Edna Pontellier’s Sin in Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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In writing this paper, I believe, God has given me wings, strong wings, to help me fly above common literary convention. The prophet Isaiah said, "[T]hose who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. . ."(Isaiah 40:31). Because I believe the Bible is the complete word of God, I must conclude that that "The Awakening," by Kate Chopin, is "not a healthy book"(Culley 146). The truths presented in the Bible that lead me to this conclusion are the following. "The Awakening" has a central message that is contrary to Biblical Christianity, denying the headship of Christ and making it seem that people are basically animals and should be able to do whatever they want. It would be possible to argue that Kate Chopin is simply projecting that man is an animal lacking moral obligations without bringing Christianity into the picture, but Kate Chopin made several attacks on Christianity in her fable, and her seeming obsession with tearing down Christianity opens her up to Biblical criticism.

On two occasions, Chopin uses terms probably from the King James Version of the Bible, including the term for Christians as "the salt of the earth" and the "Holy Ghost." According to Chopin, Edna, lulled by the sea into deep self contemplation, "received [from herself] perhaps more wisdom than the Holy Ghost is usually pleased to vouchsafe to any woman"(Chopin 32). Why did Chopin have to bring the Holy Ghost into this? The Holy Ghost, termed Holy Spirit in modern translation, is acknowledged as being equal and one with God. She is using her own twisted irony to imply that Edna's awakening is a step superior to Christianity. The moral or ideal being projected to the read...

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...iliar world that it had never known"(Chopin 136). This rebirth, very much different from the Christian rebirth or salvation, is an assertion that life isn't worth living when you are just an animal. This is the awakening that is being glorified by Kate Chopin, and it is not healthy.

Works Cited:

Chopin, Kate. Walker, Nancy A. ed. The Awakening Boston, NY Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press. (c) 1993.

Crowley, Aleister. The Book of the Law. Access via the world wide web. URL: http://www.crl.com/~thelema/crowley.html

Culley, Margaret. Ed. The Awakening: An Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism NY WW Norton, 1976.

Nine Satanic Statements, The. Access via the world wide web. URL: http://www.marshall.edu/~allen12/cosstate.html

The King James Version of the Bible as set forth in 1611. Bible Truth Publishers, Addison, Illinois. 1983.

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