The Awakening & Other Stories

by Kate Chopin

Edna Pontellier, married to a successful creole speculator from New Orleans, spends the summer on Grand Isle and falls in love. Her affair with Robert Lebrun awakens in her a new sense of spiritual and sexual self-awareness.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories

320 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1995

About the author

Kate Chopin was an American author whose fiction grew out of the complex cultures and contradictions of Louisiana life, and she gradually became one of the most distinctive voices in nineteenth century literature. Raised in a household shaped by strong women of French and Irish heritage, she developed an early love for books and storytelling, and that immersion in language later shaped the quiet precision of her prose. After marrying and moving to New Orleans, then later to the small community of Cloutierville, she absorbed the rhythms, customs, and tensions of Creole and Cajun society, finding in its people the material that would feed both her sympathy and her sharp observational eye. When personal loss left her searching for direction, she began writing with the encouragement of a family friend, discovering not only a therapeutic outlet but a genuine vocation. Within a few years, her stories appeared in major magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, and The Century, where readers encountered her local-color sketches, her portrayals of women navigating desire and constraint, and her nuanced depictions of life in the American South. She published two story collections, Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie, introducing characters whose emotional lives were depicted with unusual honesty. Her short fiction often explored subjects others avoided, including interracial relationships, female autonomy, and the quiet but powerful inner conflicts of everyday people. That same unflinching quality shaped The Awakening, the novel that would later become her most celebrated work. At the time of its publication, however, its frank treatment of a married woman’s emotional and sensual awakening unsettled many critics, who judged it harshly, yet Chopin continued to write stories that revealed her commitment to portraying women as fully human, with desires and ambitions that stretched beyond the confines of convention. She admired the psychological clarity of Guy de Maupassant, but she pushed beyond his influence to craft a voice that was unmistakably her own, direct yet lyrical, and deeply attuned to the inner lives of her characters. Though some of her contemporaries viewed her themes as daring or even improper, others recognized her narrative skill, and within a decade of her passing she was already being described as a writer of remarkable talent. Her rediscovery in the twentieth century led readers to appreciate how modern her concerns truly were: the struggle for selfhood, the tension between social expectations and private longing, and the resilience of women seeking lives that felt authentically theirs. Today, her stories and novels are widely read, admired for their clarity, emotional intelligence, and the boldness with which they illuminate the complexities of human experience.

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Awakening ~ A Review in Two Parts ~


Me, 20 years old, circa early ‘90s


Okay, so I just read The Awakening. What a novella before its time! You’ve got Edna Pontellier, manipulated into a stodgy marriage, her husband expecting her to conform to society’s rules and trappings. She now has 2 children and is feeling the pull of wanting to be her own person. An artist, a free thinker, not meant to stay at home and accept visitors. On a summer vacation in Grand Isle, she meets Robert Lebrun, a younger idealist, not as wealthy but still the type who will cater to her every whim. Who sees the person that she wants to be and doesn’t deny her that sense of self. Edna falls into the lull that women crave.. ‘lull’ isn’t the correct word. It’s almost opposite of what I want to say, I’d go more with the excitement of being feverishly desired by a handsome young man. It’s addicting, more than addicting, it’s dangerous. However, for some reason, Robert leaves for Mexico and Edna is left with her marriage and her position in society. She starts to act out and her clueless husband is concerned:

It sometimes entered Mr. Pontellier’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.

Okay, so she’s not entertaining guests, she must be crazy. Upon returning to New Orleans, she continues to find herself and after her children and husband leave for an indeterminate amount of time, she starts to find her independence. She moves out of the mansion and into a ‘pigeon house’ around the corner, she begins an affair with a local playboy and all the while she still yearns for Robert.

I won’t go into anymore of the plot, but to say that I can see how it would be considered a scandal when released back in 1899. Women didn’t follow their heart or their minds, they were objects upon marriage, losing all identity. Society dictates that she marry well and put up pretenses and she fights back! As Susan Powter would say, ‘Stop the Insanity!’ The Awakening shows that women are capable of being individuals and believing in everlasting love that breaks all conventions. Bring forth the Spice Girls and rock on.

Me, Now, somewhat older…

Edna Pontieller, what a narcissistic little hussy you are. Okay, look….It’s 1899… you’re married to a guy that adores you… Yeah, so he thinks that you might want to act like a woman of the times.. maybe he’s a little off on the whole suffrage movement (which has yet to happen, DUH) and maybe you’re feeling a bit stifled in your marriage, but it’s a GOOD marriage, you want for nothing, you don’t have to take care of your somewhat non-demonic children, you get to vacation for entire summers… when you’re down your husband plans to redecorate the house for you. It’s not like he’s ignoring you! So, what exactly is the problem? He’s not hot? Yeah. He’s not young? Okay. He doesn’t swoon over your little paintings? Whatever. Look, the short of it is, you weren’t forced into the marriage, as much as you thought you had to find a guy that would look good in society and take care of you. You could have said no. Now, what the hell are you doing? Prancing around race tracks with the 1899 equivalent of Ashton Kutcher? Waiting for this poor fool who realizes the restraints of society to come and just be your little cabana boy? Hell, if this were modern times, you’d be reading Twilight and hanging out at skate parks. Get over yourself.


/rant


Okay, so that was The Awakening and if I had to rate this based on that novella alone, I’d go with 2 stars. I suppose I’ve got the Sherwood Anderson syndrome here and maybe it’s my fault for not understanding 1899 like I should… I go on my gut feelings, sorry. I’m reading this now, I’m judging it now. I can appreciate the time it was written in, but I’m not going to go gaga over a story that I pretty much think of as a cop out.

But, that being um… said… I did enjoy the other 15 stories, well, most of them. Kate Chopin was a hoot. I think she had the wit and the not so subtle talent and voice to let her feelings be known. She was bitter, yo. I don’t blame her… Widowed at 32 with 6 kids? Hell yeah. And, here she has this talent and what does she get when she publishes her work to make sure she can support her family? Shock, disdain, crap. Sorry… they can all go to Hell. She had balls. My suggestion is to read some of the shorter stories… I enjoyed The Story of an Hour, A Point at Issue!, A Lady of Bayou St. John, Athénaïse… those are my favorites, but they’re all short enough to enjoy and to see what a talented, wry writer she was.

[Madelyn Greco · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Awakening.. another French novel about an affair that ends in suicide (the ultimate liberation), on par with Madame Bovary. This story captured the female gaze hauntingly, the feeling of female rage, oppression of womanhood and being trapped as an accessory, and not a person. Her longing for freedom to act on her own feelings, for autonomy, seemed enticing at first but ends with the tragic realization that the illusion of fulfillment that she imagines, of being with another man, in the end, still involves a man. It calls into question whether women’s happiness can be independent of men entirely, and what they think of us. Oh the tormenting dissonance of hating men but needing them at the same time..

“She wanted to destroy something. The crash and clatter were what she wanted to hear.”

“Edna looked straight before her with a self-absorbed expression upon her face. She felt no interest in anything about her. The street, the children, the fruit vender, the flowers growing there under her eyes, were all part and parcel of an alien world which had suddenly become antagonistic.”

“It sometimes entered Mr. Pontellier'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.”

“I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not.”

“He did not know; he did not understand. He would never understand.”

[Sasha Wolf · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Awakening is apparently an early classic of American feminist literature and caused a scandal in its day by showing a white woman both marrying and committing adultery with Creole men. I liked the portrayal of the Creole community in the early chapters, but started to lose interest as it went on and the action moved from a seaside resort to the city. The language didn't particularly appeal to me. Both it and the social setting reminded me of Jane Austen if she had written about this community, but without the wit. I also didn't think the main character's mental state came across as clearly as it could have done, which robbed the ending of a lot of its power for me. I did finish the novel, but couldn't really get into the short stories that accompany it and mostly skim-read them; they didn't seem particularly well constructed and didn't hold much of interest to me as a 21st-century general reader, though I imagine it could be more interesting if literary history is your passion.

[Gil Hockman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because The Awakening is on my list of must-read novellas, and I read the rest of the collected stories over the following couple years. I think I enjoyed them all: Tragedy, comedy and farce from within the tight social and racial confines of the old American south of French heritage - with no shortage of wit, insight and empathy.

Maybe someone more knowledgeable can confirm if Jane Austen is an appropriate comparison?

[David Wasser · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished "The Awakening" but couldn't face the short stories. I'm sure it was a groundbreaking book, as the content was rather risqué for the era. But her style of writing is not one that grabs you from the first page, or chapter for that matter.

[Jeydin Blevins · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a reread of The Awakening and a few of the short stories for me. Still just as good. I also really enjoyed the other short stories which I hadn't read before

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Awakening was published in 1898. It was apparently shocking in its day. A wealthy white woman from New Orleans vacations along the Gulf Coast. Like many young, married, educated and wealthy women, she's a little bored and frustrated by marriage in general, her husband in particular, and motherhood in general (though not her children in particular, whom she loves). She is tempted by other men, who find her attractive and intoxicating in their own selfish ways, and yearns and strives for independence and to develop her own artistic talent.

*Spoiler alert but to no one's shock as this was written in 1898* it doesn't end well for her. Much like Madame Bovary or Anna Karenina (or even the female protagonists in Edith Wharton's novels), there is an examination and celebration of the full range of women's desires but there is a final punishment for women who want more than tradition dictates.

You can't read this book today without reflecting on the black characters, like the wife's "mulatto" (a degrading term meaning "mixed" race - using the same Spanish word root as mule) nanny, who would have had a lot more frustrations, general and specific, as well as genuine hardships. As much as I enjoyed the writing, and as much as you can write it off as the perspective of "a long time ago" - it takes away from both the pleasure of reading it and any insights and perspective it might offer.

The short stories take up similar themes but across a much broader strand of Louisiana and Creole society. There is a lot of dialect, classism, and casual racism, but also a lot of insight and not lacking in sympathy and care for all of Chopin's characters. I enjoyed many of the short stories much more than The Awakening itself. They are little gems of scene and sensation. I'm not generally a fan of short stories, but found myself really enjoying these. Each one has its own little twist or revelation.

In the end, I'd recommend this book and think the author deserves her due.

[Rach]

One of the horniest collections I've ever read–cool!

Not sure how worth it the other stories are. Some, if not most, of them have moments of loveliness but I feel like you come for The Awakening and more or less get inferior anagrams of its themes throughout. Athénaïse stands out not because it is great, but because it felt to me the inverse of the title story, and not in a good way. In all of the ways Edna is sympathetic in her complexity and comes across valid, grounded in her interrogation of the social construct of gender, Athénaïse is completely insufferable and childish.

The scene in the title story where Edna and Robert ferry out to the island and she takes a nap and wakes up and drinks wine and eats bread with him under the tree is so natural and dreamy and sensual and full of love, I'll probably reread (again) one day just to experience it again. The story is so tragic I'm so happy Chopin allows us that little moment of ecstasy.

[H.Friedmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK. Looking at it from a modern context I didn't find it to be "the masterpiece of feminist literature" as noted on the back, but I understand that within the context of the era that it may have been, especially given the narrow parameters that women generally lived within. However, I would argue that there are other novels with stronger female characters from earlier eras - Austen and Bronte come to mind. But again, maybe this is just my modern take on feminism, and the stories in these novels are generally about women figuring out what they want, and how they want tolive. Mostly they get married.