Abstract

Kate Chopin is an American famous female writer in the 19th century. The Awakening, one long story, is her best works, which describes the awakening of female self-consciousness. This paper aims to analyze three male characters and three female characters in the novel by comparison, through which we can see the whole world of males and females in the patriarchal society in the 19th century. It ends with the conclusion that feminism is the inevitable trend of the development of history, but there are still defects that need to be improved in the future.

Key words: awakening, comparison, feminism, inevitable trend

摘 要

凯特•肖邦是19世纪美国著名女作家，《觉醒》是凯特•肖邦的长篇小说，可以说是她的巅峰之作，描述的是女性自我意识的觉醒。本文旨在通过比较具体分析小说中的三个男性和三个女性，呈现了19世纪男权社会男性和女性的世界全貌，从而得出结论：女性主义的发展是历史发展的必然趋势，但在其发展过程中仍存在不足之处，需要进行不断的完善。

关键词：觉醒；比较；女性主义；必然趋势

1.    Introduction
     Kate Chopin , born in America, was one of the most renowned female writers in the late nineteenth century. Nowadays she is considered as a forerunner of feminist authors of the 20th century because her works gave an important view of the female role in society and contributed to the beginning of the later feminist movement by the unique and unmatched voice she created. Kate Chopin’s major works include two novels: At Fault, which was her first work, and The Awakening. Besides, she wrote two collections of short stories: Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie. Of these works which established her as a classic writer, The Awakening is the most outstanding work of Kate Chopin and is viewed as her masterpiece.
     The Awakening appeared in the late nineteenth century. The story happens at Grade Isle，a resort for wealthy Creoles from New Orleans. There Edna, the heroine, spends holiday with her two sons and her husband Leonce Pontellier who comes and goes because of business．Edna has always done what is expected of a woman in the society，including marrying a man she does not love．In her husband’s mind, she is his belongings rather than an individual．During the holiday，Edna falls in love with Robert Lebrun．She begins to realize for the first time that she is an individual. She looks forward to living for her own and the man who loves her and makes her feel alive．Edna begins to disregard the customs of the society．She refuses to attend her sister’s wedding when her husband asks her to do so.