Essay:
« The role of Adèle Ratignolle in The Awakening »

In her novel “The Awakening”, Kate Chopin has introduced the character of Adèle Ratignolle. This Creole woman appears and reappears all along the story but what is exactly the role of Adèle in the novel? There is no denying that the woman is at first Edna’s best friend. However, as Edna’s rebirth takes place, her feelings towards Adèle progressively change and one can’t help thinking at the end that the Creole woman has a weighing role in Edna’s suicide!

Adèle Ratignolle is about the same age as Edna, she has been married seven years and is a mother of three. She is comparatively in the same situation as Edna’s and evolves in the same society. The two women are fond of each other. Edna admires the confounding beauty of her friend and her candor. As a Creole, Adèle is an extrovert and this quality attracts Edna who has never had the opportunity of expressing her moods for coming from a different background, her mother having died when she was quite young, her father being a military officer and her sister being not really effusive. Logically, Adèle becomes Edna’s confidante. The climax of their friendship takes place in chapter VII when, sat in front of the sea Edna is asked by Adèle to tell what she is thinking about. Edna recalls openly “the meadow that seemed as big as the ocean” and touch by such troubling thoughts, Adèle takes Edna’s hand and strokes it provoking confusion and maybe a first awakening in Edna’s mind. However, if both of young ladies have some common external similarities, their internal wishes grow very differently as Edna evolves in her own way.

Then, Kate Chopin uses Adèle’s character as a reference, a standard from which her main character wants to escape. The perfect social behaviour, the perfect spouse, the perfect mother are all the repelling characteristics to Edna’s will in search of freedom, in search of her self. One of the most striking events