Abstract

The Awakening is a masterpiece of the famous American novelist Kate Chopin. The novel describes the living condition of the women in the 19th century through the protagonist---Edna’s spiritual journey. Edna doesn’t satisfy with the dull and man-dominated family life. She hopes to free herself from the fetters that force on her and makes a lot of efforts and struggles. But Edna finally commits suicide in the sea out of several personal and social causes. This paper begins with a brief introduction to the author and this novel, and then makes an analysis of the causes of her tragedy. And it thereby further demonstrates the theme of this paper.

Key words:  Edna, awakening, tragedy, personal and social reasons

摘 要

《觉醒》是美国作家凯特•肖班的代表作品，它通过对女主人公艾德娜的心路历程的描写，真实地揭露了19 世纪女性的生存状态。艾德娜不满足于单调且被男权控制的家庭生活, 希望摆脱社会强加在妇女身上的种种枷锁, 从而在最初的压抑、困惑中走向觉醒、反抗，但最终由于个人和社会种种原因走向死亡。本文从简要介绍该小说及其作家入手，进一步分析了主人公艾德娜的心理变化，结合具体实例分析艾德娜的心路历程，并联系当时的社会背景，分析得出造成艾德娜死亡悲剧的个人和社会原因。

关键词：艾德娜;觉醒;悲剧;个人与社会原因

1.    Introduction
The Awakening, which was first published in 1899, is the masterpiece of American woman writer Kate Chopin (1850--1904). This book is very famous in the history of American women literature and Kate Chopin also shares the same fame among the excellent American women writers.
When Kate Chopin was young, she was raised by her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother that were all widowed. Both at home with family and at school with the nuns, she was grew up surrounded by intelligent and independent women. Her childhood lacked male role models, so she rarely witnesses the tradition of female submission and male domination that defined most late nineteenth century marriages. In Chopin’s writings, the themes are always about female’s struggles and efforts for their freedom and sexual awareness. This is undoubtedly a result of the atmosphere in which she was raised.
Kate married Oscar Chopin, a merchant from a French distinguished family. She enjoyed a wide range of unconventional freedom in her marriage life. In 1889 Chopin began writing fictions that often deal with marriage life and present an unconventional perspective on the theme. She mostly wrote about women's feelings, sexuality, and independence. Her characters face choices between what society expects them to do and what they really desire, and they usually decide to follow their own heart and thought, but not the society’s expectation.