Veblen and Chopin

Thorstein Veblen's writing about the "Leisure Class" has a direct connection to Chopin's writing in the awakening. Veblen states, "According to the ideal scheme of life in force at that time it is the office of the men to consume what the women produce. Such consumption as falls to women is merely incidental to their work; It is a means to their continued labor, and not a consumption directed to their own comfort and fullness of life". Veblen makes a great point about the consumption by men. The men are at the receiving end of the women/housewife's work and dedication. This is the "ideal scheme of life" that is very much present and challenged in the Awakening. Edna is an outsider to the Creole traditions of New Orleans, these traditions are similar to and more concrete than Veblen's point. Edna feels like she should not have to devote all of her time and her self-being to the family. Unlike some of the other women in the book, who's lives are consumed by their families, whether voluntary or forced, Edna expresses individuality. There are several moments in the book where we see her "rebel" against the traditions, or where we see she is clearly not accepting her role in life. Like when she says she would give up everything for her children including her life, but not herself; Or when she is standing outside Lebrun's house that seemed like a prison and she was on the outside waiting to get in, which is a connection between her being on the outside of traditional societal values. Veblen points out a great truth in our societal values and Chopin, through the character Edna, shows how clear these values are in life and what it takes and how people react to someone rebelling against them. I think it is very easy to look past all of the subtle details in the book, and it is essential to pay close attention to the language Chopin uses. It is also interesting to see reactions to a female character being the existentialist or true individual.

Faster and Faster with Nowhere to Go

I find Veblen's take on Theory of the Leisure Class especially interesting at a time when American society is so driven by efficiency in everything we do. What we define as success has been shrunken down to whatever is the most efficient way to get things done. We give enormous support to fast-food companies to make our food faster, pay thousands of dollars to make our computers faster, and we can't even fathom the idea of not having a car to get ourselves places the fastest way possible. Family I visited in Europe over the summer was shocked to hear that we have coffee to-go, something that other countries consider a way to sit down, relax, and chat while we are just so focused on go go go.

With a society so fixed on efficiency, the fact that we regard evidence of "extravagant expenditures" of time, money, and resources as beautiful solely because they are wasteful seems almost paradoxical. The fastest cars, the fastest phones, the fastest computers, the fastest kitchen appliances are all still the most expensive and yet things such as edged lawns, elaborate decorating styles, and high standards of cleanness area all things that use this precious time that we are endlessly trying to eliminate from our daily lifestyles. No matter how fast and glorious the iPhone 6 is, millions of people will undoubtedly rush to buy the new iPhone7 as soon as it reaches store, not because their iPhone 6 is not fast enough for them, but because it is no longer fast enough for the ever changing society that convinces us that our iPhone 6 is not good enough. It seems that we are so structured on Veblen's idea of "conspicuous waste" with a false sense of "conspicuous leisure."

the more time wasted on it, the prettier it is

Veblen provokes the idea that women during his time (and he most likely would have assumed during today's era as well) were designated to the "conspicuous leisure" that shackled women to the domestic role of mother and wife.

He argues that the leisures of the wife/mother apart from her typical household duties include, but are not limited to, decorating for the holidays, and are primarily for the appeal of anyone other than herself. Veblen describes the domestic female's appearance (based on socially-imposed standards, of course) are more specifically directed towards her husband's tastes. 

Veblen goes on to talk about what women do and don't do for the sake of their husbands and of society, however I was intrigued by was his assertion that the standards of beauty for which women base their homes and appearances and such on were only viewed as beauteous because they were considered to be conspicuously wasteful. In other words (or rather how I translated it), consumer-based standards of beauty that women typically spend much time doting over are merely objectified as attractive because we understand that the woman spent (or rather wasted) much of her time attending to such artifacts in order to please her audience. 

This is what Edna longed to escape. The duty of constantly attending to her children and husband and household while simultaneously worrying what a shallow community of conformists thought about her appearance as a mother, wife, and overall woman exhausted Edna. She was able to recognize the manifest illogic of such a lifestyle. 

While Edna's suicide can be argued as either a tragedy to represent her failures or as her triumph to break the convention of Victorian womanhood (or both I guess), it is undeniable that her attempts to liberate herself from the bindings of gender-based conformity are at least admirable given the context of her environment.

Edna vs. Conspicuous Leisure

In Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class, he discusses the two types of economic concepts: conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption. Conspicuous leisure revolves around activities that supposedly don’t produce anything with actual value, such as washing dishes or sweeping the floor. He lists this type of social practice as “non-productive”, and associates it with women. Men, on the other hand, fall under the conspicuous consumption category. They must go out and work to provide for the family, and therefore can’t take part in any form of conspicuous leisure.

Edna and her husband in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening are perfect examples of these economic concepts. While Mr. Pontellier is away for business, Edna is left alone with the children. When she attempts to move into a new home (the “pigeon house”), Mr. Pontellier announces that they are re-modeling their home as an attempt cover up Edna’s rebellious actions. This goes back to Veblen’s argument, and supports his idea that a woman participating in “consumption” (such as Edna switching houses) is “taboo”. In addition, they are part of the middle/upper-middle class, which is where this “phenomenon” occurs most.

What I Would Give To Be A Part Of The Leisure Class

Contradictory to the title I would not like to be a part of the "Leisure Class." The Leisure Class is term coined by Thorstein Veblen in his Theory of the Leisure Class. The leisure class is a high society class that does not do much other then sit around and show off their wealth. Veblen focuses on women's contributions to the leisure class.

Veblen developed the concepts of conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption to describe a high class of people.Conspicuous leisure is defined as non-productive consumption of time. Conspicuous consumption is defined as spending money because you have it and you can show it off.  These people had enough money that the woman's role was to partake in conspicuous leisure and the family engaged in conspicuous consumption basically because they could.

This article ties in  The Awakening by Kate Chopin through the books main character Edna and her husband Leonce. Leonce loves to live extravagantly and always keeps up with the latest fashion. Conspicuous leisure is evident in the way that the Pontelliers spend their summers. They go to an expensive resort like place on an island in the gulf of Mexico.

In many instances Leonce goes off to work and leaves Edna to sit around and waste time. Later in the novel when Edna starts her awakening she starts to depart from the normal behaviors. She refuses Leonce's offer to go purchase new fixtures, and down grades to a smaller (but still prominent) house.

With Edna's sexual and gender awakening we start to see a sort of economic awakening as well. Edna develops her own income and starts to attempt to provide for herself rather then partake in conspicuous leisure.

Worthless but Necessary

Mary Wollstonecraft brings forth ideas from many different scholars.  For example she states that, “Rousseau declares that a woman should never, for a moment, feel herself independent, that she should be governed by fear to exercise her natural cunning, and made a coquettish slave in order to render her a more alluring object of desire, a sweeter companion to man, whenever he chooses to relax himself.” (pg. 7).  This quote reminds me of Edna in the novel The Awakening.  In fact, Edna chooses to do the opposite of what Rousseau believes.  Edna in the end of the novel refuses to go on a trip with her husband, picks her own love that she is truly passionate about, and moves into her own home that she pays for with her own money.  

Also Wollstonecraft says, “Connected with man as daughters, wives, and mothers, their moral character may be estimated by their manner of fulfilling those simple duties; but the end, the grand end of their exertions should be to unfold their own faculties and acquire the dignity of conscious virtue.” (pg. 8). This quote reminds of a concept that Thorstein Veblen discusses.  When Wollstonecraft talks about the duties of women I think that Veblen elaborates on what these duties are stereotypically supposed to be.  Veblen says, “In the earlier phases of the predatory culture the only economic differentiation is a broad distinction between an honourable superior class made up of the able- bodied men on the one side, and a base inferior class of labouring women on the other.”(pg. 32).  Men are superior while the women work because of their inferiority.  

Veblen also elaborates on the work that women achieve.  Veblen states, “Unproductive consumption of goods is honorable, primarily as a mark of prowess and a perquisite of human dignity; secondarily it becomes substantially honourable in itself, especially the consumption of the more desirable things.”(pg. 31) This quote explains how it is honourable to appear to be wealthy and superior and the way to achieve this is in the tasks that women complete.  Women elaborately decorate the interiors of their homes, they change the landscape of their homes to edged lawns, and they fill their kitchens with fancy appliances.  All of these are worthless and provide no practical purpose, however, they demonstrate wealth and help to build their husband’s image.  

This is similar to Edna and Leonce’s martial relationship in The Awakening.  When Edna decides to move out to the pigeon house Leonce doesn’t want society to think that he isn’t wealthy enough to provide for her so he says that he is redoing his house because according to society having a nice and decadent household with impractical belongings portrays you as wealthy.  

How the 'Leisure Class' lives is New Orleans

Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class is a socio-economic treatise on the ramifications of ancient class distinctions on the society of today. Veblen critiques high-class 'Conspicuous Consumption,' and  proposes that the lower and middle class support society as a whole. In short, Veblen says that economic choice is driven by the remnants of social class, not by utility.

Chopin's The Awakening ties in with Veblen's theory. The novel is founded upon the premise that the high class must not work for their quality of life. Edna, the main character, finds herself married into extreme wealth, to the point that she doesn't know what to do with her time. The novel's rich attention to detail shows the characters' attention to detail; they need not be concerned with the big picture because they have it laid out for them by the lower classes.

Veblen further postulates that the leisure class maintains control of the lower castes by withholding useful tools from them. In the past, an example would be tribe warriors withholding the secrets of forging weapons from the general tribe population. In The Awakening, this connection is actually not strongly developed, but there are a few hints at high-class propriety: connections to the doctor and having maids, servants, and men from lower classes who fawn over Edna.

Is sum, Veblen's 'Conspicuous Consumption' theory is exemplified by the novel's slow pace, the nonchalant lifestyle of the rich, and the rich attention to detail. Chopin's work does not strongly highlight Veblen's other theses about contemporary distinctions between classes.