Identity In Edna Pontellier's The Awakening

In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier seeks to flee from a state of passivity through acts of societal rebellion. By disregarding the expectations appointed to her according to her gender, she discovers her identity and accepts her emotional and sexual desires. These desires, while always present, were not an animate component of Edna's identity before her awakening. Rather, she was confined to the domestic sphere. This supports Culler's claim that Western novels emphasize the concept of an essential self which emerges through experience. Ultimately, The Awakening highlights the transformation that led to the emergence of Edna's fundamental nature.

The course of Edna's self-discovery occurs according to a series

of events that lead to her untimely death. Before her self-discovery, she is confounded by her desire to explore her identity and the expectations of Victorian women. Additionally, she is fundamentally different than the other women at Grand Isle. For example, the novel states that the women of Grand Isle "idolize their children" and "worship their husbands" (638). Edna does not embody this archetype, as she is not enthralled by the demands of the domestic sphere. Rather, she seeks to find fulfillment outside the home and from within the self. However, upon her swim in the baptismal sea, she reaches a greater degree of self-awareness and perception. After this occurs, Edna begins to abandon her old identity as a conventional woman. She hastily rejects her
home and husband, revealing her desire to be recognized as an independent agent.

For Edna's husband, she is merely an object that must fulfill the central roles to which she has been assigned. He disciplines her for her "habitual neglect" of their children and her inability to properly attend to their needs (637). These actions cause Edna to become consumed with despair, as she is severely oppressed by the constraints of her husband. Consequently, she moves into her own home and embarks upon an affair which satisfies her sexual and creative impulses. Evidently, Edna's dissatisfaction with domesticity leads to the emergence of her true

nature.
Once Edna embarks upon an affair and gradually becomes self-aware, her marital woes and individual differences become more apparent to her.

Before she enters the ocean and hears the ethereal music, the narrator alludes to her transformation by stating that "a certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her" (642). This light represents truth and the promise of self-realization, which further emphasizes how Edna discovers a being which was always present within her. When Edna hears the music, her mind welcomes flagrant images of independence and freedom. For example, she envisions a naked man standing on a rock amongst a shore. He is shameless, uninhibited and free - an embodiment of Edna's desire to attain independence. This experience inspires her to swim for the first time, which is a symbolic baptism. She walks with "over-confidence" and her mind becomes liberated from its familiar order (654). Essentially, after this event, she is no longer a victim of Victorian influence. Rather, she is born as the essential

self.
Edna's rejection of her home and husband manifests in an act of provocation. Her affair with Alcee enables her to explore her sexuality in an unbridled setting. Additionally, the physical home she inhabits contributes to her freedom, as it represents the establishment of a new identity. Without the presence of her husband's possessions, she can truly explore herself. The development of Edna's identity illustrates Culler's observation of the Western tradition to create characters that "become what then turns out to be their nature" (110). Edna emerges from the trenches of the marginal Victorian mother-wife by abandoning the domestic sphere. In an attempt to exercise freedom and explore her sexuality, she indulges in extramarital affairs. These acts, when motivated by a desire to obtain recognition as an independent agent, lead to the establishment of an identity that was once veiled by tradition. Thus, by asserting her independence, Edna becomes the individual she always was.
The Awakening highlights one woman's attempt to escape from a state of subordination through acts of societal rebellion. By dismissing the conventions of Victorian womanhood, Edna Pontellier's essential self emerges. Through acts which enable her to assert her independence, she escapes from the domestic sphere. Evidently, she transforms into the woman she was constrained from being.