I have been thinking about the final pages of
The Awakening, and how we as a class collectively described it as "disturbingly beautiful." This ending has resonated me for many years, and in re-reading it as a college student I am still struck by its un-apologetically Romantic treatment of Edna's death. While I do not feel that Chopin is glamorizing Edna's
suicide, --somehow that word does not suit Edna, even though that is the circumstance of her death-- I but I cannot help but think that we as readers treat her death with a
certain aesthetic of beauty and idealism, as compared to how we might react if we heard of it on the news. Imagine reading an article about a Louisiana mother of two/ painter/wife, who drowned herself off the Gulf coast. Would we consider her incredible existential struggle as an awakened feminist and journey as a newly sexual being (events that brought her to this "choice"), or would we think of her posthumously as a negligent mother with an untreated case of depression and a penchant for the dramatic? Perhaps it is Chopin's elegant, impressionistic prose that seduces us, because I truly believe that we are made, in many ways, to admire Edna's decision as a triumph, and to support her.
Am I sympathetic for Edna because I know intimately the circumstances leading to it? Perhaps it is worth noting too that readers are told her final thoughts drifting at sea. Two quotations that I really hold onto as I consider this journey leading up to her death:
". . .because all sense of reality had gone out of her life; she abandoned herself to Fate, and awaited the consequences with indifference." (104)
"The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude," (115)
Certainly these are perfectly idyllic thoughts, and I cannot help but think that the term "suicide" doesn't suit Edna, and maybe not literature in general.
Eileen, Thank you for your eloquent post. I agree with your contention that Chopin does not glamorize Edna's death at the end of the novel. To my mind, those final paragraphs were masterfully written. It suggests that a well orchestrated death could be as beautiful as birth or awakening. Unlike western culture, Edna Pontellier does not fear or deny death; she embraces and romanticizes it. A good death becomes something sensual, poetic, and "disturbingly beautiful."
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree with both Charles and Eileen that Chopin does not glamorize Edna's death to the readers. I really loved this post and it inspired me to make my own on the subject of Edna's death.
ReplyDeleteI really love how "The Awakening" stresses the Romantic ideals; to put all of your emotions and soul into what you believe, it's just so upsetting to see what happens when it fails. We have mostly seen all of the success stories and never consider that the Romantic period had outliers.
Literature has a sneaky way of making unappealing things seem glorious sometimes, but I'm thankful "The Awakening" isn't that case.