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Matthew Ebert
Kristi Brock
ENG 291-001
Definition Essay
March 12, 2016
Misogyny and the Awakening
The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a novel that brings about feminism in the early 1900s, but
theres a great amount of misogynistic undertone in the novel that Chopin uses as an antithesis to
Ednas awakening to bring about her demise. Ironically, the same misogynistic ideals prevalent
in the novel were used to criticize it immediately after its release. In order to understand the
misogyny of The Awakening and the late 1800s and the early 1900s, we must define misogyny
and talk about its modern relevance. After defining misogyny, the examples of such from the
novel must be shown to correlate the effects it has upon the demise of Edna. Lets define
misogyny so that we can fully understand the term and explain the relevance to modern society.
Ive heard misogyny so often that I almost devalue the term as a feministic attack on men, my
own ignorance led me to choose this word to define. So to officially define misogyny, I will use
the Oxford Online Dictionary, which defines misogyny as Dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained
prejudice against women ("Definition of Misogyny in English"). In my experience, very seldom
do people come out with blatant dislike or contempt for women, but there is a lot of ingrained
prejudice. While as a society we have tried to move away from these prejudices, some of their
affects still loom large. A ringing endorsement of feminism at this point is the gender wage gap,
which claims women make 79% of what men make ("Pay Equity & Discrimination."). This is
true in whole, despite women not being openly discriminated against when negotiating wages,
and by studying the misogynistic past we can say that the wage gap is a result of previous era
misogyny. The wage gap is mostly the result of misogynistic roles, or the misogynistic idea of

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taking time off work to raise children. I can prove these misogynistic views very simply, imagine
a doctor or an engineer. Chances are that you envisioned a male in those roles. Now picture a
nurse or school teacher, chances are you pictured a female in those roles. While these may be
choices, they are ingrained perceptions at a young age that drive women to choose different
fields that pay less. Slowly were pushing through this ingrained prejudice, but itll take time and
started with novels such as The Awakening by Kate Chopin. A lot of the misogyny, which we still
experience today, was heavily challenged by Kate Chopin in her novel, its an instrumental part
of the downfall of Edna.
In The Awakening misogyny is prevalent and is a leading factor in the development of Edna
through her awakening. Very early we are shown misogyny, on only the 3rd page of the novel we
see how Mr. Pontellier views his wife as property. Looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable
piece of property which has suffered some damage (Chopin, 3). This is a very early but very
important look into the misogyny of the era. Women were considered property, less than equal to
men. This misogyny is important in the role of Robert and Ednas relationship, since Robert sees
Edna as belonging to Leonce. Leonce, after reprimanding his wife for neglecting the children,
has a thought; If it was not a mothers place to look after children, whose on earth was it (8).
This shows my earlier point of child bearing being a misogynistic role thrust upon women, here
we see it enforcing an ideal of the society of the time. Fathers are not there to raise the children;
thus the role is left wholly upon the mother. Another important misogynistic instance in the book
is a conversation between Leonce and the Colonel, Authority, coercion are what is needed. Put
your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife (109). Immediately following
this Chopin foreshadows how this misogynistic bit of advice from the Colonel will doom Edna.
The Colonel was perhaps unaware that he had coerced his own wife into her grave (109). Here

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we see that the Colonels misogynistic approach to his wife had led to her death, and with a bit of
foreshadowing, we see Chopin hinting that Leonces actions will coerce Edna into hers as well.
If we recall the earlier quote from Leonce about mothers being responsible for the children, then
we see the final outcome of his misogynistic possession of Edna and misogynistic ideal of
women being children bearers. This all comes to fruition right before Edna goes for her final
swim, The children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had
overpowered and sought to drag her into the souls slavery (176). The children are not the true
antagonists here, but rather the misogynistic role of motherhood placed upon Edna. She couldnt
leave her children in a society that placed significance upon a mother being there to raise them.
Interestingly, her death would not have the same effect as her leaving them, thats the true
shocker in all of this. Its a matter of how shes gone, not thats shes gone. Kate Chopin was very
open and obvious in her attacks on the misogynistic roles placed upon women in the era this was
written, as we can see from the previous quotes. Now we move
Since the novel was against the societal norms of the time, and even highlighted the
disastrous roles assigned to women and men, it was negatively reviewed. The critical reviews of
the novel are numerous and follow the same thought process with misogynistic roles of the era,
but thats a topic for another time. However, we can conclude from the evidence presented that
misogyny was a driving factor in Ednas downfall. My own ignorance led me to explore the
term, and in seeing it in action, I was able to see how detrimental such examples of misogyny
can be, so Ive learned a great deal. This research has led me to the conclusion that misogyny is
the antithesis to Ednas feministic awakening; in such that because of the powerful presence of a
misogynistic society Edna could not survive in her newly found form. Much like Kate Chopins
novel was unable to survive misogyny of critics until its own resurrection much later.

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Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin. New York: Pocket, 2004.
Print.
"Definition of Misogyny in English" Misogyny: Definition of Misogyny in Oxford Dictionary
(American English) (US). Oxford University Press, 2016. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.
<http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/misogyny>.
"Pay Equity & Discrimination." Pay Equity & Discrimination. Institute for Women's Policy
Research, 2010. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. <http://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/pay-equity-anddiscrimination>.