The Awakening of Feminism

翟瑩

I.Introduction

Kate Chopin， a famous representative American writer， was born in St. Louis in 1851. In 1870， she was married to Oscar Chopin， the son of a prominent Creole family from Louisiana. Chopin moved to New Orleans after her marriage and lived there for twelve years until the death of her husband. Chopin came back to her hometown with her six children. Under her friends encouragement， she began to write. Bayou Folk， A Night in Arcadie and The Awakening were her works， among them， The Awakening was her masterpiece.

At the beginning of the twentieth century， with the rise of womens liberation movement， female consciousness of American women writers soared to unprecedented height. These new women writers started to apply their own words to express the female world. Through a deep minute description， The Awakening mainly tells about the protagonist Ednas awakening of the selfhood， boldly explores Ednas internal world. Since this book describes protagonists extramarital love and the awakening of sexual consciousness， it had been banned and criticized by the critics. （闞鴻鷹，2005：176）

II.The definition of feminism

It is worth mentioning that the book called The Awakening is not the original idea of the author Kate Chopin. In fact， before the book was going to be established， the editor had made some adaption under the authors agreement. At the very beginning， Chopin named the book called A Solitude Soul. In English， although both of the book names are the noun phrase， their points of emphasis are totally different from each other. The Awakening gets at a dynamic process， focus on the very moment when this movement happened； while in terms of A Solitude Soul， it shows us a static picture that indicates the inevitable situation of human being--the loneliness. （任海燕，2007：110） In this case， for Chopin， feminism means a woman knows clearly that she is a single unit in society.

III.Three trials in her process of self-awakening

In this story， Kate Chopin shows us three remarkable trials in Ednas process of self-awakening. And from these three trials， her brave and weakness are exposed to us gradually. The first trial is her first time swimming， which symbolizes her reborn and self-discovery， at the meantime， this indicates that her fate will end at the sea eventually. Along the island there is a gulf leading to sea， the surge of sea sounds like the call of freedom， which recalls the love in the bottom of Ednas heart. In embryonic stage of love， Edna recollects her free happy childhood， “The hot wind beating in my face made me think--without any connection that I can trace of a summer day in Kentucky， of a meadow that seemed as big as the ocean to the very little girl walking through the grass， which was higher than her waist. She threw out her arms as if swimming when she walked， beating the tall grass as one strikes to realize suddenly. Swimming widens her horizon and lets her feel free， extend and have the impulsion to get rid of everything bordering her. （任海燕，2006：111） In the story， when Edna faces to choose whether to do some needlework with Adele Ratignolle or to go swimming with Robert， she chose the latter. In order to obtain freedom and independence， Ednas final trial concentrates on moving into the “pigeon house”.

IV.Conclusion

Now all important roles and supports have analyzed and discussed， I want to draw some conclusion and talk about the ending of the story--Ednas suicide. Above all， it is clear to see the whole process of Ednas self-awakening： Edna goes through three phases of awakening： sexual awareness， spiritual awareness and ultimate awakening and finally chooses to die to liberate her soul and body. The pursuit of Ednas feminine self-consciousness affirms the personality of women and it redefines the nature of women. Both of them are the negation of feminine historic destination and historic definition. And they possess strong subversive ideas. Therefore， Edna has become the historic milestone of female in American literature， and The Awakening has been regarded as the classical book of Western Feminism Literature. （劉紅衛(wèi)，2006：361）

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（作者單位：廣東科技學院應用英語系）