An Analysis On The Ethical Theme Of The Awakening From The Perspective Of Narratology

The Awakening, which was published in1899, is the masterpiece of American writerKate Chopin. The Awakening attracted much controversy because of the direct description ofthe protagonist’s sexual awakening and rebellious behavior. However, since1960s this workhas been the hot topic with the surge of western feminist movement, and has been acceptedby the public. Many scholars explore the connotation of The Awakening from theseperspectives such as feminism, naturalism, romanticism and so on and so forth. The materialsthat this dissertation gets show that few researches have been done from the perspective ofcombining ethical literary criticism and narratology. Therefore, this paper makes an attemptto analyze The Awakening from these two aspects, and explores the ethical theme of TheAwakening and the diverse narrative strategies reflecting the ethical theme.With respect to the ethical theme, The Awakening deeply reveals the ethical shackles ofAmerican patriarchal society to women who pursue their freedom, independence and evenself-realization. It shows vividly the ethical dilemmas women are faced with when they fightagainst the patriarchy and strive for the freedom as human beings. From the narrativestrategies, Chopin employed diversified narrative strategies serving for the expression ofethical thought, such as binary oppositions, imagery narration, repetitive narration etc, andgot ideal narrative effects.This dissertation includes five chapters. According to the content, it can be divided intothree parts.The first part is namely chapter one, which reviews and summarizes the studies ofethical literary criticism and The Awakening.The second part is the second chapter, which is the explanation of the theoreticalfoundation. The theories involved are ethical literary criticism, repetitive narration, imagerynarration and binary oppositions. These theories provide theoretical basis for theinterpretation of ethical thought in the novel and the narrative strategies employed there toexpress the ethical thought.The third part includes the last three chapters, and is the core of the study. The third chapter analyzes the ethical ecology in America at the turn of the last19thcentury to the early20thcentury. To a large extent, the study shows that the social transitionhas an influence on American ethical thought. This is the social background which leads toAmerican women’s self-consciousness, just like the protagonist Edna.Chapter four explores the ethical theme of The Awakening. Surrounding the vacation inGrand Isle, this paper expounds the changes of Edna’s ethical identities, the ethical dilemmaswhen she tries to break through her home-centered ethical identities, and the ethical choicesshe makes in such kind of ethical dilemmas. With Edna’s rebellious process, the ethical themehas been demonstrated.Chapter five expounds the narrative strategies Chopin employed to reflect the ethicaltheme of The Awakening, such as binary oppositions, imagery narration and repetitivenarration. The study shows that New Orleans symbolizes the traditional customs and socialfeatures controlled by patriarchal society, while Grand Isle embodies the rise of ethical valuesin American social transition. The repetitive occurrence of children’s playing and the binaryoppositions between aphasia and speech remind and suggest the changes of Edna’s ethicalidentities. The image of the bird and the pigeon house properly show the ethical dilemmasEdna suffers. The application of these narrative strategies not only help successfully expressEdna’s anxiety and grief, but also makes her choices between obedience and rebellion, bodyand soul, life and death proper and logical.