How Authorial Gender Influences the Portrayal of the Woman

Michael Robles

When analyzing literature, one of the most important aspects to take into consideration is the perspective of the author. Recognizing the class, gender, ethnicity, and other aspects of the author allows readers to give thought to how their background is incorporated into the work. More importantly, the author’s background can have a major effect on how they portray characters, specifically of the opposite gender. The novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a famous example of how a female author wrote the personal awakening of a female character, and displays a sense of accuracy in the character of Edna Pontellier. However, the novella Daisy Miller by Henry James is a clear example of how an author of the male gender portrays a female character of similar qualities differently from that of a female author. Therefore, The Awakening and Daisy Miller show how gender differences influence the portrayal of the female gender.

In The Awakening, the character of Edna Pontellier is written in two perspectives: in a tone more sympathetic for her role as a woman, and in a more neutral standpoint in the general role of the story. Kate Chopin assures to make the reader understand that Edna Pontellier is seen as a wife and mother more than as an independent being throughout the story. On page two, Kate Chopin even writes, “… looking at his [Leonce Pontellier] wife as one looks at a valuable piece of property which has suffered some damage,” (Chopin 2). In her introduction into the novel, Edna is immediately being compared to private property of her husband, thus showing the more raw theme of how women are to be considered property by their families and not their own person. Chopin recognizes this and immediately calls attention to it very early into the novel. Not only that, but her characterization is based on how women were treated in the nineteenth century. In his article “Women in the Nineteenth-Century America,” Graham Warder states, “Less a place of production than a spiritually sanctified retreat from the hurly-burly of economic life, the home was where women nurtured men and children into becoming morally elevated beings,” (Warder 2018). Women were expected to care for their husbands and children, and children, and Chopin mirrors this in Edna Pontellier’s beginning characterization.

In Daisy Miller, Henry James writes the story from a male’s perspective via the character Winterbourne. By writing from the perspective of a male, James establishes a disconnection between the reader and the characterization of the female character, as the use of limited third-person perspective only gives them details specifically from Winterbourne’s perspective. Therefore, they are expected to make assumptions of the character through the eyes of the male’s experiences with her. When he first meets Daisy, Winterbourne is taken aback by how she freely expresses how she has had many gentleman friends, where she states, “I have always had a great deal of gentlemen’s society,” (James 417). Winterbourne expresses confusion in this, as the narrator states, “Or was she also a designing, an audacious, an unscrupulous young person?” (James 417). James has Winterbourne compare Daisy’s statements to that of an unscrupulous young person, thus showing how the male’s perspective influences a female character’s depiction. Even though the narration is from a limited third-person perspective, it evokes a bias against Daisy’s actions, which becomes apparent to how she is treated throughout the novel. While Chopin focuses on Edna’s characterization in a more victimized manner, James uses adjectives with negative connotations to personify Daisy, such as the word “unscrupulous.” These two depictions are seen with how both characters are treated by their peers throughout their stories.

Chopin uses the character Adele Ratignolle to address Edna’s expectations as a woman, specifically by using the same expectations that women are expected to follow in nineteenth-century United States. One of the main ways that Chopin addresses the role of a woman in her culture is by using Adele Ratignolle as Pontellier’s counterpart. Adele represents the female lifestyle that Victorian women were expected to follow. In the article “Maternal Discourse and the Romance of Self-Possession in Kate Chopin’s the Awakening,” Ivy Schweitzer states, “The Awakening, written by a woman who was herself a mother of six and a widow at thirty, raises the perennial American question of individualism in terms of maternity,” (Schweitzer 162). Chopin questions the nineteenth-century American ideal of motherhood by developing a contrast between Edna and Adele. Adele is heavily characterized by the way she worships her children and husband.

Throughout the novel, Edna has become much less adamant about being a wife and mother, going so far as to move into a smaller cottage when her husband takes their children. Near the end of the novel, Edna is aiding Adele give birth, who dies when the baby is born. In her dying breath, Adele whispers to Edna, “Think of the children, Edna. Oh think of the children! Remember them,” (Chopin 111). Adele’s dying words are for Edna to consider how her changes in character affect her children. Chopin uses Adele as a comparison to how Edna is expected to live, when in reality she yearns for the exact opposite, depicting her actions in a neutral perspective. By using Adele this way, Chopin reinforces Edna’s characterization to be more humanizing rather than negative. Even though Edna’s actions, such as abandoning her role as a mother and cheating on her husband, are considered negative in American society, Chopin uses her growth as a more neutral enforcement for them.

One other key character that Edna interacts with is Robert Lebrun. The two form a bond in the beginning, but once Robert returns from Mexico later in the novel, Edna has become more individualistic. She has moved into her new home and made painting her priority, and realized she is not in love with her husband. Once the two reconcile in chapter thirty six, Chopin uses possessive language to show Robert’s true intentions to Edna. Robert says, “… you were not free. You were Leonce Pontellier’s wife. I couldn’t help loving you if you were ten times his wife… I forgot everything but a wild dream of your some way becoming my wife,” (Chopin 107-108). Chopin uses terms such as “free” and adding possessiveness to Edna being Robert or Leonce’s wife to depict a controlling aspect of marriage. In doing so, she adds her own perspective on what marriage is: man’s possession over women. Edna responds to Robert saying, “I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose.If he were to say, ‘Here Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,’ I would laugh at you both,” (Chopin 108). Chopin establishes how Edna’s endeavors, while they contain taboo acts, are part of her growth. Edna’s response of laughing at them both shows that she sees herself as no one’s possession but her own, reinforcing her independence and Chopin’s stance on her development. This also indicates Chopin’s neutral and sympathetic perspective on a woman defying the societal expectations due to her perspective as a female.

Instead of having Edna have a more empathetic response to Robert’s longing for her to be his wife, Chopin uses their reconciliation to express how Edna is individualistic in her romantic wants. This differs from James’ depiction of romance in Daisy Miller, as Winterbourne does show possessiveness, but Daisy Miller mocks him instead.

Daisy Miller is often criticized by other characters within the environments she is part of. This adds to how Henry James’ perspective as a male changes how Daisy Miller is portrayed to the audience. In the novella, Daisy begins to flirt with another man, Mr. Giovanelli, in Rome, without intention of courting him. This is seen both in how Daisy grows angry at Winterbourne when he assumes she will marry Giovanelli and she gets upset (James 440), and Mr. Giovanelli even telling Winterbourne at her funeral that she would never have married him (James 449). It becomes widely known that flirting is not part of European culture, as Mrs. Walker starts to dislike Daisy due to this to the point of hostility. However, Daisy is the only one who receives repercussions for flirting with someone she will not marry, even though Giovanelli is just as guilty. It is clear how James’ perspective as a male, whilst writing in the perspective of a male character, evokes a negative bias to how Daisy Miller is expected to act as a woman. By having Mrs. Walker specifically ask Daisy, “Should you prefer being thought a very reckless girl,” when she is seen walking with Giovanelli, James emphasizes how Daisy is expected to act ladylike and not fraternize with men she does not intend to court. Throughout the novella, Winterbourne bears witness to Rome townspeople talking negatively about Daisy behind her back, without any mention of Giovanelli being blamed for the same intention, thus placing the derogatory action on Daisy because of her expectations as a woman. The breaking of such expectations adds onto how both Daisy and Edna’s actions are seen as taboo, yet because of the authors’ differences in gender perspective, the consequences they experience differ.

Throughout The Awakening, Edna constantly battles her role as a mother and wife, attempting to abandon or at least disregard them. This is apparent when Edna tells Adele, “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children, but I wouldn’t give up myself,” (Chopin 47). Chopin differentiates Edna’s life from her figurative self to show how Edna believes she would not give the very characteristics and virtues that make her whole. Schweitzer states, “Edna’s struggle for autonomous selfhood entails a rejection of her responsibilities as mother,” (Schweitzer 162). This emphasizes how Edna’s rejection of motherly ideals played a part in her suicide, as the weight of the expectations as a mother burdened her throughout the novel. In doing so, Chopin shows a breaking of virtues and expectations that Edna soon continues to do throughout the novel. This is especially seen when she commits taboo acts such as falling in love with Robert while still married, and committing adultery with Alcee Arobin.

While her actions are not as public as Daisy’s, Edna receives almost no literal consequences for her actions. Her family does leave her as a sort of consequence of her independence, but Chopin writes, “When Edna was at last alone, she breathed a big, genuine sign of relief. A feeling that was unfamiliar but very delicious came over her,” (Chopin 72). In essence, Chopin uses Edna’s family’s departure as a positive consequence and opportunity more than a negativity. This is due to Edna’s growing individualism becoming a motive for Chopin to express how a woman’s independence is beneficial, despite it being scorned upon by her father and eventually Leonce. Even when Edna kisses Alcee for the first time in chapter twenty five, she feels as though she betrayed Robert, not Leonce, because to her, she “married her husband without love as an excuse,” (Chopin 77). However, she receives no repercussions by the public and is merely warned by both Robert and Adele to not have relations with him. When Edna dies, it is not as a literary consequence either, because Robert leaving acts as a consequence of her individualism, not her actions. Chopin’s perspective as a woman is seen in how Edna receives very little repercussions, showing how Chopin does not believe a woman’s freedom should result in negative outcomes of her independent choices. While Daisy Miller does the same, both literal and literary consequences are much more outspoken and karma-influenced.

Daisy Miller exhibited a form of independence in her characterization as well, but it was heavily focused on the consequences she faced from other characters. By the end of the novel, her straying from expectations both as a woman and in European culture, led to her being treated as an outcast by Mrs. Walker, Winterbourne, and the city of Rome as a whole. This was in part due to James’ perspective as a male writer, as even though it was not represented as a primary reason to treat Daisy this way as a character, the contrast between her being a female and both the writer and protagonist being male influences her portrayal. This is evident in how Giovanelli is perceived in comparison to Daisy. In chapter four, Mrs. Costello calls Giovanelli a “perfectly respectable little man,” but says she “can imagine nothing more vulgar,” than Daisy being entranced by Giovanelli without wanting to marry him (James 442). In this contrasting characterization, James is showing how Daisy’s expectations as a woman being broken are resulting in consequences by others. By villainizing only Daisy for spending time with Giovanelli, James is leaving little room for offering her character growth as a result of the consequences she faces. This is due to the limitations of being a male when writing a female character.

James’ limitations as a male writing a female character shows in Daisy’s consequences. In The Awakening, when Edna’s family leaves, she becomes restless, but grows from it by painting more and eventually buying her own home. She becomes more upfront about her interest in Robert, and even has sex with Alcee, so Chopin figuratively frees her from the bondage of marriage and motherhood that she wrote her in. For Daisy, she is merely gossiped about and receives no growth or development. Instead of having her character arc shape through her outcast behavior, it is just repeated. The focus is eventually shifted to Winterbourne avoiding her. James writes:

“He felt angry with himself that he had bothered so much about the right way of regarding Miss Daisy Miller. Then, as he was going to advance again, he checked himself; not from the fear that he was doing her injustice, but from a sense of the danger of appearing unbecomingly exhilarated by this sudden revulsion from cautious criticism,” (James 447).

Since the novella is also told from the perspective of Winterbourne, the reader is given his own personal interpretation of Daisy’s character and consequences, thus limiting her character even more. As a male, James gives Daisy consequences that a woman would be expected to receive from her committing culturally taboo acts, and thus her literary consequences suffer as well, as she learns nothing from the experience and continues to act the same way until her death.

This differentiation is also seen in how both Edna and Daisy’s demises are written.

Chopin gives Edna a death that depicts her finding true freedom in suicide. She faces death as a result of her own individualism because she did not want to be “owned” by Robert via marriage, so she loses him as a result of that. The only way Chopin expresses Edna’s resolution to truly be free is by death, thus emphasizing that the true way for a woman to be “free” from motherhood and marriage is death. While Chopin gives Edna a self-annihilating death, it is not by the consequences of her own actions, but by the feeling of not wanting to live a life she is expected to live. Her character arc focuses on searching for a newfound freedom and attempting to reach it wholeheartedly, but because of the expectations she is given as a mother and wife, she cannot reach it. So, the only way to reach it is death. The female perspective as a woman and wife comes into play because Chopin was a wife and most likely experienced these expectations firsthand. Edna previously told Adele that she would give up her own life, but not herself for her children (Chopin 47), and her death makes this full-circle. Edna receives a full character arc in the end as Chopin writes her as a result of the over-encumbering expectations of women. As for Daisy Miller, her death was much more limited because of the perspective it was being told in.

James writes Daisy Miller’s death as karma-influenced, and gives her no lasting effect on other characters due to lack of experience in the female viewpoint. James’ key focus of Daisy Miller was on how cultures changed when Americans began to travel to Europe, and the resulting culture shock on both sides. So, it is evident that he is writing from the perspective of a male. However, this limits Daisy Miller’s death because of his lack of importance on Daisy’s gender as part of her character. When Winterbourne asks Giovanelli why he took her to the colosseum, Giovanelli says, “… I had no fear; and she wanted to go,” (James 448). James has Giovanelli immediately place the blame onto Daisy for contracting Roman fever, adding to how only Daisy is blamed for both her and Giovanelli’s actions. Daisy’s death also has no lasting effect on Winterbourne or Giovanelli, which hinders her character’s growth in the end. Giovanelli says, “Had she lived, I would have got nothing,” in terms of her not marrying him (James 448), revealing how Giovanelli is mostly dejected by not being able to marry her. James even ends the novella with Winterbourne learning almost nothing from his occurrences with Daisy. While Winterbourne says he committed an injustice to her, the feeling is almost immediately vanished in his epilogue as he studies “a very clever foreign lady” the same way he studied Daisy (James 448). James’ bias towards male characters is heavily shown in the novella’s ending, as Daisy is blamed for her contracting Roman Fever, and her death having no effect due to her defiance of European and gender expectations. As a male writer, James gives Daisy, his main female character, no ending development as opposed to his main male character. Winterbourne’s character arc is given an ending in which James writes Winterbourne’s study of the clever foreign lady is “contradictory,” but Daisy’s final remembrance is focused solely on her interactions with Winterbourne and Giovanelli (James 448). This shows how James’ male perspective focuses more on a female character’s effects and interactions on other characters, as opposed to fulfilling actual arcs for male characters. This differentiates how James as a male writer creates an ending for a female character compared to Kate Chopin.

In conclusion, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and Henry James’ Daisy Miller express how the gender of the author influences their portrayal of the female gender. While Chopin gave Edna Pontellier a rounded character arc where her demise was influenced by the societal expectations of women, Daisy Miller was instead characterized by her interactions with other characters and the consequences of defying European and female cultural norms. The gender of both authors plays a heavy part in both how primary and secondary characters are portrayed in nineteenth-century fiction.

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Philip Smith. 1899. Dover Thrift Editions, 1993.

James, Miller. “Daisy Miller.” Norton Anthology of American Litera ture: Shorter (V2: 1865 to Present), edited by Robert S. Levine, W. W. Norton & Company, 2012, pp 410-449.

Schweitzer, Ivy. “Maternal Discourse and the Romance of SelfPossession in Kate Chopin’s the Awakening.” Boundary 2, vol. 17, no. 1, Duke University Press, 1990, pp. 158–86, https:// \\doi.org/10.2307/303221.

Warder, Graham. “Women in Nineteenth-Century America.” Social Welfare History Project, 13 Mar. 2018, https://socialwelfare. library.vcu.edu/woman-suffrage/women-in-nineteenth-centu ry-america-2/.

Desert Mirages Eden Pohl

I feel most pretty when I cry

As the teardrops fall down my face my lashes get longer

My small, average eyes get puffy red and twice their size

My naturally full lips get even plumper

And my usually cheerful face, marked with deep smile lines contorts itself into a grimace that’s so foreign to my everyday demeanor

Yet I know this face

I know this face very very well

It’s the face of my breaking point

Where I’ve ignored the darkness brewing under for as long as I could

Where I’ve moved the broken pieces of my past on both my shoulders too many times

But despite how many times I shift my weight the pain doesn’t get any easier

Any less noticeable, but I sure pretend it does

I focus on my face instead

I’m staring at it right now in my old black mirror as I write this poem

She’s beautiful

And she’s so so broken

This is her,

The Dolu hiding behind all my laughs, all my jokes, my cool and always smiling demeanor

The everyday dolu is cool and all

But this one’s striking

She’s harder to digest

But I still think she’s so beautiful

Because it’s only when I see her face

Her grief stricken face that I’m finally kind to myself

I become gentle to myself in ways I never do when I’m “okay”