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The Awakening

Kate Chopin

3.64 · Rating details · 156,242 ratings · 6,563 reviews

The Awakening, originally titled A Solitary Soul, is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-centu ...more

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Kindle Edition, 95 pages

Published August 20th 2015 by Wisehouse Classics (first published 1899)

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· 156,242 ratings · 6,563 reviews

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Jul 05, 2011 Kristen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, kindle

Why so many ugly one star reviews? All about as insightful as the ubiquitous one star reviews of Lolita which call Nabokov the man a child molester, raving morons who can't distinguish a character from an author and go beyond simply missing the point. And how ironic that all these reviews seem to be from women raging that this book (which they all obviously read for their 'gender theory' class) features a character who abandons her children. Ugh, women who criticize this as a feminist novel beca Why so many ugly one star reviews? All about as insightful as the ubiquitous one star reviews of Lolita which call Nabokov the man a child molester, raving morons who can't distinguish a character from an author and go beyond simply missing the point. And how ironic that all these reviews seem to be from women raging that this book (which they all obviously read for their 'gender theory' class) features a character who abandons her children. Ugh, women who criticize this as a feminist novel because the main character isn't a good mom and then base their ratings solely on how much they like the main character. Do these people only give high ratings to books with characters they like? Do they think women characters in fictional books shouldn't have flaws, ennui, and basically everything that makes a character good? They want the character to be human but lack any flaws, they want her to be a feminist hero but denounce her for not putting her children before herself. Is it that they would have accepted it in a male character but not from a 'wife and mother' because when I read these reviews that is what it looks like to me. Why is she in all those one star reviews held up and judged as a woman and not a human being? Is that not the essence of feminism? If so these dumb broads are the ones who are anti-woman, not Chopin, who wrote this in 1899 for fuck sake!

The whole point of the book is about her discovering herself as an individual, and that even as an individual we exist in a society and as humans have to balance being an individual with the fact we are social animals. Her failure isn't that she abandoned the children but that she abandons herself. If this has a failure as a feminist novel it is the formulaic ending where she is punished for her desires. I'd like to see a story when the woman runs away and is not punished by death, as is the always the ending, now that would be progress!

Not that it's a great book, my few friends who rated it gave in mostly 3 stars, and that's about right, I'm adding an extra star out of spite.

Also, this is my first book read on my new kindle, so that was pretty exciting!

...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Samadrita rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: in-by-about-america, feminism-feminist-undertones, timeless-classics, 1001-and-more, by-women-who-matter, cherished, adoration, 500gbbw, gender-studies-sexuality

Often I have witnessed women, who proceed to talk about misogyny, sexism, or state their views on a piece of feminist literature, starting their discourse with something along the lines of 'I'm not much of a feminist...but'. As if it is best to put a considerable distance between themselves and this feared word at the onset and deny any possible links whatsoever. As if calling herself a feminist automatically degrades a woman to the position of a venom-spewing, uncouth, unfeminine, violent creat ...more

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Jun 11, 2007 Elizabeth rated it did not like it · review of another edition

(**SPOILERS in the comments**)

One of the earliest sleep-with-whoever-you-want feminist rhetoric books. I think much of what feminists fought for and accomplished was vital for protecting women. Women have never lived with such freedom. I stand behind many of the advances. This book, however, as part of the general 60’s feminist philosophy(not the major thinking of the early feminists), I believe has had a destructive effect. Instead of promoting a philosophy that men should be more honest about ...more

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Mar 08, 2009 Meredith Holley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Kelly

Shelves: classic-or-cannonical, needs-a-sassy-gay-friend-real-bad, audio, reviewed

In a hearing I observed once, the husband testified that he had tried to have his wife served with his petition for divorce in the Costco parking lot. The wife went running across the parking lot to avoid service, and her eight- and ten-year-old kids ran after her, dodging traffic and jumping into the wife’s car as it screeched out of the parking spot. The husband filmed them on his iPhone, shouting, “You’ve been served! You’ve been served!”

The judge commented that it was troubling to watch a v ...more

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May 01, 2008 Brother Odd rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I'd like to give this book ZERO stars, but it's not an option. This is hands down the worst book that I've ever read. I will never say that again in a review, because this one wins that prize.

BIG SPOILER AHEAD - Be warned.

I had to read this thing twice in college, and it is a horrible story. We are supposed to feel sympathy for a selfish woman with no redeemable qualities. Just because her marriage is bad it does not give her the right to be a lousy, despicable person. Get a divorce? Yes. Find n ...more

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Dec 12, 2016 Matthew rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: required-reading-high-school, classic, least-favorite, read-more-than-once

This review is being posted mainly because of the awesome backstory. I actually had to read this twice in high school and didn't care for it much either time.

But, here comes my great story!

When I was a sophomore in high school I went out with this girl who eventually dumped me and gave the reason that she was only going out with me until the guy she really liked showed interest in her. A real downer!

Fast forward to senior year . . .

I was in theater and I just so happened to do shows at the all g ...more

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Aug 07, 2016 James rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1-fiction, 4-written-pre-20th-century

Book Review
4 of 5 stars to The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I read this book several years ago and wrote a paper on how society treated women during that period in literature. I cut and paste some from it below, as I think it offers more than a normal review on this one. Please keep in mind, I'm referring to women in the 19th century, i.e. the characters from the book -- not thoughts on women today! As for the book -- it's fantastic... love seeing what people thought 150 years ago, seeing some Book Review
4 of 5 stars to The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I read this book several years ago and wrote a paper on how society treated women during that period in literature. I cut and paste some from it below, as I think it offers more than a normal review on this one. Please keep in mind, I'm referring to women in the 19th century, i.e. the characters from the book -- not thoughts on women today! As for the book -- it's fantastic... love seeing what people thought 150 years ago, seeing some things never change and some people are just always wrong! And for the record, I loved Edna... thought she had a right to, and should have, pushed the envelope more.

Question: Edna Pontellier: Does Innocence Prevail?

Society expects women to remain pure and chaste, to ignore the urge to engage in any type of behavior that could be construed as flirtatious, and to follow the demands of their fathers until marriage. However, women see these limitations as too restrictive, which is why they live their lives in a way that suits them and not others. Women often take control of their own lives by participating in flirtatious behaviors, ignoring parental wishes, and engaging in pre-marital sex. When women are married and still wish to live their own lives, they may have extra-marital affairs, they may leave their husbands or lovers, and they may commit suicide. These behaviors are ways of striking out against the unfair limitations placed on them. Often the “desire to be socially functional and acceptable can lead to hostility to those who appear to be unconventional or independent” (Allen 336). As a result of this hostility and striking out, whether or not women are truly innocent has pervaded the minds of American society.

Since the innocence of women has always been a subject that captivates society’s mind, writers will often take advantage of this and create works that are about women’s innocence. The realistic period of literature, from the end of the Civil War to World War I- 1865-1915, contains many works that are representative of women and their level of innocence. In works such as Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899), there are female characters whose innocence comes into question. Edna Pontellier lives her life in such an ambiguously flirtatious way that the people from the society in which they live, all question the women’s innocence and morality. Edna is somewhat guilty, although she has an excuse. Edna is just entering her womanhood for the first time at a time when views were quite different than today. She may lose her innocence with several men, but she never knew what innocence was prior to her sexual awakening. Regardless of Edna’s actions, she is still innocent even though her flirtatious behavior implies that she isn’t. After she faces society’s wrath, she turns inwardly to find support instead of turning to the people around her. After thinking about her future, Edna meanders down the path of self-destruction and commits suicide, as a way to get out of the misery that she is in. When her innocence appears to be lost, she chooses to take her own life, rather than fight to show society that she has done nothing wrong. However, she never really loses her innocence permanently, as it was only hidden under her awakening to womanhood.

In The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, Edna Pontellier, a young, married woman is also removed from her usual American home to that of the French Creole society in New Orleans, Louisiana. Even though the story still takes place in America, the French Creole society is more European than American. It expects the people that live there to follow European beliefs about women, innocence, and sexuality. Edna has been married to Leonce Pontellier for several years and they have two sons also. They spend their summer vacations on an island off the coast of Louisiana during the summers, not that far from the mainland where they usually live. Edna grew up with a father who expected her to follow his rules as perfectly as possible. He was a “hypocritical, gambling, toddy-drinking, pious-talking Presbyterian [from Kentucky]” (Skaggs 98). His interpretation of religion was to be irreconcilable during the week, and then atone for it on Sundays at worship. Edna thus became two separate souls within her own body. She wanted to be pious and good which explains why she remained married to Leonce in a loveless marriage for nearly ten years. However, she also had a passionate, wild side to her which suddenly erupted after she met Robert Lebrun on the Grand Isle. According to James H. Justus, the imbalance which haunts Edna is within the self, and the dilemma is resolved in terms of her psychic compulsions. Caught between conflicting urgencies-her need to succumb to her sensuality is countered by an equal need for a freedom that is almost anarchic” (Justus 73).

Edna Pontellier is bored with her husband, her life of motherhood and housekeeping upon her return to the mainland. She also wants to be free to do whatever she chooses instead of being chained to her husband. She enjoys the attention that she gets from Robert and finds the young man quite attractive. Once started, “Edna makes no attempt to suppress her sexual desire, she does not hesitate to throw off her traditional duties towards her family. She realizes she is unable to live as the inessential adjunct to man, as the object over which man rules” (Seyersted 62). As a result, “Edna Pontellier has her first affair out of sexual hunger, without romantic furbelow. She is in love, but the young man she loves has left New Orleans” (Kauffmann, 59). Edna Pontellier is an adulterer, but one can forgive her because she was thrown into a marriage that she was not ready for after living by her father’s rule for so many years. Edna never had a chance to grow up as a woman. As a result, she is forced to suppress her sexuality, and it comes out full force during her summer vacation with the Lebruns.

Nevertheless, Edna and Robert’s affair has a positive influence on Edna’s life. Carley Rees Bogarad believes that “Edna’s desire for the first time in her life is directed at someone who returns it and who has been fulfilling her emotional needs. She finally has evidence from the way Robert has been treating her and from her own emerging sense of self that she might choose to live in a more meaningful, constructive and active way. She does not lose her sense of responsibility; she redefines it” (160). However, Edna loses Robert when he leaves the country, and she is forced to return home with her husband and two children where her life becomes monotonous and dull without Robert. Later, She meets Alcee Arobin, who reminds her of Robert in some ways. Edna and Arobin also begin an affair with each other. This time, “Edna enjoys the company because [Arobin] is a charming man, attentive, amusing, a person of the world. He is a sexual partner who does not ask for, expect, or give love. Consequently, Edna need not feel that she is compromising him because she loves another. What she slowly discovers is that there is no way to separate what the body does from what the mind or heart is feeling without creating a violation of self (Bogarad 160). Edna definitely seems as though she has no morals by this time. She couldn’t care any less about her family; all Edna wants to do is explore her new found sexual awakening. She is viewed negatively for this among society; Yet, in reality, “the men in her life split her-Robert sees her as the angel, and Alcee sees her as the whore” (Bogarad 160).

Edna Pontellier is a victim of fate, and cannot be faulted for that. She can’t help but be awakened sexually, which leads to her numerous affairs with Robert and Alcee. After moving out of the house and living on her own, in the way that she wants to, Edna slowly dwindles down to nothing. She loses her husband, Robert, and Alcee. Robert briefly returns and it seems as though he and Edna will reunite, but they don’t. Instead, Edna’s awakened feelings and lifeline diminish her. Spangler remarks that “in the final pages, Edna is different . . . she is no longer purposeful, merely willful: no longer liberated, merely perverse: no longer justified, merely spiteful” (Spangler 155). In the end, Edna is left barren and desolate. She wanders out to the sea, strips off her clothes, and jumps in to her death. According to Spangler, “Chopin surrounds Edna’s death with contradictory symbols of defeat and rebirth. This makes it difficult to assess the meaning of Edna’s final act and accounts for the various readings proposed. There is also the further complication that it is not clear whether Edna’s death is consciously chosen suicide or whether it, like much else in Edna’s life, is simply drifted into” (156). Edna’s tragic end leaves readers wondering what her purpose was. Edna could represent women who are “‘perversely attracted to forbidden fruit’ [and for women that] want to possess [which] forms only destructive relationships rather than those that [are] true and lasting’ (Roscher 292). All that the readers can infer is that “her actions and final suicide suggest that she is a woman whose will and determination force her ‘to go her own way’; but a closer look at Edna shows that she is not a character who rejects a society in ‘thought and act’ . . .” (Portales 431). Edna Pontellier may have had some affairs, but she still remains innocent in some ways. She never knew what love was when she married Leonce. She had been influenced by her father and assumed that she would fall in love with Leonce once they got married. Nevertheless, Edna tries unsuccessfully, so she then determines to just have a good time, but she falls for Robert and enters into a relationship with him - perhaps the first one when their is requited love between the two. Edna cannot be blamed for losing her innocence therefore, since she didn’t have it when she was married. She didn’t even know what it was to not have innocence at that time. Edna suffered at the hand so fate and her father. She rarely had control of her own life.

About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators. ...more

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Feb 20, 2008 Sanjina rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I guess I can understand why The Awakening is considered so important in the development of the feminist canon. At the same time, I can understand why it was rejected so adamantly in its own time. Chopin is an okay writer. Her work, however, seethes ignorance. Her work was ignored in its time because it really was not worth the recognition. Anyway, that’s my humble, and not so intellectual, opinion.

The protagonist, 29, seems to awaken into an adolescence of sorts in this book. In the guise of d ...more

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Sep 30, 2015 Whitney Atkinson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, feminism, read-in-2015, need-to-reread

WOW

probably the most beautifully written book i've ever read, plus so much feminism it makes me weak. I adore this book and I am going to be buying my own copy soon so that i can reread and reread and reread it until I die.

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Nov 13, 2007 Houston rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: everyone

“It sometimes entered Mr. Pontillier’s mind to wonder if his wife were not growing a little unbalanced mentally. He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.”(p. 79)

“What have you been doing to her, Pontillier?”
“Doing! Parbleu!”
“Has she,” asked the Doctor, with a smile, “has she been associating of late with a circle of pseud “It sometimes entered Mr. Pontillier’s mind to wonder if his wife were not growing a little unbalanced mentally. He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.”(p. 79)

“What have you been doing to her, Pontillier?”
“Doing! Parbleu!”
“Has she,” asked the Doctor, with a smile, “has she been associating of late with a circle of pseudo-intellectual women—super-spiritual superior beings? My wife has been telling me about them.”(p. 91)

“Authority, coercion are what is needed. Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife.” (p. 99)

“Conditions would someway adjust themselves, she felt; but whatever came, she had resolved never again to belong to another than herself.” (p. 110)

These quotes sum up for me the difficulty Edna faced as she became herself, or discovered herself. The book is her journey, inward and then outward as well, to finding who she is and how she wants to be. I love the image of ‘daily casting aside’ her old self like a ‘garment.’ Of course, the trouble was that her husband and the men around him all thought that she was losing her mind. The Doctor even accuses the husband of being too lenient. Blame is directed not only at the husband, but also at other women, unnamed ‘pseudo-intellectual’ women. These men cannot understand or explain Edna’s behavior or change in attitude. At this time, and even now, women struggle to gain independence from the role of wife and mother. Trying to figure out where the self is within the confines of those roles, and how to manage the three successfully is still difficult. The last quote is so strong, Edna finally recognizing that she owns herself, that she is not property—not just someone’s wife, mother or even lover or friend—she is her own person and she grows stronger, finding her resolve. This resolve is what leads her to her final decision, becoming absolutely her own person to the exclusion of any other role. The end is somewhat disturbing, though poetic. The struggle between Edna and her environment, her time and those around her—her inner struggles—all seem to lead her to that final point of no return.
...more

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Apr 13, 2009 Kelly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, examined-lives, grand-opera, shes-quite-an-original-my-dear

“It may all sound very petty to complain about, but I tell you that sort of thing settles down on one like a fine dust.”
-Warner, Lolly Willowes

This book is an early distillation of a particular kind of novel that was being written periodically throughout the early twentieth century. These novels are all variations on the same theme, but the basic outline is the same. This one will serve to give you a pretty good idea of the lot:

Edna Pontellier is the rather well-to-do wife of a New Orleans busin ...more

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Oct 27, 2014 Barry Pierce rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century, read-in-2015

Even though the entire plot of this novel can be summed up as, "woman sits around and does nothing while having feminine thoughts", there is a resounding beauty in its monotony. The Awakening is a quick and affecting novel (especially with that ending). While I do think that it may be slightly subject to over-hype, there is no contesting its importance as an early feminist work. And on that account, I would recommend it.

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Jan 22, 2017 Lynne King rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: definitely-to-read, 2017-books-to-be-read

This is a work about a rather unusual woman, Edna Montpellier who lives in New Orleans with her husband Léonce, a rather successful businessman, and their two children, Etienne and Raoul. Part of the book is also based on their vacation in Grand Isle on the Gulf of Mexico.

The scene is soon set as Edna is beginning to feel unsettled after six years of a rather bland marriage to an older man and feels that there is something lacking in her life. An incident then occurs that soon sets her on a cour ...more

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Feb 01, 2014 Perry rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: gothique-ou-du-sud, circle, stela-eða-láni, a1-americansouth

Sexual Satiation & Independence vs. Satisfaction of Repressing Demands of a Southern Society Patterned on Culture of Victorian England

Sensate, if you will, Grand Isle, Louisiana, USA, 1899:

Salty, muggy air creeping off a windless and glittering gulf, white wooden chairs posing in the antique, misty elegance of a large veranda, blinds half-drawn at sundown to corrugated silhouettes, and a laced corset honeycombed by dimming sunlight.

Edna Pontellier was raised a Protestant in rural Kentucky th Sexual Satiation & Independence vs. Satisfaction of Repressing Demands of a Southern Society Patterned on Culture of Victorian England

Sensate, if you will, Grand Isle, Louisiana, USA, 1899:

Salty, muggy air creeping off a windless and glittering gulf, white wooden chairs posing in the antique, misty elegance of a large veranda, blinds half-drawn at sundown to corrugated silhouettes, and a laced corset honeycombed by dimming sunlight.

Edna Pontellier was raised a Protestant in rural Kentucky then marries into a Catholic French Creole family in New Orleans. She is completely unprepared for the constraining societal demands upon first going to the Pontellier summer house on Grand Isle in south Louisiana. Nor was she ready to deal with 1899 Southern belles who sashay from house to summer house stifling the stuffy air as they swelter over sweaty glasses of iced tea. As Pat Conroy wrote, "the sweetness of Southern women often conceals the deadliness of snakes." So true. Donna Tartt probably best explains the pain of being raised and living among this coquettish set, in writing that, "many Southern ladies are fierce, dignified ex-belles who changed their ways before they went crazy or killed somebody."

The voluptuary Edna is sexually awakened by the young single Creole, Robert LeBrun, thereafter commences an affair with a bad cad named Alcee Arobin, and ultimately moves out of her house to start her new "independent" life. In the end, she cannot handle the societal demands of New Orleans and goes for a long swim.

In some ways, it reminds me of Madame Bovary published 43 years earlier (1856). Besides the geographic differences, Edna was more driven to seek independence by her circumstances and society, to rebel against sexual repression in a place that was more chauvinistic and puritanical than France half a century earlier; whereas Bovary dreamed of romance and free love like that in the books she read.

The writing was commendable and tantalizing. Certainly, it was forward-thinking from the female point of view in the U.S. at the precipice of the 20th century. From what I've read, this short novel shocked American readers in 1899 with its uninhibited look at infidelity and female sexuality, and did not sell well until re-discovered in the 1960s by feminists in academia who saw and still see it as significant and liberating. ...more

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Sep 09, 2011 Danielle The Book Huntress (Back to the Books) rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: No one

Shelves: unsympathetic-main-characters, women-s-issues, classic, required-reading

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. For starters, I did not enjoy this story, and I did not see why Edna's life was utterly miserable. I didn't care about her, really. And her plight didn't speak to me at all.

Everything is subjective, however, Edna has many more options and choices than some women ever have. More than anything she has safety and the ability to protect herself and her children. That in itself is more than many women have, even today. I can understand feeling restricted, but I think Edna was a very selfish woman. I For starters, I did not enjoy this story, and I did not see why Edna's life was utterly miserable. I didn't care about her, really. And her plight didn't speak to me at all.

Everything is subjective, however, Edna has many more options and choices than some women ever have. More than anything she has safety and the ability to protect herself and her children. That in itself is more than many women have, even today. I can understand feeling restricted, but I think Edna was a very selfish woman. If anything, she should have thought of her children. I am not here to say that women don't have existences outside of their marriages, their children. I disagree strongly with that. But a woman has a choice to make. When she brings children into the world, it changes the decisions that she can make. She can be happy and she can have joy, but she has to make sure that her children are loved and cared for.

Edna was a pampered woman with an indulgent husband, and she had the means to go on a nice vacation every year. She had servants, and friends. A lot of women don't even have those things, but manage to get up out of bed everyday and live their lives. Yes, she felt that she was denying her inner self, and had to marry, although maybe she didn't want to. I cannot deny that must have caused some emotional angst, but there is no either/or. There is: Okay this is what I have, let's see what I can do with it. Make the best of what you have.

Edna continually made bad choices. She made a mistake and had an extramarital affair. Not the end of the world. I believe her husband would have forgiven her. Or she could have even lived apart from him and hopefully still be a mother to her children. (Maybe I'm being naive about this for the time period, maybe not). She could have stayed with her husband and had a friendship marriage with no physical involvement and painted. Even carried on her affairs as long as she was discreet. She had some choices. A lot of women, a lot of people don't. I just didn't buy the option that she took. I think she was a drama queen. Sorry, I just didn't have much sympathy for this woman.

I can see how this must have been an important work at the time it was written. However, it fails to speak to me of female empowerment in a world that allows women less power, choices, and equality. My rating is based moreso on this novella's failure to demonstrate what it set out to accomplish than my dislike of the story. I would read more Chopin, and I intend to do so. ...more

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Mar 02, 2017 Frona rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Sea, sun, bathing and loose summer rules form a recipe for a respite. Warm and welcoming environment, shaped by people with different predispositions gathered under the same soothing conditions, lighten the protagonist's manners. Her senses, before entangled beyond recognition, suddenly soften and let the melodies, smells and shapes in. Adjustments within her, long having been guided by society's calls, now slowly, but steadily, change course. In awakening to the stimulants and novelties the pro ...more

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Jun 17, 2007 Alison rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: feminists

"But they need not thought that they could possess her, body and soul."

If there ever was a Feminist Manifesto, it truly is Kate Chopin's "The Awakening."

Edna Pontellier is a 28-year-old wife and mother in New Orleans, 1900. Her husband is well-off, and Edna's days consist of watching the nanny take care of her two young boys, scolding the cook over bad soup, giving and attending champagne-filled dinner parties, and receiving formal calls from high society New Orleans ladies on Tuesdays. Also, t "But they need not thought that they could possess her, body and soul."

If there ever was a Feminist Manifesto, it truly is Kate Chopin's "The Awakening."

Edna Pontellier is a 28-year-old wife and mother in New Orleans, 1900. Her husband is well-off, and Edna's days consist of watching the nanny take care of her two young boys, scolding the cook over bad soup, giving and attending champagne-filled dinner parties, and receiving formal calls from high society New Orleans ladies on Tuesdays. Also, the Pontelliers spend every summer on the coast of Louisianna, in a beach house. (The nanny goes with, while Edna is free to spend her days as she likes--which happens to be boating and swimming with the unmarried son of the beach home's proprietor--Robert).

But there's an anguish growing within Mrs. P. Her inability to connect with her husband and her children leaves her feeling oppressed. Gradually, and with the aid of young Robert, however, a spark is lit. "In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her." In other words, after seven years of marriage, Edna's finally getting "schooled" on what it really means to be a wife and mom. And she's not feeling super cut-out for the job.

Mrs. Pontellier is at a crossroads. Reminded of walking aimlessly through a meadow as a child, Edna yearns for the time (pre-loveless marriage, pre-kids) when she didn't have to calculate every step. She longs to be lifted from the weight of her "blindly assumed" responsibilities and to be allowed to wander purposelessly. Edna aches for solitude, but fears she doesn't possess the courage to defy social constraint and become a free entity--free to leave behind her husband, home, and children and follow her heart.

Edna's duality and transformation reminded me of several in fiction--from Frankenstein's monster to Kafka's cockroach. The new, sexy Edna recognizes herself as different from her former self--a new creation. Like the monster, she is a "newly awakened being." The old world is now "alien" and "antagonistic." She has cast aside the mask that she has been wearing for the world. New Edna is bold and frisky, like "an animal waking in the sun."

Big sigh, because here's where I try to fit myself into Edna's way of thinking. I guess somewhere on the feminist spectrum, like all theoretical spectrums, I fall somewhere in the middle. Yes, I can see how Edna might feel trapped and oppressed. Domestic life can surely be repetitious, mundane, and exasperating. I can imagine yearning for something to happen to break the monotony. I can imagine how it would feel to a woman to be regarded as a piece of property--hand picked to run a household and bear children, with no hope of variation, peering out on the rest of her life and seeing very few choices ahead--outside of what will be next for dinner.

But toward the other end, I can see things that Edna failed to see--the gratification that comes from growing a family...what you get when you give...the inner peace that comes from never doubting your purpose and the course of your life. Edna felt her children were robbing her of her soul, I give mine away freely, every day.

Although I don't 100% identify with Edna, I can still appreciate works like this. Because women like Chopin were bold enough to write characters like Edna, the way women were perceived was drastically changed. Books like The Awakening paved the way for modern women to choose where we fall on the spectrum (the CHOICE is the key), to chart our own course, to soar and not sink.

...more

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Jan 05, 2017 Adina rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: short, classics, 1001, us

I do not feel like reviewing this novel/novella, whatever it is... I will just say that these kind of books made me have problems with my literature course and run away from most of the "classics". Although the books were written by Romanian authors I recognize the type. I came to my senses after joining GR and I now try to gain the lost time by reading the books that I should have covered earlier in my life. Until now the results were satisfying as I am on my way of becoming a big fan of Victor ...more

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Aug 13, 2015 Scarlet rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: best-of-2016, 2016-challenge, most-loved, 5-starred-perfection, feminism, lush-writing, made-me-cry, for-my-future-library

That moment when you read a book so good, you want to lie awake all night and ruminate on it.

Review to come for sure, but it might take a few days - there are too many thoughts somersaulting in my head and I don't think they'll settle anytime soon.

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Jul 11, 2007 Dolly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: women older than 25

Shelves: thought-provoking

Kate Chopin wrote this story of female self-actualization back in the late 19th century, but it's as applicable today as it was then. I think we all feel trapped by decisions we've made capriciously, and we all consider, even briefly, escape. The main character in this novel not only realizes that she has trapped herself, but she actively seeks to free herself. Her action, rather than just emotion and despair (a la Goethe), is what separates her from the herd.

Here's the low-down: Edna is a woman Kate Chopin wrote this story of female self-actualization back in the late 19th century, but it's as applicable today as it was then. I think we all feel trapped by decisions we've made capriciously, and we all consider, even briefly, escape. The main character in this novel not only realizes that she has trapped herself, but she actively seeks to free herself. Her action, rather than just emotion and despair (a la Goethe), is what separates her from the herd.

Here's the low-down: Edna is a woman, probably in her 30s or so, married to a successful financier and mother to two charming children. She summers on an island, probably to escape summer diseases in the city, New Orleans. One summer she acquires a friend, Robert. Although married women in this society frequently have male friends, Edna is an outsider, and she takes Robert's attentions far too seriously. Apparently, he is similarly infatuated. Basking in Robert's attention, Edna understands at last that she has discarded her youthful dreams and hopes and that her current life is unfulfilling. She takes small steps toward freeing herself, and Robert seems a willing accomplice for a while.

But Robert sees the hopelessness of such an infatuation: Edna is married, after all. Abruptly, Robert leaves the island and heads off to Mexico, presumably to seek his fortune. Edna is devastated. Even after she returns to town, her emotions are in turmoil. But loneliness actually proves helpful. She relearns who she is, reclaims the dreams of her youth, and abandons her husband and children. The author is careful with this last, making it seem tragic and irresponsible, yet ultimately unavoidable. By the last 20 pages, Edna is free.

And then Robert returns. Edna says that she does not feel obligated by their mutual love; she says that she is an independent woman now who is not the property of any other person. But she's lying. Her actions show that she is dependent on Robert, needy for his love and attention. I still can't decide if the author created this break between words and behavior on purpose, or if she really intended us to believe that Edna was wholly independent.

In fact, the only weak part of the story, in my opinion, is that Edna does not take responsibility for her own awakening. She claims that Robert "awoke" her.

Edna does in the end devise a solution that proves her ultimate freedom and independence, and it is the only solution that works. But I won't spoil it by writing it here.

The thing that makes this book so lovely is that it isn't preachy. So many modern girl-power novels just sort of slam you over the head with the girls-first-and-men-suck mantra. This book is about Edna; it doesn't purport to be about all women. It's a very personal work, and the narrative hand is light. It leaves us, the readers, free to recognize the little bits of Edna in us all, and although the rest of us may not ultimately choose Edna's course, it gives us hope that such freedom is possible, even after the fact. ...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Carol rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Carol by: Jean

Shelves: classics, ebook, fiction, feminism, read-2015

A loveless marriage + two children + a life of leisure = a bored woman who no longer wants to be a submissive wife. Throbbing with an uncontrollable desire for the handsome Robert, 29 year old Edna decides to change her life.....resulting in an unfortunate outcome.

Beautifully written and first published in 1899 this short classic tale of a woman's independence and unorthodox decisions caused a stir with the critics and people of the time causing the novel to be banished for decades afterward....

...more

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Dec 18, 2018 Teresa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: n-eua, l-1001bymrbyd, l-500bb, 4e

"talvez seja melhor acordar, mesmo que seja para sofrer, em vez de viver de aparências toda a vida."

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Oct 15, 2013 Connie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, feminism, 1001-books, book-club, louisiana

Published in 1899, "The Awakening" is a story revolving around personal and sexual freedom for women. The book was set in New Orleans and nearby coastal areas where women--and any property they accumulated after marriage--were considered the property of their husbands. Divorce was almost non-existent in that Catholic area.

Edna and Leonce Pontellier are vacationing at a coastal resort with their two little sons. Leonce is a generous husband in material ways, but does not connect well emotionally Published in 1899, "The Awakening" is a story revolving around personal and sexual freedom for women. The book was set in New Orleans and nearby coastal areas where women--and any property they accumulated after marriage--were considered the property of their husbands. Divorce was almost non-existent in that Catholic area.

Edna and Leonce Pontellier are vacationing at a coastal resort with their two little sons. Leonce is a generous husband in material ways, but does not connect well emotionally with his wife. Edna falls in love with Robert Lebrun, a young man at the resort. Robert leaves for Mexico since he realizes that the relationship would not have a good outcome.

Edna befriends two women with contrasting lifestyles. Madame Ratignolle is a perfect wife and mother, but Mademoiselle Reisz, a pianist, has a very independent life. Edna is unhappy in her life as a wife and mother, even though she has servants to do most of the work in the home. She has the opportunity to rebel when her husband goes on a long business trip and their children are sent to their grandmother's house for an extended stay. She begins a dalliance with Alcee Arobin, a man with a reputation of chasing married women. She asserts her independence by moving out of her large house into a smaller abode, dabbling in art, and is awakened as a sexual woman. When Robert returns later, she says, "I am no longer one of Mr Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose."

The book was very controversial because Edna left her husband and children for her own freedom, a move that would be socially shocking at the turn of the century. Even today, society looks down severely on women who abandon their children. Early in the book, it was stated, "Mrs Pontellier was not a mother-woman." Near the end of the book, it said, "Despondency had come upon her there in the wakeful night and never lifted....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."

The book has wonderful imagery of hunger and food, the draw of the sea, birds in flight, sleeping and awakening. Edna was a fascinating character. She seemed to be a woman who was unable to count her blessings, could only see the problems which were certainly genuine, and probably suffered from depression. She moved so much into a fantasy world that a solution seemed hopeless. Finally she hears the call of the sea, "The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude. All along the white beach, up and down, there was no living thing in sight. A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water." ...more

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May 05, 2009 Sherwood Smith added it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

It's interesting to read an end-of-the-century novel from the opposite side of the intervening twentieth century, for though there is in Chopin's novel no preoccupation with the remorseless cycle of measured time, the intervening hundred years--and all their evolutions, both cultural and literary--are going to be part of the modern reader's context.

Be aware: this is somewhat spoilery.

As the novel unfolds, it is very difficult to like Edna Pontellier. In these days of two paychecks being requir ...more

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Feb 22, 2018 Ivana Books Are Magic rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The Awakening is certainly an important novel. Published in 1899, this novel was a forerunner in many ways. Undoubtedly, Chopin crafted one of the early works of feminism, when she wrote the story of Edna, a young woman experiencing ‘awakening’. By creating a literary heroine who is undergoing spiritual, psychological, emotional and sexual awakening, Chopin challenged not only the social views of her time, but social identity as such. Moreover, I do believe that The Awakening is neither reserved The Awakening is certainly an important novel. Published in 1899, this novel was a forerunner in many ways. Undoubtedly, Chopin crafted one of the early works of feminism, when she wrote the story of Edna, a young woman experiencing ‘awakening’. By creating a literary heroine who is undergoing spiritual, psychological, emotional and sexual awakening, Chopin challenged not only the social views of her time, but social identity as such. Moreover, I do believe that The Awakening is neither reserved for one (female) gender, nor a strictly feminist book, for it can be read as an individual search for personal identity and freedom. It is a novel that has aged well and still holds many valuable lessons. I’m not disputing its rightful place in the early feminist cannon, I’m just saying that I think there is something quite timeless about it.

The writing as such is quite beautiful. From the very start, Chopin does a great job of creating the tone and the atmosphere. The novel opens up with Edna who is vacationing on Grand Isle with her kids. The feeling of summer is very much present in the writing. At Grand Isle, Edna falls in love with Robert. Their ‘falling in love’ is well written and credible. Once Edna returns to her home, she is a changed woman. Chopin depicts different settings with precision. Her portrayal of characters is attentive and well rounded. It is not as intimate and in-depth as I would have perhaps liked, but Chopin does do a great job with the characterization. She portrays the inner struggles of Edna Pontellier with care. Edna, a young woman trapped in a loveless marriage, is showed to us, not just as a woman but even more importantly as a human being. What I liked most about this novel is how human Edna felt. Edna is not idolized, she never feels like a victim. I loved Edna even when she seemed selfish, perhaps at those times most of all. There is little doubt that Edna’s awakening happens as a result of searching for her own identity within herself and not within her family role. His refusal to take part in social activities is surprisingly modernist. Edna prefers not to entertains, she refuses to receive guests, and once she is ‘awaken’ she actually prefers to spend time by herself.

I would say that in the course of this novel the life story of Edna Pontellier, a young woman searching for her identity (as it is often case with great stories) grows into something universal. When I first learned about this novel, I wasn’t very enthusiastic about it, but I was proved wrong. Edna got under my skin. It is not only Edna, though. This novel has a unique taste and flavour. Take that passage about Edna’s experience to listening to classical music for example. After her awakening, Edna can experience music fully. Still, her awakening comes with a price. I felt like Edna was becoming almost an artist, had a potential to become one at least, just by the virtue of daring to search for her identity within herself. Nevertheless, can a woman live her life only for herself? This book raises many interesting questions. Edna’s eventual separation of sexuality and love for instance, could be interpreted as something quite modernist.

The plot may resemble Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, but only on the surface. Both women are married unhappily, both of them fall in love and decide to pursue a love affair outside of their marriage. Both of them defy the society. However, I didn’t see The Awakening as a copy of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. The plot of these two novels may be strikingly similar, but the writing style is quite different. I feel like Chopin’s writing style owes more to French writer Maupassant, then it does to Tolstoy. In other words, Chopin is more a naturalistic than a realistic writer. Her portrayal of characters does have an occasional note of animalism. There is also something pessimistic about the way Chopin views society, something makes me think of Maupassant. Moreover, despite many similarities between Anna’s and Edna’s upper class life, one can’t dispute that Chopin has created a unique character. Edna is a great character in her own right.
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Mar 12, 2015 Chrissie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: librivox, classics, feminism, hf, usa, love

Here is another book that surprised me. I did not like the writing style at the beginning, but by the end I liked exactly that, the writing, very much. The writing is descriptive, right from the beginning, but when it starts not only the places and scenes are described, but also we are told the personality traits of the involved characters. Here is the classical problem of being "told rather than shown". After the initial presentation of the characters, only then do we begin to observe them. At Here is another book that surprised me. I did not like the writing style at the beginning, but by the end I liked exactly that, the writing, very much. The writing is descriptive, right from the beginning, but when it starts not only the places and scenes are described, but also we are told the personality traits of the involved characters. Here is the classical problem of being "told rather than shown". After the initial presentation of the characters, only then do we begin to observe them. At the same time the tone becomes sensual, beautiful and moving. It starts out choppy. Maybe this is not a bad technique, to first introduce the disparate characters and then to add depth to each one? You begin to watch them and to understand their emotions. It is Edna, and the other female characters you watch, more so than the male figures. But what I liked about the book was the writing.

This is a book of early feminism, published first in 1899. The constricts are those placed upon women during the Victorian era – husband, social standing, children and “what will people say”! We watch the "awakening" of a woman; she becomes aware of her own identity, and her right to have her own identity.

The setting is New Orleans and the Southern Louisiana coast.

This was my first Librivox audiobook. I want to thank Leslie and Sandy for their help in learning how to download it and for their lists of good Librivox narrators. Elizabeth Klett, narrates this. To tell you the truth, I didn't like the narration at first. I found it too rapid, I had to learn who was who and so I had a terrible time with the rapid speed. But then, just as I grew to like the writing style, I grew to like the narration too. Sometimes you have to acclimatize yourself to a narrator, and sometimes the narrator has to get into the feel of the story. I will not shy away from this narrator. She is very good, albeit a bit fast for me. I need time to think when I listen to a book.

Then there is the ending...... I am not so sure I like it, but you will be surprised. I guarantee that. Again, it is not the plot that makes me like this book, but rather the feeling the writing conjures. I felt Edna's awakening.

A good book, and I recommend it.
...more

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Mar 05, 2019 Warwick rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, ebooks, united-states, louisiana

As Angela Carter says somewhere, it would be a long time before a woman in literature could fuck who she wanted without punishment, as she had in Chaucer.

Edna Pontellier is a fine American example of the genre – landed with a husband who looks at her ‘as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property’, and surrounded by a social circle consisting mainly of ‘women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and gr As Angela Carter says somewhere, it would be a long time before a woman in literature could fuck who she wanted without punishment, as she had in Chaucer.

Edna Pontellier is a fine American example of the genre – landed with a husband who looks at her ‘as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property’, and surrounded by a social circle consisting mainly of ‘women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels’. Edna herself, growing close to other men and feeling stirrings of physical attraction for almost the first time in her life, is pictured as ‘some beautiful, sleek animal waking up in the sun’.

We know this story pretty well from Zola, Tolstoy or Flaubert. (Willa Cather, reviewing The Awakening for one of the papers, described it as ‘a Creole Bovary’, which about sums it up.) Zola, Tolstoy and Flaubert, of course, were all men (damn them!), and Chopin does bring much more sympathy and understanding to how the dynamic is described – which makes it all the more annoying that the book heads for the same punitive ending, this time involving a fateful encounter with the Gulf of Mexico.

When this came out, Chopin was known mainly as a ‘regional’ writer, and the atmospheric scene-setting is indeed one of the best things about the book: the descriptions of late nineteenth century Louisiana, from the coast at Grand Isle up to New Orleans, are lush and evocative, and her characters – mostly Creoles – switch often between French and English, which gives the dialogue a nice multi-dimensionality. So there is lots to enjoy, even for modern readers who may wonder what all the fuss is about when it comes to Edna's behaviour.

Still, it was not really the content itself, but the fact that a female author was publishing this stuff, and in the American South, that upset people. And the reactions were complex. One British doctor wrote the following to one of his female acquaintances after she lent the book to him:

That which makes The Awakening legitimate is that the author deals with the commonest of human experiences. You fancy Edna's case exceptional? Trust an old doctor – most common. It is only that Edna was nobler, and took that last clean swim. […] The essence of the matter lies in the accursed stupidity of men. They marry a girl, she becomes a mother. They imagine she has sounded the heights and depths of womanhood. Poor fools! She is not even awakened. She, on her part, is a victim of the abominable prudishness which masquerades as modesty or virtue.

Really, it's that prudishness which lies behind the conventions of the story, however satisfying it can be to see them duly (not dully!) fulfilled. Personally, I was vaguely hoping Edna's story would end with an acrobatic MFM scene involving Arobin and Robert – but I trust the fan fiction community have already taken care of that for me. ...more

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May 16, 2015 Fiona rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-books, read-in-2015, the-past, work-not-teaching

Does anyone really grow out of crushing on people? You're going to turn around and tell me you have, now, aren't you - that it's years since you had one, you can't even remember when it was, although you vaguely remember who it was.

I'm not like that. I crush constantly; on people I know, people I don't, people out of my own imagination. They last anything from a few months to a few years, and I never admit them to anyone, during or afterwards. I keep a list in my diary, intermittently; there's a Does anyone really grow out of crushing on people? You're going to turn around and tell me you have, now, aren't you - that it's years since you had one, you can't even remember when it was, although you vaguely remember who it was.

I'm not like that. I crush constantly; on people I know, people I don't, people out of my own imagination. They last anything from a few months to a few years, and I never admit them to anyone, during or afterwards. I keep a list in my diary, intermittently; there's a folder on my computer of the made-up ones, what they're like and things I've thought about them, with dates stretching back to about 2003. I keep them because they, more than anything else, tell me about myself: what I want to be, what sort of people I want to be close to, and what my sexuality looks like.

That's probably really weird. But I've always been very introspective and a keeper of statistics, so for me, it makes sense - I can articulate a lot about myself because of it, and nobody else ever has to see it.

In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier feels lost and alone in a marriage she feels nothing about, with children about whom she doesn't feel the mothering instinct she's supposed to feel. She crushes on a man she meets on holiday, falls - or so she thinks - in love with him; she goes home and the starkness of her lack of options weighs on her so much that she's dazed, a trapped animal who doesn't see any way out.

Is there an awakening in this book? Maybe Edna Pontellier could do with keeping a secret folder of all her crushes and how she imagines herself holding their hands. If she has any kind of awakening in this book, it's that nobody can live being only a recipient of feelings. Passivity never works forever. Sure, the odds are stacked against her, but one day, you have to learn to delineate your own feelings, and articulate them, if only to yourself. By hook or by crook, you just have to.

And me with my spreadsheets and schedules and quantifyings - I don't think Edna learned to articulate anything. She vaguely felt that there was something that needed to be articulated, and she certainly felt that it made her unhappy. But she attached it to a crush and left it at that, and as far as I'm concerned, that's the real tragedy in The Awakening. Edna is not denied sexual agency - or rather she is, but what does it matter? It's the denial of self-knowledge and self-understanding that seems to me to be the saddest thing here.

What's awful is that in some ways, she gets so close. If I met her, this is what I would say: keep painting, keep drawing. Keep listening to music, just like you do. Write down how you feel, in as much detail as you can. Keep your counsel; set aside some money. And in six months, come back, and look at it all. You'll see the patterns in the tide of your mind, and you'll see what direction they're going in. And, Edna, then, maybe you can know yourself well enough to wake up. ...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Erin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories

In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The mother-women 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 privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.

Wait, isn't this something that we would read in O magazine these d ...more

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Jan 07, 2014 Liz Janet rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites

“The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.”

I read this book during my senior year of high school, and I am grateful for that, because without all the analyzing and discussion, I would not have been able to understand it an “The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.”

I read this book during my senior year of high school, and I am grateful for that, because without all the analyzing and discussion, I would not have been able to understand it and appreciate it as much as I did.

It follows Edna Pontellier, during a holiday on the Gulf of Mexico, as she has an “awakening” of ideas and self, amidst the constriction of Louisiana society.

This novel has many themes, impulse, freedom, search for identity, the role of women and sex, marriage, and rejection of tradition; making it into a Bildungsroman novel, as it focuses on the changes that contributed to the main character growth, rather than relaying on past accounts.

Edna is a dis-likable character, but at the same time interesting, most people hate her, and I am one of them, however she is such an interesting narrator, she begins from a housewife to a “free-woman.” What I have seen is that she is mostly disliked for her relationship with her children. “I would give up the unessential; I would give up my money, I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself. I can't make it more clear; it's only something I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me.” She is seen as a bad mother because she is not constantly coddling them, she does not sugar coat anything, when her children get injured, they know that crying to mummy is not a solution, they must get up and over it, instead of acting like babies and crying about it like all other children in this tale. Just because they are our parents does not mean that they must give themselves up for our pleasure, that seems rather selfish.

“He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.”

There is big debate over whether this novel should be categorized as feminist or not, and whatever your opinion might be we must look at it from a non-linear point of view; it is a tale of self discovery of the oppressed, and if the mind cannot process such a thing, then picture yourself as her, and not just say what you would have done in her position, but truly analyze it, because everything is easier said than done.
P.S.: If you don’t want to read this book, then at least only read chapter 6, it is less than a page long, and truly brilliant. ...more

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About Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin

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Kate Chopin was an American novelist and short-story writer best known for her startling 1899 novel, The Awakening. Born in St. Louis, she moved to New Orleans after marrying Oscar Chopin in 1870. Less than a decade later Oscar's cotton business fell on hard times and they moved to his family's plantation in the Natchitoches Parish of northwestern Louisiana. Oscar died in 1882 and Kate was suddenl ...more