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The Awakening was the second and last novel written by Kate Chopin who was originally named Katherine O’Flaherty. Chopin was severely criticized for her feminist writing and especially of her portrayal of a woman having extramarital affairs which was considered outrageous at the time. Kate Chopin was brought up in a matriarchal household and was surrounded … Read more
Written by Kate Chopin, The Awakening was the second and final novel to be published by the feminist, controversial writer. Published in 1899 during the first wave of feminism, the novel was extremely ahead of its time in its criticism of the patriarchal society and prevailing gender roles in the late 19th and early 20th century. The novel is … Read more
The story begins as Edna Pontellier, her husband Léonce and their children are vacationing at one of the Lebrun’s Grand Isle cottages. Edna’s husband spends most of his time away for business and when he isn’t working he prefers the company of his friends at nearby hotel called Klein’s. Edna as a result spends most … Read more
“In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The motherwomen seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy … Read more
Characters Edna Pontellier The young wife and mother who loses herself to the pressures of societal conventions. Edna is treated as a mere object by her husband and expected to sacrifice herself for the sake of her children. She decides to rebel against the conventions that bind her and begins her path to self-discovery. However, … Read more
Themes Self vs Society The novel criticizes the patriarchal society that deprives a woman of her freedom to think, feel and act as she pleases. Girls are taught from a young age to betray their own instincts and live a dual life which consists of an inner and an outer self. Edna defies society by … Read more
The contrast between an urban and a tropical setting represents the awakening that the protagonist experiences in Kate Chopin’s classic novel, The Awakening. At Grand Isle Edna becomes conscious of her restrictive marriage in a male dominated society. Her awakening originates with her experiences at Grand Isle but fully develops upon her return to the … Read more
There are many important paths that we must follow on our journey through life. We follow the path without questioning its intent. The path informs us when we should learn to talk, to walk, to marry, and to have children. We are told that we should never stray from it, because if we do, society … Read more
Henry James’s Daisy Miller and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening were first published twenty-one years apart, the former in 1878 and the latter in 1899. Despite the gap of more than two decades, however, the two works evince a similarity of thought and intent that is immediately evident in their main themes. Both works display characters … Read more
The Awakening contains many symbolic features, such as the way Edna uses art, the birds (the parrot and the mockingbird), sleep, music, and the houses Edna Pontellier lives in, but perhaps two of the most significant symbols are the clothes in the novel, not only of Edna, but also the other characters, and the water, … Read more
Kate Chopin entitled her second and final novel, The Awakening. In doing so she did not just give an abstract name to her work, but she chose a title with meaning and symbolism. By titling her work The Awakening, Chopin is indicating her feelings and opinions of the Creole society, Edna, her life, and her … Read more
In all novels the use of symbols are what make the story feel so real to the reader. A symbol as simple as a bird can mean so much more then what you see. Whereas a symbol as complicated as the sea, can mean so much less then what you thought. It is a person … Read more
In Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening the constant boundaries and restrictions placed on Edna Pontellier by society will lead to her struggle for freedom and her ultimate suicide. Her husband Leonce Pontellier, the current women of society, and the Grand Isle make it evident that Edna is trapped in a patriarchal society. Despite these people, … Read more
Right from the beginning the plot is almost conveniently evident. You find a woman, Edna Pontellier, tired of living her life as a pampered and “owned” wife and mother. She is searching for much more in her life, some sort of meaning for her whole existence. She searches for a long time but in the … Read more
Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual (93) The Awakening by Kate Chopin introduces the reader to the life of Edna Pontellier, a woman with an independent nature, searching for her true identity in a patriarchal society that expects women to be nothing … Read more
Kate Chopin underscores the expression “free as a bird” in the novel The Awakening through the consistent use of aviary symbolism. Throughout the story she cleverly weaves images and descriptions of birds to express the psychological state of mind of her main character, Edna Pontellier. Perhaps the most obvious example of this symbolism is in … Read more