The Awakening 283The ending of The Awakening is a very famous
and contested passage in which Edna kills herself
by swimming out into the sea. It seems Edna’s
epiphany came a century too soon: While she had
a personal “awakening,” it was of no practical use
to her in her time. Though she was aware that she
did not want to live within the confines that society
placed on her, society did not change along with her,
and her awakening to this fact made it impossible
for her to continue to live at all.
Kathryn Kleypas
isOlatiOn in The Awakening
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening deals intimately with
the theme of isolation. The working title of the
novel used by the author before changing it to The
Awakening was A Solitary Soul. The primary theme
of “awakening,” or coming of age, comes into play
when Edna Pontellier, the main character, feels
alienated from other people. It is precisely when
Edna feels the most isolated from those around her
that she begins to experience the deep moments of
growth that lead to her “awakening.”
From the novel’s first pages, Edna is described as
feeling detached from Creole society and perplexed
by the behavior of the Creoles with whom she
associates. She therefore chooses to be alone rather
than try to accommodate her own behavior to their
expectations.
In several extended passages, the theme of isola-
tion is developed. While Edna splashes in the Gulf
waters during the last days of summer at Grand
Isle, she ponders her life. The narrator tells us that
Edna is going to be the recipient of more wisdom
than most people experience in their lives. We then
see Edna floating on the ocean’s seductive waves,
her soul being invited to “abysses of solitude.” Once
again, isolation and solitude are linked to moments
of growth, development, and wisdom for Edna. A
few pages later, she again chooses to be alone in the
ocean. Her alienation is associated with power:
She swims out by herself, away from the group of
bathers, so that she can experience the intoxicating
feeling of being able to swim alone. Here solitude
is linked with growth, power, and choice for Edna.
These early passages in the novel link Edna’s
isolation with the beginnings of dissatisfaction with
her life. In later passages, she chooses much longer
periods of withdrawal from her family and friends.
Upon her return from summer vacation on the Gulf,
she resumes her normal life at her home in New
Orleans but also begins to detach herself from her
normal circle of friends when she stops receiving
visitors in her home.
As the novel progresses, Edna’s periods of self-
isolation become linked to depression. At one point,
she describes the whole “alien world” as antagonis-
tic, and she starts to isolate herself in a much more
determined manner. Her husband is so worried by
her behavior that he consults the family doctor, who
advises him to let her continue in her self-inflicted
solitude. Finally, when her husband leaves for an
extended business trip to New York and she allows
her sons to be taken by their grandmother, Edna
begins to view her isolation as a positive thing. She
revels in the quiet afforded her in the absence of her
family. She goes from room to room, experiencing
her home in new ways now that she is not try-
ing to accommodate her behavior to anyone else’s
expectations.
It is after this experience of living alone that
Edna’s real “awakening” begins. The act of retreating
from everyone around her has opened a space for
her to experience her own development and growth.
Away from the limitations imposed on her by Creole
society and by her husband, family, father, and inti-
mate friends, she is able to explore alternative ways
to live her life and to make her own choices.
While Edna’s important moments of growth
happen in moments of self-inflicted isolation, and
these moments are often positive for her, ultimately
she cannot shake off a more negative sense of lone-
liness. She loves other men but ultimately finds no
lasting satisfaction in these affairs. In the end, the
narrator describes a sense of isolation for Edna that
is similar to that vague feeling signaled at the begin-
ning of the novel. Back at Grand Isle for another
summer holiday, Edna swims out into the Gulf
waters while thinking about her life. She realizes
that there is no human being that she wants near her
except her lover and that one day she will no longer
desire him. In a voice reminiscent of that of the
novel’s opening passages, Edna enters the sea, which