An Analysis Of Edna’s Borderline Personality Disorder In The Awakening

The Awakening(1899),originally named as A Solitary Soul,is the last novel written by the American author and feminist forerunner Kate Chopin(1850-1904),whose original name is Katherine O’Flaherty.Set in New Orleans at the end of the 19th century,the story portraits its main protagonist Edna Pontellier and her struggles against the shackles of social norms and conventions in her pursuit of personal freedom in a conservative catholic background.At the time of its publication,the novel caused many controversies and was criticized and occasionally even banned for decades due to its unorthodox descriptions of feminist issues.This was unacceptable in a patriarchal culture and was shunned until the book was rediscovered in the 1970s and even alleviated to literary canon for college classes.Although this work has already been thoroughly analyzed from different perspectives such as personality,feminist consciousness,male imagery,ethnics or aesthetics,there is still space for discussion about the subject of personality disorder,making further research in this field interesting.A borderline personality disorder(BPD)is one of the most common personality disorders.Also called emotionally unstable personality disorder,it is a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior.According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM),published by the American Psychiatric Association(APA),the most important manifestations of a BPD are extreme unstable emotions and relationships,impulsive behavior,fear of abandonment,self-injury or suicide under stress whereas some patients have comorbidity with depression.The protagonist Edna’s emotional behaviors and interactions conform to the criteria of BPD.This paper starts from the psychological perspective and analyzes the symptoms and causes of her BPD,tracing the roots of her personality and family environment during her childhood and the later events during adulthood.Her unpredictable behavior is connected to the unpleasant experiences in her childhood with the loss of her mother and problematic parenting of her father being the primary causes of her personality disorder.Furthermore,her emotional defense mechanisms increase her instability and indirectly leads to her death.Based on Freud’s psychoanalysis theory,this paper aims to highlight Edna’s borderline personality disorder in The Awakening,including the symptoms,causes,defense mechanisms under stress,and some coping suggestions.The first chapter introduces some typical manifestations of Edna’s BPD,including affective dysregulation,impulsive behavior,unstable interpersonal relationships and extreme fear of abandonment.According to the criteria in DSM,the fact that Edna has a BPD can be diagnosed.The second chapter analyzes the causes of her BPD and the origin of its existence from her familial and social context.The early death of her mother in her childhood creates an incomplete home.At the same time,she doesn’t get along with her father.The lack of a secure family environment causes her long-term emotional dysregulation and extreme self-defense mechanism.Apart from the family,societal pressure also plays a role.In the New Orleans of the nineteenth century,women were expected to play the role of devote wives and mothers.Therefore,due to the internal and external conflicts of this long-term stress condition,the symptoms of her borderline personality disorder persist.Chapter Three explores Edna’s defense mechanisms against the pressure and some coping suggestions.Her main defenses against stress are "passive aggression" and"self-destruction",which belong to the immature defense mechanism of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory.Passive aggression includes silence,moving out and neglect of her duties,self-destructive behavior includes the extramarital affair and ending her life by drowning.She hopes to escape the pain of reality through these methods.Hence,in order to help people with borderline personality disorder,especially female patients,it is important to encourage them to be financially and spiritually independent.Additionally,care and support by their families and friends are also recommended.It is also a good option to receive a Dialectical Behavior Therapy(DBT)provided by a professional psychotherapist.These recommendations have a positive guiding effect on the patient’s healing.The conclusion is a summary of the paper.Edna is a woman with typical symptoms of a borderline personality disorder for which she bears no responsibility.Edna’s tragedy is inevitable because she grows up in an unhappy family and the science of psychotherapy was just being developed at that time.Therefore,it is important for such people to achieve true independence and to have the ability to regulate emotions.Hopefully,through the analysis of protagonist Edna’s personality,people can have less prejudice and more understanding,and give this group more concern and tolerance.Hopefully,public mental health and social harmony can also be promoted.