AP Book Report
1.Title of Work: The Awakening
2. Author and date written: Kate Chopin, 1899
3. Country of author: St. Louis, Missouri, United States
4. Characters (label as major or minor) with brief descriptions of each; include at least two adjectives for each and brief commentary.
Edna Pontellier (Major)- Edna is the wife of Léonce who is a businessman. Her eyes were quick and bright and were a yellowish brown. Her eyebrows are shade darker than her hair. She was rather handsome than beautiful. She is unhappy with her marriage. She eventually gets feelings for a man that cannot be with her.
Léonce Pontellier (Major)- Léonce is Edna’s husband who was a man of forty and had a medium height and a rather slender build. He had straight brown hair that was parted on one side and he wore glasses. He doesn’t realize his wife is unhappy with their marriage.
Robert Lebrun (Major)- A young man who each summer, gets together with a single woman, usually married. He flirts with Edna. She has something with him that she feels is missing in her own marriage. He wants to go to Mexico to get money. He realizes he loves Edna.
Mademoiselle Reisz (Major)- An older woman with a small face and body and naturally glowing eyes. She always wore lace with artificial flowers pinned to her hair. She is an inspiration to Edna and is part of the reason Edna is “awakening.” She is unmarried and childless, but is in love with music. She is one of Edna’s friends that helps her in her times of need.
Alcée Arobin (Major)- He is a seductive, charming man who likes to take advantage of married women. He is another of love interest of Edna and keeps her physical needs while her husband is away on a business trip and Robert is in Mexico.
Madame Adèle Ratignolle(Ma...
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... important technique the other used in this book. She had used foreshadowing to tell us that Robert was going to go for Edna and that Edna was going to swim way too far out. For example, Madame Ratignolle was telling Robert that Edna was not one of them and Edna would take his flirty actions seriously. Chapter VIII, page 19.
Irony was also used in this book. For example, in the beginning Edna was taking swimming lessons. It would help her stay above water and move to shore if she was too far out. However, in the end of the book, she went to the same beach and purposefully drowned herself.
Chopin had also used imagery a lot. The imagery she uses gives us a look into what the characters look like, and the way that Chopin describes the love life of Edna and how she looks at Robert. “Robert’s voice was not pretentious. It was musical and true.” Chapter XIV page 40.
have realized that Edna, because of her different upbringings, would not know how to deal with Robert's actions. In one way or another he was the one that helped start their feeling towards each other.
Eddie, died. Henry, the father's youngest son, has sort of, became the man of family. Henry works
I was reminded of that scene at the end of the novel in chapter 39 where we find a description of a very similar situation. Now it is Edna Pontellier herself standing alone on the beach at Grand Isle. She takes ...
...ifferent. Similar to the heroine, the story has a tragic ending for the main characters. Leonce is the least effected by Edna’s death because he has too many other things to worry about such as his children and his business. Alcee will definitely miss Edna but it is believed that his attention will be focused to a new female shortly, and Edna will be forgotten. Robert will take her suicide the hardest, because he really loved her. He will believe that he was the reason for her death and, will hold some guilt, and mourn the longest. He was the most compassionate and loving male in this book and when Kate Chopin was writing the Awakening, she wanted more males to become more like Robert and have the same principles and standards. Robert is who men should want to model themselves as. Kate Chopin shows diversity in her 3 main, as they are the typical men of this era.
The Colonel, Edna's father, is very strict. He thinks very highly of discipline. At the end of The Awakening, Edna feels the struggle she has with her father. "Edna heard her father's voice and her sister Margaret's" (Pg 723). At this moment, Edna wants freedom. She wants freedom from the life that has her trapped to be someone she isn't. The Colonel thought that Mr. Pontellier should be more controlling over Edna. "You are too lenient, too lenient by far, Leonce. Authority and coercion are what is needed. Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife. Take my word for it" (Pg. 688). Edna does everything around the house when the Colonel comes to visit because she doesn't want him to think she isn't playing her role as a woman in the family. "She would not permit a servant or one of the children to do anything for him which she might do herself" (Pg. 687).
She desperately wanted a voice and independence. Edna’s realization of her situation occurred progressively. It was a journey in which she slowly discovered what she was lacking emotionally. Edna’s first major disappointment in the novel was after her husband, Leonce Pontellier, lashed out at her and criticized her as a mother after she insisted her child was not sick. This sparked a realization in Edna that made here realize she was unhappy with her marriage. This was a triggering event in her self discovery. This event sparked a change in her behavior. She began disobeying her husband and she began interacting inappropriately with for a married woman. Edna increasingly flirted with Robert LeBrun and almost instantly became attracted to him. These feelings only grew with each interaction. Moreover, when it was revealed to Edna that Robert would be leaving for Mexico she was deeply hurt not only because he didn’t tell her, but she was also losing his company. Although Edna’s and Robert’s relationship may have only appeared as friendship to others, they both secretly desired a romantic relationship. Edna was not sure why she was feeling the way she was “She could only realize that she herself-her present self-was in some way different from the other self. That she was seeing with different eyes and making the acquaintance of new conditions in herself that colored
Another aspects of the story is that once Edna’s awakening begins to take place, she is on a roller coaster of emotions, from the manic exuberance of listening to music and the sounds of the water, her connection to robert--it’s as though all her senses are opened up. Between times, however, she is really depressed, as though all the color that Chopin imparts so beautifully in the descriptions of the other scenes, has become dull and uninteresting. Then, she is flung into an emotional upheaval when she reads Robert’s letter to Mlle Reisz, as the latter plays Wagner. Clearly, these kinds of emotions cannot be borne by a woman whose cultural structure does not admit the building of her own that it might sustain the weight and number. She is overwhelmed. She must escape, and she does, for her situation now is powerfully reminiscent of the “joy that kills” in “Hour.”
Algernon falls in love with Cecily, Jack’s niece and Jack is in love with Gwendolen, Algernon’s cousin. Algernon and Jack on the surface seem to be very similar, they have some of the same ideologies, love for their romantic partners and same reaction wh...
According to Rosemary Franklin, Edna possesses “infantile and regressive traits” (Franklin 510), throughout the entire novel. Despite being a married twenty-eight year old woman with two kids, she consistently embodies a retrogressing individual. After the conclusion of the novel, it is quite evident that Edna Pontellier starts off as a mature, young adult, however, as the novel progresses, one cannot help but notice how easily her maturity deteriorates. For instance, in the beginning of the novel, Edna Pontellier admits to herself “her marriage to Léonce Pontellier was purely an accident” (Chopin 39). She gave Mr. Pontellier her hand in marriage simply because of the “violent opposition of her father and her sister” (Chopin 39). This defiant action clearly resembles a feat that a rebellious teenager would happily do and not what a “mature” twenty-eight year old would do. Furthermore, when Edna Pontellier begins to learn how to swim—with the help of her new lover, Robert Lebrun—she “[grew] daring and reckless” (Chopin 49). For this Victorian time period, it is rare to see a grown woman being intrepid and reckless. Notwithstanding the blatant fact that Edna is not a strong swimmer just yet, she is “like [a] child, who a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldy and with over-confidence” (Chopin 49). Edna Pontellier pushes the trepidations
Edna Pontellier was plagued with troubles throughout her life. Her life began on shaky foundations, with the death of her mother when she was young. She then married Leonce Pontellier for financial security and a way out of her father 's house. Although
Edna marrying Leonce is a result of her rebelling against her father. He did want not her to marry Leonce, but she marries him anyway. This was the beginning of her downfall because she did not truly love Leonce. While on vacation at Grand Isle Edna spent a fair amount of time with Robert, the innkeeper’s son. He was known to direct his attention to a different woman each summer, and this summer Edna was the object of his attention. This was a normal practice for Robert, but no one really took him seriously. The problem was that Edna was not the typical wife and become fond of Robert. Although Leonce did care for Edna, she is referred to as being part of his property. “Yet Chopin does hint that late-nineteenth-century marriages cast women as the objects of others rather than as the free subjects of their own fates” (Fox 120). Edna realize that she no longer wanted to be like the other wives and decided to leave Leonce. The problem with leaving her husband was that in the late 1800’s a woman would not leave her husband and live on her own, she would be expected to stay
The novel states, “‘How does [Edna] act?’ inquired the Doctor. ‘Well, it isn’t easy to explain,’ said Mr. Pontellier, throwing himself back in his chair. ‘She lets the housekeeping go to the dickens!’” (66). Like Edna, I do not believe that I, as a woman, should have to do all of the housework and taking care of children. If I was faced with Leonce complaining to me about this, I would have explained to him that marriage is an equal partnership and that he could help around the house and raising the children. Even though Edna’s society believed in traditional gender roles, I do not, and I would make sure that my husband knew this. As well as this, Edna goes against her husband and buys a house against his wishes, which makes her an “other” in her society because women were not supposed to go against their husbands, as the novel states, “When Mr. Pontellier learned of his wife’s intention to abandon her home and take up her residence elsewhere…[Edna] had acted upon her impetuous determination…” (94). Unlike Edna, I would have talked this over with my husband and heard his side of the decision. Although I am independent, I like to consider other people’s reasonings on why or why not to do something and not make irrational decisions. If Edna would have made the same decision that I would have, her husband and she might have talked out their problems and fix some issues. Moreover, because Edna does
A typically assumed reason for having an affair is that the person's spouse is, in some way, unsatisfactory. Perhaps by their affair, they are searching for a better source of love. This, however, was not a justifiable cause for Edna's adultery. Mr. Pontellier was a loving husband who tried to show his love for Edna in all of the ways he was able. Léonce showered his wife with valuable gifts. His life revolved around money, and he knew no other way to show his wife how much he loved her. He attempted to compensate Mrs. Pontellier materialistically for the lack of emotional support. While this may not be an ideal solution to the problem, it cannot be denied that Mr. Pontellier was trying to diminish the problems between them. Yet, even though it is understandable that she is upset that her husband lacks family skills, getting married was solely Edna's fault. The history of their relationship is far from perfect. Chopin states "her marriage to Léonce Pontellier was purely an accident... He fell in love...and pressed his suit with an earnestness and an ardor which left nothing to be desired. He pleased her; his absolute devotion flattered her" (18). Edna was not fair to him when she married him without loving him. She "grew fond of her husband" (18), but fondness is not a good reason for marriage.
...rds and discovers his real name is that of his late father, Ernest! Ernest is now free to marry Gwendolen, and Algernon may marry Cecily.
The sexual aspect of Edna’s awakening is formed through her relationship with a supporting character, Robert LeBrun. In the beginning of the novel, Robert assigns himself to become the helper of Mrs. Pontellier and his advances help to crack the barrier in which Edna is placed in due to her role as a woman of the Victorian era. Her feelings begin to manifest themselves as she intends to liberate herself from her husband and run away with Robert. He on the other hand has no intention of having a sexual affair because of the role placed upon him as a man of the Victorian era which is not to destroy families. Her quest for complete independence ultimately brings her to committing suicide at the end of the story. Her suicide does not represent a disappointment in how she cannot conform to the society around her but a final awakening and symbol for her liberation.