century America.\u201d Feminist Studies<\/em>, vol. 5, no. 2, 1979,\npp. 346\u2013366. JSTOR<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beisel, Nicola, and Tamara Kay.\n\u201cAbortion, Race, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century America.\u201d American Sociological Review<\/em>, vol. 69,\nno. 4, 2004, pp. 498\u2013518. JSTOR<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chopin,\nKate. The Awakening<\/em>. Barnes &\nNoble Books, 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedman,\nEstelle B. \u201cSexuality in Nineteenth-Century America: Behavior, Ideology, and\nPolitics.\u201d Reviews in American History<\/em>, vol. 10, no. 4, 1982, pp.\n196\u2013215. JSTOR.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gray, Jennifer B. \u201cThe Escape of the\n\u2018Sea\u2019: Ideology and \u2018The Awakening.\u2019\u201d The\nSouthern Literary Journal<\/em>, vol. 37, no. 1, 2004, pp. 53\u201373. JSTOR<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zeigler, Sara L. \u201cWifely Duties:\nMarriage, Labor, and the Common Law in Nineteenth-Century America.\u201d Social Science History<\/em>, vol. 20, no. 1,\n1996, pp. 63\u201396. JSTOR<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings\u201d (Chopin 96). Without this strength, no social change can truly be brought about. The feminist movements of the nineteenth century embodied this resilience that Kate Chopin describes in her 1899 novel The Awakening. Seeking for the right to … Continue reading Sexuality and Reproductive Rights in Chopin\u2019s The Awakening<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":12,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english305.graceknudsen.knight.domains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english305.graceknudsen.knight.domains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english305.graceknudsen.knight.domains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english305.graceknudsen.knight.domains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english305.graceknudsen.knight.domains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/english305.graceknudsen.knight.domains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":561,"href":"https:\/\/english305.graceknudsen.knight.domains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions\/561"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english305.graceknudsen.knight.domains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english305.graceknudsen.knight.domains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}