As long as human beings have roamed the Earth, men and women have been separated into socially constructed positions based on gender and physical ability. Hunter-gatherer jobs were given to men while women were in charge of domestic duties and the children. However, some people do not fit in these polarized categories. While a person’s gender is biologically determined, the constructed idea of man and woman aren’t necessarily fitting. Literature often reflects these societal standards and the development of gender trends, while helping us explore the relationship between the oppression of women and their ways of seeking self-expression in the patriarchy. The realist period beginning in the 1860s focused on the honest development of characters and their identity in a real world. The idea of gender construction made people question their placement, especially with the rise of gay and lesbian groups in the 1890s. The possibility of gender fluidity is examined in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening where Edna Pontellier does not belong in a set category and feels trapped in a male dominated environment, and whose husband, Mr. Pontellier, is focused on the treatment of all things as material objects. Edna strives to be liberated from the Napoleonic codes in New Orleans by her experimentation with gender, focusing on female relationships, but also smoking cigarettes and partaking in masculine activities. As the novel opens, Edna feels dominated by her husband and trapped in the traditional female position. Her connections with women are strong: Adèle Ratignolle, the perfect “mother-woman” and with Mademoiselle Reisz who plays music for the guests at Grand Isle. As she distances herself from her marriage, Edna freely engages with other men such as Robert and Alcée. Her artistic passions flourish, along with her life in a separate “pigeon house”. Realizing that no man can satisfy her while independent of the patriarchy, Edna feels intensely isolated and commits suicide. Gender criticism compliments the plot of The Awakening, and enhances the degree to which Edna becomes liberated. Popular in the 1980s, gender criticism branched off the Freudian emphasis on the author subconscious, rather than on authorial intent. The subconscious themes of homoeroticism in the novel support the idea of Edna’s complex gender translating to her complex sexuality. Elizabeth LeBlanc in her essay “The Metaphorical Lesbian: Edna Pontellier in The Awakening”, claims that viewing Edna as a metaphorical lesbian allows the reader to more deeply understand the themes in the novel and the complete rejection of a male dominated environment. Although it’s doubtful that Chopin intended for lesbianism to play a determinative role in The Awakening, LeBlanc’s metaphor is convincing in that Edna more fully achieves freedom by escaping the masculine world in which heterosexual expectations are fostered.
From the perspective of lesbian theory, Edna is limited by heteronormative ideals and the process in which men objectify women. Chopin sets up a perfect conventional environment where Edna is seen at the basis of oppression that LeBlanc calls a “rigidly male-centered, heterosexual social system.” Her critique of the patriarchy is not only positioned on the mother-women responsibilities but on the expectations for women to find ultimate attraction in men. LeBlanc therefore fairly acknowledges the comparison at Grand Isle, a popular resort for wealthy classes in New Orleans and a seemingly heterosexual paradise, to Edna’s dissimilarity with such a place. The emphasis of Edna’s desire to escape, however, is not necessarily tied to society’s condemnation of homosexuality but to her disapproval of the “mother-woman” who has “esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals” (29). Edna therefore connects the Adèle Ratignolle-type mother figure at Grand Isle to someone who has encompassing boundaries by raising children. She is later enabled to thrive in solitude and develop an identity removed from the expected roles of mother and wife as an artist. Wealthy men like her husband, Mr. Pontellier, already have “the privilege of quitting society when they ceased to be entertaining” (22), an entitlement not granted to women. Edna’s active attempts to withdraw from the oppression are mimicked by the parrot in the opening of the novel, who speaks “a language in which no one understood” (22). Being trapped in a cage is similar to Edna’s confinement as a female, a realization that was not vocal in the 1800s. LeBlanc furthermore views her ‘language’ as Edna’s “struggle to articulate her self and construct identity” (243), yet she also claims it is the struggle to find a language that does not exist in the heterosexual domain. Although extending the degree to which Edna rejects the patriarchy and Mr. Pontellier’s craving for an obedient women, LeBlanc stretches the idea of a metaphorical lesbian to singularity fit these motivations.
LeBlanc credits Edna’s self-definition and escape from the patriarchy to her female and sexually oriented relationships. While Edna attempts to secede from the socially constructed idea of the “mother-woman”, she finds a space between Mademoiselle Reisz and Adèle Ratignolle. LeBlanc identifies Edna’s homosexuality by showing how the “power of love between women is evident” but not only through “the fact that a woman has had or consciously desired genital sexual experience with another woman” (247). Both Reisz’s and Adèle’s relationship with Edna demonstrate her exploration as a metaphorical lesbian through the physical and spiritual connections to the polarizing nature of each character. Adèle is overwhelmingly committed to her role as a mother and wife, something feminine that Edna is distinctly defiant against, although Adèle’s natural beauty and lust provoke new sexual possibilities. Their encounter at the beach beautifully shifts the novel into Edna’s relaxed interpretation of the patriarchy. The sea lures Edna to its surface, while the fluidity of the waves ignites a certain physical connection between Edna and the naturalness of sex. The aesthetics of the water pave the way for Edna’s sensual interpretation of the world around her. As she approaches the water, Edna’s reflection on women are clear: “The candor of the woman’s whole existence, which every one might read, and which formed so striking a contrast to her own habitual reserve … might have furnished a link” (35). The extension of her female-centralized mindset leads to a brief physical moment where Adèle strokes Edna with feminine comfort. LeBlanc argues that the “first caress, a clasp of the hand…paves the way for her sensual and sexual awakening. Edna becomes attached to Adèle the person… even as she rejects Adèle the mythical ‘woman’” (248). The first prominent female interaction at the mouth of the sea serves as a transition to Edna’s sexual awakening and transcends into the exploration of the body. It opens up the potential for further discovery, and the control that Edna has to create her own boundaries. Even though Edna lives separately from Adèle’s Victorian status, they are able to connect through bodily senses. Whether it was Chopin’s direct intent to reveal a lesbian relationship, the scene undoubtedly demonstrates a strong bond that is not composed by men, but by the minds and bodies of women. The attraction towards the music of Mademoiselle Reisz stikes a similar sense of awakening in Edna. Both the sea and music lift her spirit, yet the chords provoke a deeper understanding in the artistic ways of abandoning conventionalism. Reisz is evidently queer herself, and is presented as isolated and unpopular amongst the male guests whom she plays piano for. Edna is ostensibly drawn to her music and imprudent way of life. Mademoiselle acts as a foil character to Adèle and shows how Edna gradually leaves the wealthy “mother-woman” figure and pursues the artistic life closer to Reisz’s. As Edna makes continuous visits to Reisz, the physical appeal and motivation of her music is clear, where “The very first chords which Mademoiselle Reisz struck upon the piano sent a keen tremor down Mrs. Pontellier’s spinal column…perhaps it was the first time she was ready, perhaps the first time her being was tempered to take an impress of the abiding truth” (47). While the music is intangible, it nevertheless creates a passionate feeling that LeBlanc acknowledges as equally erotic as the sea. Reisz is strictly shaped by her own artistic ambitions, and driven by self-sufficiency, while asserting her autonomy in ways that society has constructed to be masculine. She is refreshing to Edna, and kindles a physical response to her music and self ruling. Although her relationship to Edna is not as senually oriented like Adèle, the influence of these women direct Edna towards a more defined identity, where she can now successfully be in touch with herself physically, and verbally expressive of her rebellion against the ingrained heterosexual attitudes. The idea of a metaphorical lesbian therefore fits as Edna is able to fantasize about the ideas of love and dissociate herself from marriage through these female relationships, but without any orgasmic acts with another woman.
According to LeBlanc, by the novel’s close, Edna successfully leaves the confinements of a heterosexual space and embraces the seductive voices of the sea and the female body. The meaning of Edna’s final acts are controversial. She has grown weary of the hope that men can fulfill her needs, yet it is not lesbianism that she strives for. Her suicide is ambiguous, but LeBlanc suggests it is a metaphor for “the limits upon and the possibilities for the lesbian subject” (253). To LeBlanc, it is a positively expressive way of leaving the confinements of heterosexuality by returning to the sea where she first felt sexually liberated. The potential for the metaphorical lesbian still exists, but at the same time reveals Edna’s incompetence to submit herself to this identification. Although LeBlanc’s claim is convincing, her suicide seems independent of lesbianism and indicates Edna’s profound frustration of the compromises of being the Reisz-type figure, who although controls herself, lives in complete solitude. As Enda approaches the sea and undresses, Chopin implies that she is in fact exhausted by the continuous wait for her lover, reflecting that “There was no human being whom she wanted near her except Robert; and she even realized that the day would come when he too… would melt out of her existence” (138). The unsatisfactory love of Robert may still leave LeBlanc’s idea of lesbianism possibile, but it is the realization of the inability to be completely free and live happily in a world where women are continuingly marginalized. Edna’s ultimate moment in nature relates back to the seductiveness of the ocean, where she embraces her bare exposure to the air, alone while expressing “How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! how delicious! She felt like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known” (138). The hopeful attitude suggests that her female relationships provide her with enough support to submit herself to the natural world where she makes a decision on her own, independent of her children and husband. She is now the closest possible to the naturalness that provoked her body and mind with Adèle, and to the self-reliance of Mademoiselle Reisz. As LeBlanc says, “Edna’s final moments are, after all, more suggestive of a sensually satisfying erotic encounter than a desperate attempt to escape life…she meets her figurative female lover, naked and without fear” (254). The lesbian theory gives a satisfying and confident feeling that Edna can embrace her ideal and non-constrained feminine life.
Clearly, LeBlanc’s analysis of The Awakening is flawed in that Edna is focused primarily on escaping the heterosexual norms, but Edna being a metaphorical lesbian becomes synonymous with her growing self-reliance. Feminism in Kate Chopin’s lifetime gave way to institutional changes for females. After receiving suffrage in 1920, women started to centralize their movement and attempt to extend their rights even further. The Civil Rights Movement also inspired the second wave of feminism that radically changed the political climate of the United States in the late 1970s. Finally gay and transgender people fought back against the police abuse in the Stonewall riots, marking a huge milestone for the gay rights advocators, who in the next century would have seen immense progress that turned town laws prohibiting gay marriage and homosexual activity. Same sex marriages are also legal in all 50 states. The so called third wave feminism movement reflects the expansion of female power and opportunities in the age of media. Although the nation has moved far away from the traditional gender roles of the 19th century, the current President is attempting to degrade transgender people and is increasingly hostile to the LGBTQ community. In this context, gender definitions are seeming to go back to the biologically determined definition that accompanies the patriarchy. Gender critics today are heavily involved in exploring gender identity in the fields of literature and media. As we move forward, The Awakening will echo the concept of gender fluidity in a world where biologically determined sexes don’t necessarily have to indicate your role and appearance in the community.