Social Background of The Awakening

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Social Background of The Awakening by Kate Chopin



Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf Coast at the end of the 19th century, The Awakening has been described as a case study of 19th-century feminism. The central theme of the novel is self-ownership. Self-ownership signified a woman’s right to have control over her own body and identity. The heroine of The Awakening longs for this kind of bodily autonomy.


The Significance of 1899

The Awakening takes place during a time when a woman was still considered her husband's property. Louisiana, where the novel takes place, was a largely Catholic state and governed by Napoleonic law. And the Napoleonic law robbed women of all their rights.


Napoleonic Code

The Code stated, “A husband owes protection to his wife, a wife obedience to her husband,”

  • An adulterous wife got two years in prison while an adulterous husband got a modest fine.
  • A wife could only sue for divorce if the husband attempted to include his mistress in the family household.
  • Women were forbidden from entering into legal contracts, nor could they be a party to lawsuits or testify in court.
  • Wives couldn’t engage in commerce without a husband’s written permission, and all property in a marriage was the husband.

Simply put, the Code was sexist, which reflected Napoleon’s own sexism. To quote Napolean himself, “Women should not be looked upon as the equals of men, … They are, in fact, only machines for making babies.”

The Awakening, which took place in Louisiana, reflected on the Creole Culture during the nineteenth century. The Creoles were the descendants of French and Spanish colonists of the eighteenth century. They were Catholics and believed in strong and conservative family values,

Like the Napoleonic Code in France, the Louisiana Code stated that Creole women were their husband’s property and an image of their wealth. In highly conservative Louisiana, women were expected to behave as stereotypical Southern belles, pure of heart and chaste in action. The patriarchal family was the foundation of society.

In the novel, Edna is defined as the wife of Leonce Pontellier and mother of Raoul and Etienne Pontellier, instead of being her own, self-defined individual. In the world of Edna Pontellier, one can either be defined by men or live a life separate from the rest of society. “Women [can] either become wives and mothers . . . or exiles” (Papke 39). The “four cardinal virtues [were] piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Put them together and they spelt mother, daughter, sister, wife—woman” (Welter qt. Papke 11).

Many male reviewers condemned The Awakening primarily out of fear of the very real shifting in the social order. Through her own intensely personal agenda, her rejection of the mother-woman role, exploration of her sexuality with men other than her husband, and indifference to the opinions of mainstream society, Edna Pontellier became a role model for women. The strong conservative bent of society found Edna’s ambivalence toward motherhood and overt sexual desire obscene, and the book swiftly went out of print.


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