Agency, Gender, and Constraint: Examining Shame in The Awakening

Abstract

This thesis focuses on The Awakening by Kate Chopin and examines how shame constrains the performance of gender through the lens of Butler’s theory of gender performativity. Judith Butler claims that gender is the “practice of improvisation within a scene of constraint,” and I argue that shame organizes the scene of constraint by commanding specific responses to shame. In other words, I argue that shame is a social situation, not a personal emotion. The Awakening was written and is set at a unique moment in history that allowed for such a conversation about gender and gender performance to occur because of the social shift to a class system. The shift made leisure time more available, which allowed for this conversation of gender to develop. Within the novel, Edna Pontellier is shamed in various scenes for her gender performance, and she responds to this shaming by resisting, acquiescing, or improvising. In order to counter shame, Edna exercises agency through resistance or improvisation. The novel proves through Edna’s navigation of the complex oppressive social structure that it is possible to combat constraints without compromising agency or succumbing to oppression.