The Impact of Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, and Local Color on The Awakening

1330 Words3 Pages

Four major literary movements can claim some aspect of The Awakening, for in this "small compass . . . [is illustrated] virtually all the major American intellectual and literary trends of the nineteenth century" (Skaggs, 80). The Romantic movement marked a profound shift in sensibilities away from the Enlightenment. It was inspired by reaction to that period's concepts of clarity, order, and balance, and by the revolutions in America, France, Poland, and Greece. It expressed the assertion of the self, the power of the individual, a sense of the infinite, and transcendental nature of the universe. Major themes included the sublime, terror, and passion. The writing extolled the primal power of nature and the spiritual link between nature and man, and was often emotional, marked by a sense of liberty, filled with dreamy inner contemplations, exotic settings, memories of childhood, scenes of unrequited love, and exiled heroes.

In America, Romanticism coalesced into a distinctly "American" ideal: making success from failure, the immensity of the American landscape, the power of man to conquer the land, and "Yankee" individualism. The writing was also marked by a type of xenophobia. Protestant America was faced with an influx of Catholic refugees from the Napoleonic Wars, of Asian workers who constructed the railroads, and the lingering issue of Native Americans. An insular attitude developed, the "us and them" in Whitman. The major writers of the period were Irving, Cooper, Emerson, Poe, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Whitman, Dickinson, and Melville.

There are various romantic elements in The Awakening. Perhaps the most obvious and elemental are the exotic locale, use of color, and heavy emphasis on nature (cl...

... middle of paper ...

...cause Robert to leave.

Works Cited and Consulted

Chopin, Kate, The Awakening; A Solitary Soul. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1992

Delbanco, Andrew. "The Half-Life of Edna Pontellier." New Essays on The Awakening. Ed. Wendy Martin. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988. 89-106.

Koloski, Bernard, ed. Preface. Approaches to Teaching Chopin's The Awakening. By Koloski. New York: MLA, 1988.

Martin, Wendy, ed. New Essays on the Awakening. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988.

May, John R. "Local Color in The Awakening." Culley, 189-95.

Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1969.

- - -. "Kate Chopin and the American Realists." Culley 180-6.

Skaggs, Peggy. "Three Tragic Figures in Kate Chopin's The Awakening." Louisiana Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South 4 (1974): 345-64.

Show More
Related

  • Edna Pontellier’s Fall from Grace in Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    1991 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin tells of Edna Pontellier's struggle with fate. Edna Pontellier awakens from a slumber only to find that her life is displeasing, but these displeasing thoughts are not new to Edna. The actions taken by Edna Pontellier in the novel The Awakening clearly determine that she is not stable. The neglect of her duties as a wife and mother and as a woman of society are all affected by her mental state. Her choices to have affairs and disregard her vow of marriage represent her impaired judgment. The change in her attitude and interests becomes quite irresponsible, and that change along with her final decision to commit suicide tell the reader that Edna Pontellier is not capable of making valid judgments. Had Edna Pontellier been of sound mind and body, she would not have ended her young life by suicide. The fact that she can clearly and easily turn to such an alternative suggests that she is depressed and obviously in opposition to the church. The thoughts and actions of Edna Pontellier are solely determined by her manic depressive state, her apparent repressed abuse from her childhood, and her abandonment of Christianity.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Smoke Signals

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the first scene of Smoke Signals there is a flash back to when Arnold Joseph, Victor's father saves infant Thomas and Victor from a raging house fire that kills both of Thomas's parents. The flash back shows the fire that encompasses Victor started very early in his life. Thomas states, "You know, there are some children who aren't really children at all. They're just pillars of fire that burn everything they touch." (Smoke Signals) This comment vividly describes who Victor is as a human. A few scenes later you once again see the movie flash back to when Victor and Thomas were around ten years old. Thomas is giving Victor a hard time about his father leaving which results in Victor threatening to beat Thomas up again. One can hear the anger spewing from Victor's mouth and the pain that lies beneath the

    Read More

  • Ambiguity in Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    3587 Words  | 8 Pages

    Leonce Pontellier, the husband of Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin's The Awakening, becomes very perturbed when his wife, in the period of a few months, suddenly drops all of her responsibilities. After she admits that she has "let things go," he angrily asks, "on account of what?" Edna is unable to provide a definite answer, and says, "Oh! I don't know. Let me along; you bother me" (108). The uncertainty she expresses springs out of the ambiguous nature of the transformation she has undergone. It is easy to read Edna's transformation in strictly negative terms‹as a move away from the repressive expectations of her husband and society‹or in strictly positive terms‹as a move toward the love and sensuality she finds at the summer beach resort of Grand Isle. While both of these moves exist in Edna's story, to focus on one aspect closes the reader off to the ambiguity that seems at the very center of Edna's awakening. Edna cannot define the nature of her awakening to her husband because it is not a single edged discovery; she comes to understand both what is not in her current situation and what is another situation. Furthermore, the sensuality that she has been awakened to is itself not merely the male or female sexuality she has been accustomed to before, but rather the sensuality that comes in the fusion of male and female. The most prominent symbol of the book‹the ocean that she finally gives herself up to‹embodies not one aspect of her awakening, but rather the multitude of contradictory meanings that she discovers. Only once the ambiguity of this central symbol is understood can we read the ending of the novel as a culmination and extension of the themes in the novel, and the novel regains a...

    Read More

  • Kate Chopins' Awakening is Not a Tragedy

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chopin, Kate.  The Awakening.  A Norton Critical Edition:  Kate Chopin:  The  Awakening.  Ed. Margo Culley.  2nd ed.  New York:  W.W. Norton, 1994.   3-109.

    Read More

  • The Success of Dell Computer

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to the modern way of life the need for computer in every work place and home is high which decreases even more the power of the customers. However, the switching costs are low (2.2)

    Read More

  • Importance of Water in The Awakening

    1462 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is obvious to the reader that Edna and Robert have a connection and are amused by what the other has to say. Leonce shrugs this off as nothing and leaves for the hotel where many of the men chat and drink in the evenings. Edna and Robert talk some more and eventually part. These are the first signs of something special between them. Robert often spends his time chatting with Edna and Madame Ratingnolle.

    Read More

  • Kate Chopin's Awakening - Edna Pontellier as Master of Her Destiny

    3351 Words  | 7 Pages

    Wells, Kim. “Kate Chopin’s The Awakening: A Critical Reception.” Kate Chopin’s The Awakening: A Critical Reception. N.p., Aug. 1999. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

    Read More

  • Mrs. Edna Pontellier: A Real American Woman

    1159 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 1899. 1865-1914. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 8th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 561-652. Print. Vol. C of The Norton Anthology of American Literature.

    Read More

  • The Significance of Art in Chopin's The Awakening

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    Boren, Lynda S., and Sara DeSaussure Davis, eds. Kate Chopin Reconsidered: Beyond the Bayou. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1999. Print.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Setting in The Awakening

    2217 Words  | 5 Pages

    89-106. Gilmore, Michael T. "Revolt Against Nature: The Problematic Modernism of The Awakening. " Martin 59-84. Giorcelli, Cristina.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Hidden Figures

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dorothy is a very motherly figure to the two other girls, Katherine and Mary, but she is also a very motherly figure to the whole west wing computing group. The director shows us the many obstacles that Dorothy must overcome to reach her goal which is to become supervisor and have the same pay as one. One of the main obstacles for Dorothy to overcome is racism. As Dorothy, the very determined woman she is, she does not care about what other people think and just wants to have a good paying job. In the library scene in Hidden Figures, Dorothy is looking for books with her two sons and she happened to be in the “White section” whilst looking for a book on computers, she runs into a white lady, and the first thing the lady says is “We don’t want any trouble here.” This is a perfect example of the racism Dorothy must overcome and how her self interest is pushing her through all this racism she is receiving for no reason. In this scene the director uses lighting to make us further our understanding about the time. The lighting on the side of the bookshelf that Dorothy is on, is a very bright and welcoming type representing good and the kind heartedness of Dorothy. On the other side where the white woman is, it is very dark and shady as if the director is trying to convey evil and how the white woman is very closed minded and doesn't see that Dorothy is just a regular human being.

    Read More

  • Influence of Kate Chopin’s Life and Environment on Her Literature

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bryfonski, Dedria, ed. Women's Issues in Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven, 2012. Print.

    Read More

  • Second Great Awakening Influence

    227 Words  | 1 Pages

    The events, people, and works of the early to mid 19th century support the theme of change in America by poetry, the Second Great Awakening, and John James Audubon. A work of the the 19th century is poetry, because it was an era of defining American voice (BOK pg 41). Additionally, poetry influenced American culture by changing intellectual and literary independence (BOK pg 41). This provides insight on how poetry changed American culture, and why it is the sine qua non of culture. The Second Great Awakening was a religious movement, which inspired other reforms in society (BOK pg 40). Unlike the First Great Awakening, the religion swung away from the intellect and toward a religion of heart, but the Second Great Awakening gave a sense of improvement

    Read More

  • The Tesla Coil: A Comparison

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Tesla Coil has 2 coils. A Tesla Coil has a primary coil. It also has a secondary coil. Evey Tesla Coil has at least 2 coils. The Tesla Coil By Kevin Fry. Each Tesla Coil has 2 coils we just learned that but a coil has a capacitor. If you don’t know what that is it’s just a place from it to store energy. Both the coils has a capacitor. As well for running it it’s different. In order to run a Tesla Coil you need a high power souce. The Tesla Coil takes a 120 vAC to several kilovolt transformer. It has a driver circuit that steps it up to an extremely high voltage. A tesla coil builds up its energy when it gets too full it does this electric discharge. When it does an electrical discharge it disputes electrical acrs. Electrical arcs are basically small lightning bolts that come from the Tesla Coil itself. Furthermore Nikola Tesla experiment with Tesla Coil. Nikola Tesla the man who made the tesla coil also experimented with it. He tried to do radio transmission through an electrical wave. Also he transmitted electrically through the air. And with a high frequency air-core transformer. The Tesla Coil By Kevin Fry. THe Tesla Coil defines most insulation material. It can transmit energy with

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Tesla Coil

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    Now in-order for the Tesla to work it has to go through a series of steps in-order for this project to work as well as it is required. The first step for it work is that it has to be hooked up to the primary coil. As the primary coil is in action the capacitor acts like a sponge that soaks up the charge the primary coil is producing. The primary coil itself must be able to withstand the massive charge and huge surges of current it might produce. The second step consists of the capacitor building up so much charge that it breaks down the air resistance in the spark gap. The third step occurs when the current flows out of the capacitor and down the primary coil creating a magnetic field. The fourth step occurs when massive amount of energy makes the magnetic field collapse quickly and then generates an electric current in the secondary coil. This then leads to the voltage zipping through the air between the two coils; and creating sparks in the spark gap. This energy sloshes back and forth between the two coils several hundred times. This eventually results into the last step which occurs when; the charge in the second capacitor gets so high that it breaks free. This break then leads to the spectacular burst of electric current; which can illuminate fluorescent bulbs several feet away with no electrical wire

    Read More

More about The Impact of Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, and Local Color on The Awakening

Open Document