本文旨在分析凱特‧蕭邦的《覺醒》一書，其所言之覺醒，除了多年來學者所認同的情慾覺醒外，此覺醒可解讀為女性對長期受到陽性中心語言壓迫的覺悟，而此小說可視作女主角艾德娜追求解放女性聲音的陰性語言之歷程。除此之外，本文亦期望突顯，年代遠早於茱莉亞‧克莉斯蒂娃以及伊蓮‧西蘇兩者的蕭邦，在其社會風氣相對更為封閉之情況下，早已思索陰性語言的可能性，且其作品竟得與後繼女性主義者遙相呼應。透過兩位女性主義者的理論，本文解讀艾德娜之語言、精神狀態及其謎樣般的死亡，以簡視凱特對於女性追求陰性語言之態度。
	本文主要分成三章。首章旨在證明文中女性追求語言自由的議題不斷於書中再現，並透過艾德娜與其他男性角色的互動，分析陽性中心語言之暴力。章二則主要借用克氏以及西蘇之理論，來分析書中艾德娜對於陰性語言之追求。第三章則分析女主角與海洋的關係，並論證其投身於海何以被視為精神上返回母性空間之舉動，而其死亡，亦得以視為作者對其女性同胞做出追求語言自由之建議。
關鍵字：陰性語言、母性空間、符號衝動、象徵語序、陽性中心語言

Many researchers have studied Kate Chopin's The Awakening from the angle of the protagonist Edna's sexual awakening, but this thesis attempts to suggest a different approach. My study of the novel has two aims. First, I intend to prove that Edna's awakening can be interpreted as linguistic awakening, and her dedication to the sea testifies to her wish to return to what Julia Kristeva calls the chora, a state when language is still free, fluid and semiotic without the interference of symbolic order. Second, my thesis aims to show that Chopin is an avant-garde writer, who had pondered upon the same theme of female linguistic freedom long before later feminists Julia Krestiva and Hélène Cixous presented very similar concepts; and that through Edna, Chopin illustrates her view of what women should do to obtain their linguistic freedom. 
	The thesis is composed of three chapters. Chapter One first justifies my reading that indeed the theme of female linguistic freedom permeates the novel, and that the conversations between Edna and other male characters reveal the linguistic violence in phallogocentric language. Chapter Two applies Kristeva's and Cixous's theories to analyze how the novel can be understood as Edna's search for écriture féminine. Chapter Three illustrates how Edna's mysterious death in the sea can be read as her return to the chora and also as spiritual victory but social defeat.

Table of Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1
Chapter I: The Linguistic Oppression and Edna’s Gradual Awakening……………...11
 I. The Myth of Philomel………………………………………...11
II.  Phallogocentric Language…………………………………18
Chapter II: Struggling Toward L'écriture Feminine………………………………….34
I. The Other Bisexuality………………………………………..34
II. Art as a Means to the Semiotic………………………………40
Chapter III: Returning to the Chora………………………………………………….51
                 I. The Sea………………………………………………………52
II. Suicide……………………………………………………....55
Conclusion: …………………………………………………………..........................61
Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………...70

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