Female Victims In The Male-centered World

Kate Chopin is a widely recognized American writer, for she is one of the few women writers who bravely attack the male-centered society of the nineteenth century in their works. Her masterpiece The Awakening, created at the end of the nineteenth century when the patriarchal ideology prevailed, mainly depicts the female protagonist Edna's awakening of the selfhood. In this sense, the production of this novel was ahead of the time. The novel received an overwhelmingly negative response from the then critics, but coincided with the Women's Movement in the twentieth century. It is worthy of the recognition as a canon of feminist literature.By analyzing the text of this novel, the thesis explores three important female characters Adele Ratignolle, Mademoiselle Reisz and Edna Pontellier with their different circumstances, their different ideologies and living conditions, unfolds a panorama of the female world in the nineteenth century, and further concludes that all the women in the male-centered society are victims.This thesis is divided into five parts.The first part gives a brief account of the author Kate Chopin and her masterpiece The Awakening. This part also introduces the novel's social backdrops.The second part focuses on the female character Adele. By analyzing her subordination to the family, her indifference to Mademoiselle Reisz and her "didactic" attitude toward Edna Pontellier, this part concludes that Adele is the enslaved in the male-centered society. And then this part develops from Adele to a genus like her, and testifies that the enslaved women are the victims in the male-centered society.The third part revolves around the female character Reisz. This part proves that Reisz is "other" of the society through analyzing her appearance, words and actions, and peculiar personality. This part also analyses her relations with men and with people of her own sex, and then testifies that Reisz is the abandonee of love. This part concludes that Reisz is the freak in the male-centered society. And in the end this part goes on to a group of women like Reisz, and deduces that the freak women are victims in the male-centered society.The fourth part centers around the female protagonist Edna. This part explores Edna's three different affections with three men and it is proved finally that Edna is not more than one of men's objects. Edna presents her awakening by resisting the conventional womanhood, experimenting with the role of artist-woman, and claiming her sexual independence and economic independence. However, Edna finds herself trapped in an unescapable dilemma, which she cannot release herself from without receiving any understanding and support from the others in her life circle. In the end, she chooses suicide. Edna seeks her complete independence and freedom only by sacrificing her life, so she is the scapegoat of the male-centered society. And then this part proves that the awakening women are victims in the society. In conclusion, the women in the male-centered society of the nineteenth century are all victims.The fifth part concludes that the author and the novel are precursors of feminism and offers some illumination to the present women.