Cigars In The Awakening

Sigmund Freud, one of the most famous psychologists of all time, often smoked twenty cigars a day, and said that cigars were symbolic of masculinity. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Leonce and other males express their male dominance by smoking cigars. It was not really socially acceptable for women to smoke, but Edna’s husband often exercises this freedom. Even Robert, whom Edna is in love with, cannot resist these cigars. The symbol of cigars works as part of the antagonist in the story because it represents gender inequality.

What is a cigar? A cigar is a tobacco product that has been smoked throughout history. It was seen as many things, such as normal, high class, sophisticated, or masculine. Cigars are valued by Leonce and Robert in The Awakening. Robert would even go out of his way to get these cigars, as not even he can avoid them. Chopin writes “Robert rolled a cigarette. He smoked cigarettes because he could

not afford cigars, he said. He had a cigar in his pocket which Mr. Pontellier had presented him with, and he was saving it for his after-dinner smoke.” Because of this reputation for cigars, Chopin decided to use it in the overall plot development and general message of the book.
Edna’s husband, Leonce, seems to imply that he is above his wife by smoking a cigar. After Mr. Pontellier returns from Klein’s hotel, he attempts to tell his wife about his day, but she is very tired and shows very little interest in her husband’s activities because she was sleeping. This annoys Leonce, so he says that one of the boys are sick and that she should tend to them. Edna knows he is not sick, but Leonce simply says he needs tending; Leonce tells Edna to help one of the boys, and “Then he lit a cigar and went and sat near the open door to smoke it.” Chopin writes that Leonce is too familiar with the symptoms to mistake his boy’s sickness, and Edna knows he is in good health, so Mr. Pontellier lied. Because Leonce is a male, he feels that it is not his job to tend to the children; he feels that he makes the money for the house, and that it is a woman’s job to take care of the children. After he lies to awaken his wife, he smokes a cigar. This cigar symbolically flexes the husband's independence, and portrays the gender inequality of the story’s time period.
On a literal level, a cigar is just something that men typically smoked, but Leonce does smokes quite often in the book.

Why did Chopin decide to use this as a symbol, why not an article of clothing, or a drink? She uses this as a symbol because it is something women cannot do. If Edna was seen smoking, she would be questioned and probably labeled as strange or deranged. Right after Leonce falsely orders his wife to tend to their child, he smokes a cigar. The cigar and the ability to order his wife without question, go hand in hand. By puffing this cigar, the reader understands societal mentality, and right after Mr. Pontellier flexes his freedom, Edna begins to cry. This male dominance is the main conflict in the book. Chopin was trying to convey a message, and to do so, she has to symbolically write about things such as male dominance. This object perfectly serves its role in Chopin’s message, and was the perfect example of a society powered by men. The cigar was a straightforward, understandable, and very well known object to use in her

story.
To conclude, Chopin uses cigars to perfectly write in the time period she was in. She challenges ideas such as gender inequality, and her use of symbol contributes to the story as a whole. Without the symbol of cigars, the reader feels disconnected from Edna, and other women’s perspectives. Freud would have agreed that cigars were a very masculine object, and any logical person would agree.