Is the Awakening a feminist text or not?

"The Awakening" is widely thought of as one of the first
overtly feminist novels. Published in 1899, it was censored for content and considered
too smutty for public reading. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, slowly comes to
understand her role as expected by societal norms of the era, and rebels against that
role; she has an affair and learns to appreciate her own beauty without concern for
outside judgment. She ultimately allows herself to drown in the same ocean where she
first learned to swim, feeling that no one in her life can understand her choice,
because they are bound by their own prejudices.

In the
sense that Edna refuses to be controlled by societal (masculine) norms, the book is
considered feminist. At one point, her husband has her examined by a doctor, as her
actions indicate mental illness to his 19th century mind. The doctor advises that she be
"allowed" to continue until her rebellion has run its course; his private assumption
that she is having an affair, and his decision not to mention it, is more progressive
than his assumption that she will eventually return to "normal" as defined by
society.

Edna's ultimate suicide by drowning is
specifically not judged by the text; her choice is left to the reader to analyze. She
makes her choice of her own free will, without being influenced by her role as a woman
in society, but it is also a choice made out of desperation, one she sees as a last
resort. She doesn't see her life as worth living for her own sake, but instead as a
burden, a life for others to enjoy.

In the end of the book,
she considers her newly awakened state:

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There was no one thing in the world that she
desired. There was no human being whom she wanted near her except Robert; and she even
realized that the day would come when he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of
her existence, leaving her alone. The children appeared before her like antagonists who
had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul's slavery for
the rest of her days. But she knew a way to elude
them.

It may be the remnants
of her upbringing that make suicide seem a better option. Instead of making any positive
changes to her life, or even talking with her family about her new outlook (which, in
her defense, they would likely be unable to comprehend) she removes herself from the
equation entirely.

In the end, it is up to the reader to
declare Edna's actions as specifically feminist or not. Literary opinion is mostly
agreed that the major themes of the novel -- rebellion against societal norms and
refusal of submission -- are feminist in nature, but analysis of the resolution may be
more vague.