Historical and Cultural Background of The Awakening

Feraco Search for Human Potential 23 February 2009

Originality Disclaimer

 This information was originally researched, compiled, and written by Neal Wyatt in 1995  I have heavily modified Wyatt’s text, changing some of his language and inserting much of my own, but Wyatt deserves equal – if not greater – credit for this work.

 You can find this piece in its original form at http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/katetime.htm

 Some portions are also inspired by the Center for Learning’s description of Creole culture.

On the Tipping Point of History

 The Awakening was first published just before the dawn of the twentieth century.  It was a time of massive social upheaval, an era that witnessed tension and conflict between defenders of tradition and agitators for change and modernization.  The country’s identity continued to shift as industrialization and urbanization advanced, and the wounds inflicted upon its society by the Civil War three decades earlier had not yet scarred over.

Everything’s Changing

 At the same time, technology advanced by leaps and bounds.  The World’s Fair in Chicago heralded the rise of the Machine Age.  Darwin’s theories of evolution were beginning to gain public acceptance, and the women’s suffrage movement continued to make itself heard.  These developments, along with many others, seemed to threaten the “traditional” American way of life and the fundamental philosophical assumptions supporting its social conventions.

It’s the End of the World As We Know It

 It’s unsurprising that American citizens had understandably mixed feelings about these developments – as well as those gathering on the figurative horizon – during the nineteenth century’s last decade.  We can somewhat identify with their sentiments, since we, too, live in an age of rapid societal change.

Pushing the Boundaries of Imagination

 Think of the massive technological upgrades our society has incorporated into its daily routines over the past decade!  We carry devices that would have made Star Trek’s Captain Kirk jealous.  The computer I’m using to write this lecture outstrips its predecessors’ capabilities by magnitudes of order – it utilizes a faster processor, a larger hard drive, and an Internet browser (Firefox!) that would embarrass the AOL reliant Americans living in 1999, let alone 1989 – or 1899!  (Did anyone own a printer in 1979?)  We take the incredible for granted – because we forced the incredible to become the routine.

Do Not Disturb

 We are creatures of comfort, somewhat worshipful of tradition and somewhat fearful of the unknown.  New eras excite us, once we realize that they won’t destroy society as we know it  Before accepting these changes, we tend to be suspicious of radical change.  This essential part of our national character has not changed even after a century’s passage.  Your lifestyle would be unrecognizable – perhaps even unfathomable – to one of Chopin’s contemporary Midwestern readers, just as their social conventions and expectations seem somewhat alien to us.

Stitched Together

 Nowhere were social conventions more alien than in Louisiana, a region perhaps more ill-suited for the coming changes to American ways of life than any other.  The state’s culture was Frankensteinian, resurrected and stitched together from the constituent parts of American, Southern, and Creole ways of life.  The aforementioned aftereffects of the Civil War reverberated particularly strongly here (and Chopin’s portrayal of Edna’s father proves she recognized the phenomenon).

Understanding Creole Culture

 Yet while American and Southern cultures intermingled somewhat uneasily, the truth is that both sprung from a common ancestor – and, although recently sundered, therefore shared more similarities than differences.  Creole culture proved somewhat more problematic.  It was a Catholic way of life in a largely Protestant country, which remains something of a social issue.  For example, the major parties have nominated two Catholics for president since the country’s founding, and the lone Catholic president was assassinated before the end of his first term; we haven’t nominated another since.

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More Fun With Creoles!

The Creoles were largely Caucasian, descendents of the French and Spaniards who originally settled in the state.  Their culture was aristocratic, largely because their forebears had access to land and titles, and they were a particularly proud people.  They kept exclusive and high-class company  Note that the vacationers at the Lebruns’ place essentially compose the local social circle  They deeply discouraged marrying against class boundaries, fearing it would dilute the “purity of their blood.”

Still More Fun With Creoles!

 Some Creole settlings isolated themselves from the larger American culture  For example, the people populating the village that Kate Chopin lived in for several years considered themselves citizens of France and spoke only French.  Finally, they seemed almost naturally inclined to love music.  It’s therefore unsurprising that Chopin utilizes music as a symbol of self-expression (a lobotomized one, in the case of the Farival twins) so frequently over the course of the novel.

Creole Attitudes Towards Women

    Creole women in particular were extremely conservative – perhaps the most conservative group in the nation at the time. They were frank and open in discussing their marriages and children, but could do so because their very moral nature did not allow any doubt as to their chastity;  Chopin reflects this tendency in her portrayal of the various wives vacationing at Grand Isle. Chopin also shows that Creole women were committed as a group to their husbands and children.  This commitment to fidelity was both deeply personal and deeply religious. I’ve mentioned before that if Léonce is the perfect Creole husband, Adèle is the perfect Creole wife  Perhaps this statement makes more sense in light of these cultural concerns.

Et tu, Napoleon?

 Finally, Louisiana possessed an idiosyncratic legal system.  It was the only state in the nation to operate under a different code than the one outlined in the national constitution.  The Louisiana Code – modeled upon France’s archaic Napoleonic Code – stated that a woman literally belonged to the man she married, which meant everything she possessed also now fell under his purview.   Specifically, Article 1388 established the absolute control of the male over the family. In a particularly misogynistic passage, Article 1124 equated married women with babies and the mentally ill – in that all three were deemed incompetent to make a contract, let alone honor one (save the marriage contract).  As a result, feminists and suffragettes faced particularly tough resistance in the state.

The Times…They Are A-Changing

 Fortunately for them, other states proved more sympathetic to their cause – and at any rate, technological and economic forces much larger than themselves helped bolster their arguments.  The Industrial Revolution transformed handicrafts, which woman had always done in their homes, into a machine-powered, mass- produced industry.  This meant that lower-class women could earn wages as factory workers.  This was the beginning of their independence, even though the conditions were hazardous, the pay low, and their income was legally controlled by their husbands or fathers.

The Woes of the Wealthy

   Ironically, this placed middle and upper-class women at something of a disadvantage.  They were still expected to stay at home as idle, decorative symbols of their husbands' wealth. They were, as Virginia Woolf termed it, expected to be angels in the house.  They cared for their homes, husbands, and children.   They played music, sang, or drew in order to enhance the charm of their homes and to reflect well on their husbands. They were also frequently pregnant, largely due to restrictions on birth control.

Wives were possessions, cared for and displayed, who often brought a dowry or inherited wealth to a marriage.  They were expected to subordinate their needs to their husband's wishes.  Basically, they were expected to be Adèle.

Yes, The Times Are A-Changing…

 The suffrage movement and the abolitionist movement grew apace during the Civil War.  The abolitionists’ progress outstripped the suffragists’ after the Union emerged victorious from the war, with an 1868 amendment to the Constitution allowing the vote regardless of race, creed, or color – but still codified discrimination against women at the ballot box.  (That would not change for fifty years.)

…Very, Very Slowly

 Over thirty years passed between the end of the Civil War and The Awakening’s publication, and while the suffragettes had made strides over the course of the decades, they had not yet won their battle.  Attitudes toward women were changing, but at a frustratingly slow rate; traditionalists would have argued that views regarding women’s proper place in society were shifting far too quickly.  Kate Chopin was particularly fond of her independence, and she would have been intimately aware of these shifts; readers who are equally aware of them will quickly spot the influence of clashing social traditions in the vibrantly realized world of The Awakening.

Harsh Words and Shocked Readers

 The novel spoke to some who sympathized with the women’s movement, but it offended far more of its readers.  The reception The Awakening received indicates the troubled social climate of the time.

 Contemporary critics were predominately hostile toward the subject matter, although they took time – as I often do – to praise the artistry of the writing.  Still, newspapers and magazines of the day were filled with such comments as "it is not a healthy book," "[it is] sex fiction," "the purport of the story can hardly be described in language fit for publication," "[it is] an essentially vulgar story," and "[it is] unhealthy introspective and morbid."  Chopin was hurt by such a response, both personally and as a writer.

In Closing…

 As the century drew to a close, it was marked by many changes, personified by the rise of industry and the struggle for sexual equality in the face of those who would sacrifice progress in defense of tradition.  Change was everywhere, and much of the population struggled to come to terms with those developments.  In many ways The Awakening encapsulates this struggle, and Edna’s problematic experiences speak to the painful process that was in store for the country and its women.