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Generally speaking, it is a classical work in the history of American women literature, but its meaning is not the novel in addition to show the strong contemporary feminist color, more and more of the reviewers found that it is first-class. In 1899, American literature had been making negative comments to awaken Edna, the protagonist. It shows Kate Chopin’s ideas are how to transcend time and space and close to nature. Edward. W. seed came up with the similar views in his book, too. So when readers re-examine the excellent works, besides considering the author’s own family and growth factors, the readers also have to consider other factors, such as, the external environment to her thoughts on nutrient. The readers all know that although there are so many extensive studies on The Awakening, as a literature masterpiece it still exists great space for our further interpretations from various perspectives.
The Awakening arouses the awakening of female self-consciousness. The study of the novel has long been with us and the focus of the study is the mechanism of theme. The paper mainly talks about the three female characters to make a brief conclusion that is the most significant and indispensable part of the study.
The paper can be pided into five parts. The first part gives a short but brief introduction to The Awakening. Then according to the introduction, the other three parts focuses on the character image analysis of the three main characters of the novel. That is to say, the paper will do a detailed, systematic analysis of the characters. As for the last part of the paper, it points out the theme again. It is the summary of the feminist voices reflected by the characters of the novel. And then make a short conclusion about Chopin attempts to build the female authority in The Awakening. With the consideration above the ideas on the novel, this thesis is to be a study about the three main female characters from the perspective of the feminism.
II. The Sleeping Angel—Adele Rationale
What patriarchal values are in the male-centered society? In The Awakening, all female characters can be considered as victims of the male-centered society, and in this chapter, the paper will focus on Adele Rationale.
2.1 Subordination to Her Family
After reading this novel, the readers all know that The Awakening is under the background of 18th century in New Orleans and at Great Isle. The story started at Grand Isle, the famous summer holiday resort of wealthy Creoles from New Orleans. Of course, this novel plots is easy. It surrounded the heroine Edna Pontellier that was an outsider from the Louisiana Creole culture. At the same time, there were two other women and three men introduced in the novel to connect with Edna. But in this thesis, the author just analyzes the three female characters of the novel. They are Edna Pontellier, Mademoiselle Resize and Adele Rationale. In this part, the author would introduce Adele Rationale first.
As it was described in the novel, “One of the mothers at Grand Isle, a woman named Adele Rationale, was very much this kind of mother. Her physical attractiveness was so obvious that only the most uncommon words could be used to describe her. She was like a female hero from a traditional novel. Her husband would have to have been a complete idiot not to love her with all of his heart and soul.”(36; ch.4 ) We can infer that Adele so popular with people. Adele was the product of the Creole culture at that time.
In this part, the author would like to introduce Adele Rationale briefly, which was the focus of the chapter, and played an important role in the process of the awakening of Edna. In contrast with Edna, she is also a woman who plays the role of mother and wife. To a great extent, she was different from Edna, she served as an ideal mother-woman of nineteenth century. She was full of beauty and dignity. And she devoted all herself to her family, her children and her husband without complaining. At the other side, she didn’t feel terrible. On the contrary, she enjoyed the role of mother and wife completely. In the author’s eyes, family is everything to Adele. In a word, She is a traditional housewife in Victoria times. She is a sleeping angel in the male-centered country.