ケイト・ショパン著「目覚め」に見るエドナ・ポンテリエの自我

抄録

Being far from conventional conservatism, artists tend to insist on going ahead of their times. It is likely that innovative writers are censured and suppressed by the dominant culture, for they violate not only cultural stereotypes but also social expectations. Kate Chopin, the author of The Awakening, was one of those writers who are far ahead of their times, and she was condemned throughout the U.S.A. though she had established her literary reputation as a regional writer before its publication in 1899. The novel was unrecognized for a long period because it was regarded as scandalous by much of the society. In spite of its tumultuous history, the American feminist literary movement in the 1960s, half a century after publication, helped Kate Chopin become a prestigious writer. In other words, because of the new rise of American feminist criticism, The Awakening has been considered one of the most highly sophisticated books in the United States literary canon. The proper status of the work has been afforded, and it has found an appeal with general readers and secured a place as well in the literary curricula in many American college and university courses. Chopin creates Edna Pontellier, the heroine of the story, as a married woman who is spiritually awakened in the course of her domestically restricted life and seeks her own individuality. The novel encompasses many themes such as dignity of individuality and vision of freedom. One of the most important themes that Chopin wants to present in the story is evidently Edna’s awakened love for a charming man named Robert Lebrun. Throughout Edna’s spiritual struggle toward self-fulfillment in her life, her love for him is awakened after his first denial of her. However, his second denial of her immediately causes her ultimate depression, and she walks into the ocean alone, hopelessly, for she has no solution for her loss of love. Death is the only escape that she is able to imagine.