Summary of The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Description

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is widely considered one of the most important and beautifully crafted novels of the turn of the 20th century. At the time of its publication in 1899, however, many saw Chopin’s exploration of a married woman’s quest for fulfillment and autonomy as morally deviant. Critics condemned it as much for its portrayal of female sensuality as its unorthodox perspectives on marriage and motherhood. Surprisingly modern in style and psychology, Chopin’s unique blend of matter-of-fact narration with lyrical interludes continues to draw readers and raise incisive questions about the nature of desire and the complications of freedom. As the heroine Edna Pontellier sheds the influences and obligations laid upon her from without, Chopin offers both a pointed critique of the limited social roles permitted to women in America and a sympathetic exploration of the challenges inherent in an individual’s search for existential truth and autonomy. 

This summary of The Awakening was produced by getAbstract, the world's largest provider of book summaries. getAbstract works with hundreds of the best publishers to find and summarize the most relevant content out there. Find out more at getabstract.com.

Sujets

• Classics
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: GetAbstract AG
• Date de parution: 04 novembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798887270661
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Awakening
Kate Chopin•First edition: Chicago 1899

Novel
Realism

Take-Aways Kate Chopin’s The Awakening offers an ahead-of-its-time portrayal of female sensuality and women’s desire for independent, meaningful selfhood. While vacationing at Grand Isle, Edna Pontellier’s interactions with the Creoles she meets reignite a number of long-repressed emotions. Back in New Orleans, Edna pursues her art, ignoring her children and husband. She moves into her own house and begins an affair with a local lothario. Later, she declares her love for Robert Lebrun – whom she fell for at Grand Isle. Robert wants to marry her. When she refuses him, he leaves. Edna returns to Grand Isle, swims out to sea and drowns herself.  Chopin began writing fiction as a form of therapy for her depression. Despite the many social changes occurring at the turn of the 20th century, Victorian-era ideas about women’s roles within their families and society at large remained prominent. Chopin’s upbringing and early widowhood influenced her perspective on female autonomy. Most reviewers felt that  The Awakening exceeded the bounds of social respectability. The bird imagery that   appears throughout the novel mainly serves as a symbol of the social limitations woman faced at the turn of the century. The Awakening frames art as a transformative entity, capable of changing an individual’s perspectives and deepening individual humanity.  Chopin treats Edna’s choice to commit suicide as both a tragic and heroic act. “How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! How delicious! She felt like some newborn creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known.”

What It’s About
A Proto-Modernist Heroine
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is widely considered one of the most important and beautifully crafted novels of the turn of the 20th century. At the time of its publication in 1899, however, many saw Chopin’s exploration of a married woman’s quest for fulfillment and autonomy as morally deviant. Critics condemned it as much for its portrayal of female sensuality as its unorthodox perspectives on marriage and motherhood. Surprisingly modern in style and psychology, Chopin’s unique blend of matter-of-fact narration with lyrical interludes continues to draw readers and raise incisive questions about the nature of desire and the complications of freedom. As the heroine Edna Pontellier   sheds the influences and obligations laid upon her from without, Chopin offers both a pointed critique of the limited social roles permitted to women in America and a sympathetic exploration of the challenges inherent in an individual’s search for existential truth and autonomy. 

Summary
On Grand Isle
Middle-aged businessman Léonce Pontellier sits on the front porch of the main guesthouse at Grand Isle, a summer retreat near New Orleans that wealthy Creoles frequent. Léonce watches as his wife Edna Pontellier and the proprietress Madame Lebrun ’s oldest son  Robert  walk back to the house from the beach. Léonce hands Edna her wedding rings, which she had given to him before going down to the ocean, and invites Robert to come with him to play billiards. Robert admits that he would rather stay with Edna. Léonce leaves, stating that he isn’t sure what time he will be back.
Léonce returns late. He is in high spirits and chats boisterously to Edna, waking her from sleep. Disappointed that she isn’t more responsive, he goes to check on their sons. He returns, announcing that Raoul has a fever. When Edna protests, Léonce calls her neglectful. After checking on Raoul, Edna returns to bed. She refuses to respond to anything else her husband says, and Léonce soon falls asleep. Now, however, Edna can’t sleep. She goes outside to the porch and begins to cry. Such scenes with Léonce are nothing new, but in the past, she found them less important than her husband’s fidelity and kindness. Now, however, a feeling of oppression threatens to overwhelm her. The next morning, Léonce returns to New Orleans. From the city, he sends a large box of bonbons, which Edna shares out at the main house. The guests praise Léonce’s generosity, and Edna admits that he is an excellent husband.
Adèle Ratignolle
Unlike other women on Grand Isle, particularly Edna’s friend Adèle Ratignolle , Edna’s entire world doesn’t revolve around her husband and children. The afternoon that the box of bonbons arrives, Adèle, Edna and Robert are sitting together. Adèle is discussing her pregnancy, much to Edna’s discomfiture. Though she is married to a Creole, Edna still finds the openness of the Creoles about things she considers private – especially sexuality – in mixed company to be surprising.
“The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude.”
Each summer since he was a young man, Robert has chosen one of the women of Grand Isle to devote himself to for the season.