Marxist Perspectives In The Awakening By Kate Chopin

The Awakening’s Marxist Undertones Mamata Banerjee once said, “We are not Marxist or Capitalist; we are for the poor people”, and that perfectly symbolizes the Marxist cause. Many Marxist views are represented in many books throughout history, and they help to prove how bad Capitalism truly is. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening there lie many subtleties of Marxism and its ideals. Chopin injects the ideals into the novel through characters’ actions and behaviors. Three characters in particular represent the evils of Capitalism in the teachings of Marxist, and those characters are Edna Pontellier, Léonce Pontellier, and Robert Lebrun. Each one of these characters’ Capitalistic ideals punishes Edna throughout the entirety of the text. The character

The instant the author introduces the reader to Léonce, they are alerted to the fact he is a wealthy man just by the description of his property, “The main building was called “the house” to distinguish it from the cottages” (Chopin 6). Since they have to distinguish the Pontellier’s house from the other homes on their property, the reader can ascertain they have a lot of money, more specifically Mr. Pontellier does. Léonce even has a group of servants to attend the property, as mentioned several times throughout the novel. This is the epitome of Capitalistic vices because he is found to have many things and a lot of money. One of the most important beliefs of Marxism is that the more things someone owns, the less godly they are in reality. Léonce is the Devil of Capitalism because he is very materialistic, and from the initial description of him. After he is introduced, Mr. Pontellier states, “… he had half a mind to go over to Klein’s hotel [club] and play a game of billiards” (Chopin 7). This shows Léonce prefers to be surrounded with people of his stature since only richer men could afford to go to clubs during this period, and billiards is a very rich man’s game. The author included this to show how much of a Marxist belief she had while writing the novel. Mr. Pontellier wanting to go with his rich man peers instead of spending time with the slightly poorer Robert shows how evil the class system of Capitalism is, and it also shows how a classless system would prevail in this type of situation. As the story progresses, Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier move back to New Orleans, where their house is located, and Léonce notices changes in Edna’s behavior. At one point he asks why she is not dressed nice at dinner since it is Tuesday and she has callers come on Tuesdays (Chopin 85). When Edna responds she tells him she did not do any of that work this Tuesday, he