Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: Kate Chopin is the feminist pioneer in the 19th century in America. The Awakening is Kate Chopin’s masterpiece, which has caused great sensation and shocks. The novel reveals the process of the heroine Edna pursuing freedom, yearning for a new life, and challenging the social customs which requires women to obey the traditional duty as a wife or mother, after she experiencing the unseen thoughts, and awakening. This thesis mainly analyzes the causes and process of Edna’s awakening. The pursuit and resistance of Edna on the purpose of breaking away from the constraint of the society violates the social moral standards, and she gives up her life to defend the female consciousness. This thesis holds that Edna’s suicide is not a negative setback, but a kind of rebellious forms. Her death is a wordless rebellion against the patriarchal society as well as the safeguard for her awakening subjective awareness.

Key words: The Awakening; Edna; Awakening

摘要：凯特•肖邦是美国十九世纪末期女权先驱。《觉醒》是凯特•肖邦的代表作,同时也是一部在当时引起巨大反响和震动的作品。这部小说展现了文中女主人公艾德娜在经历了思想上的茫然、醒悟之后,开始追求自由,向往新的生活,公然挑战社会的习俗所要求的妻子和母亲的传统的职责的过程。本论文主要分析了艾德娜觉醒的原因及其过程。艾德娜为摆脱社会的束缚所做的追求和反抗触犯了当时社会的道德标准，最后她不惜放弃生命捍卫其女性意识。论文指出艾德娜最后的自杀并不是消极的挫败,而是叛逆的另一种形式,是对男权社会的无言的反抗,是对刚刚觉醒的主体意识的捍卫。

关键词： 《觉醒》；艾德娜；觉醒

1．Introduction
1.1 A Brief Introduction to Kate Chopin and The Awakening
Kate Chopin was born on February 8,1851 in the city of St. Louis Missouri. Due to her father’s accidental death, she and her grandmother stayed together. Kate started reading fairy tales, poetry, classical novels and religious novels. She was studying in women’s college, and was influenced by the clever, independent and single women, so the feminism could reach into her ideas, and lay a strong foundation for her writing. Her husband’s death and the decline of her family gave Kate a huge blow. All of these unfortunate incidents endowed Kate Chopin with strong doubts and skeptical thoughts. Under the doctor’s proposal, she began writing to find an identity for herself.