Analyzing Kate Chopin's 'The Awakening'

The Awakening by Kate Chopin Memo 1
In my own humble opinion, I believe that The Awakening by Kate Chopin is more about escape than a feminist agenda. Edna seems to feel trapped in the social confines of society at the time. Throughout the first half of the book there are plenty of examples of this. To name a few, Edna talks about when she was growing up in Kentuckey, she would wade through the tall grass instead of growing to church. Another example of the theme of escape being prevalent in the first half of the novel is her relationship in general with Robert. Edna is looking for something new, something to distract her from the droll routine of her day to day life as a housewife. Her relationship with Robert provides her with an excitement that she hasn’t felt since she married Leonce. This can also be seen as a rebellion, seeing as Edna came from a protestant background, while Leonce, being Creole, was Catholic.
The theme continues throughout the novel after Robert leaves for Mexico.
After returning to New Orleans at the end of the summer, Edna decides that she doesn’t want to host parties at their house on Tuesday. This can be seen as another form of Edna rebelling, and becoming bolder after her first swim and subsequent “awakening”. While in New Orleans Edna decides to visit her friend Adele, who she finds folding piles of laundry, a symbol of conforming. When leaving, Edna realizes that Adele’s perfect relationship with her husband isn’t attractive to her in any way. She feels that Adele’s contentment is naïve. All of these can be seen as examples of Edna’s awakening in regards to trying to escape the traditional Victorian social confines for women and
men.

I found it interesting to look at the relationship between Edna’s awakening and her desire to escape with the fact that the more these feelings grow within her, the more alone she becomes. After her first swim, Edna immediately leaves the group to head bead to the house. While walking back, Robert catches up with her and tries to check on here. This is when the sexual desires between Edna and Robert come to a climax, yet each character handles the situation in a different manner. On one hand, Robert realizes that the social etiquette of the Creole culture does not allow him have Edna. He sees her as a possession of Leonce, and respects the sanctity of their marriage. Keep in mind that Robert has never called Edna by her first name, another symbol of his respect. This is why he abruptly leaves to go to Mexico. I think that Robert isn’t sure if he can handle his desires unless he leaves.
Edna on the other hand cannot handle her feelings for Robert and set them aside due to the social parameters of the time. With her awakening taking place, and the sexual desires she feels, she essentially throws herself at Robert. This is similar to the way in which she used to act as a young girl, which hints at immaturity in my opinion. After this awakening takes place, Robert leaves and she finds herself feeling alone. Another example of the relationship between Edna feeling alone and her awakening is when she first hears Mademoiselle Reisz play piano, the Mademoiselle says that Edna was the only person in the audience that she thought seemed to be moved by the performance. One final example of the relationship between these two factors is the way in which Edna isolates herself from the rest of upper class society upon returning to New Orleans. She stops having people over on Tuesdays, and would rather stay home to draw and paint in isolation.