(Disclaimer: I sort of threw this essay together, one of these days I will actually spend sometime and write a good essay so everyone knows that this isn't actually how I write.)(I know that with the except of Jessica none of you have read "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin so this really won't be terribly interesting but if you are that bored.)
“Self”ishness
“The characteristics of lost souls is ‘their rejection of everything that is not simply themselves.” (Lewis 290) What is the “self” and how does is work function as the part of a person? Some would argue that it is the individual part of each human, being both creative and emotional, but a closer definition is the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual composition of a human as developed throughout their life. At what point does the preservation of the “self” become an act of selfishness? How can people learn from characters in literature who exemplify the “self discovery” in their actions? In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Edna, the main character, embarks on a self-discovery journey, which she refuses to abandon when she states “I would give up the unessential; I would give up my money, I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself.” (Chopin 62) The Awakening is her story of attempting to discover herself by claiming individuality. Eventually, Edna fails, citing the loss of herself through her psychological obsession of Robert, bitter fixation against her family, and due to her own overwhelming selfishness, leading to both her loss of self and sequential suicide.
To begin Edna reminds herself of Robert after he leaves and just before her death, which reveals her utter dependence upon him. Her journey through self-discovery she describes as independent, but her attachment to Robert contradicts her goal of individuality. For example, on her way down to swim for the last time she thinks “There was no human being whom she wanted near her except Robert; and she even realized that the day would come when he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of her existence, leaving her alone.” (Chopin 115) However, the day never comes; Robert remains a dependent in her life, even if only in her thoughts, constantly plaguing her. The sickening disease draws her away from herself because of her desire for him. This powerful longing coerces her away from hope in other relationships. Furthermore, mere moments before her death, she recalls a note from Robert: “’Good-by – because, I love you.’ He did not know; he did not understand.” (Chopin 116) She denies her “self” by becoming dependent upon another human, and forfeiting her emotions to his actions, so if he remains with her, she is in high spirits and if he leaves her side she deteriorates to depression. What Edna believes as part of her awakening, Robert, devours her by consuming her thoughts.
Moreover, Edna bitterly obsesses over her family as the reason to preventing her from true happiness, which, in part, is true; because her anger towards them increases gradually to the point where she calls her children the opposition, and the bitter feelings envelope her thoughts, along with Robert, decimating her sanity. For instance, Edna’s bitter thoughts express themselves when she unveils “The child appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul’s slavery for the rest of her days.” (Chopin 115) Although the children preoccupy her mind, it is the bitterness festering in her heart towards her children that “overcomes,” “overpowers,” and “drags her into the soul’s slavery for the rest of her days.” Edna exemplifies her resentment of the children moments before she lets go by stating “She thought of Leonce and the children. They were a part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul.” (Chopin 116) She refuses to forgive and accept the children, therefore losing her “self” to the rage and bitterness inundating her mind.
In addition, Edna fixates all of her time, strength, and effort to furthering her own desires, which eventually consume her, changing the once kind-hearted woman into a prideful dictator, cold and sad. After a period of time, Edna finds herself, but she survives alone, prideful, and disdainful of the people beneath her exposed when Chopin writes “There was something in her attitude, in her whole appearance when she leaned her head against her high-backed chair and spread her arms, which suggested the regal woman, the one who rules, who looks on, who stands alone.” (Chopin 89) Although Edna believes her new vigor constructs a stronger person, the last line “who stands alone” erodes away at her mentally, reducing the standing edifice to ruins. Additionally, her prideful bearing positions her against the world when she asserts “Conditions would some way adjust themselves, she felt; but whatever came, she had resolved never again to belong to another than herself.”(Chopin 80) Edna discards all other people in her life as mere obstacles and troublesome annoyances, expecting all others to conform to her luxury, but in the process of forgoing humans mislays her own humanity. While on her journey Edna uses art and nature to further her awakening, and in the last moments of her life she recalls the images
“Edna heard her father’s voice and her sister Margaret’s. She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, the musky odor of pinks filled the air.” (Chopin 116)
As she dies, it is not her husband or children or even Robert, none of the people she ever cared for in her life, but the memory of her senses she experienced; although the images are beautiful, they drift like cold refuse unable to rescue her from depression and waves.
Ultimately, Edna loses herself and life, which is driven by her selfish and vengeful desires. Edna tries to achieve the human purpose of “to love and to be loved completely and entirely” by obtaining absolute independence, which obviously fails, leading her to the greatest human fear, loneliness. Her determination to isolate herself constrains the mind into a “mental hell” or hell possessed within her own thoughts as so vividly described by C.S. Lewis when he theorizes “We must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self importance, and resentment.” (Lewis 291) Although truly not in Hell, she manifests Hell within her self by living “the deadly serious passions of envy” for Robert, “self-importance” in her own mind and “resentment” towards her children. Death, she believes, as her only escape from the torment of her own mind because she has lost herself to her desires.
Funny Quote
Sarah John(my essaysaver, my life has already been saved.) :16. Additionally, her... Austin, are you leaving commas out on purpose just so I have something to edit or what?
