ENCW 205 Fall 2021
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 23rd, 2021
The patriarchal New Orleans society in the 1980s reflected in Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, puts many limitations on individuality. Verbal, creative, and sexual self-expression were not socially accepted freedoms that the women of that time could enjoy. However, this is precisely what the protagonist of Chopin’s novel, Edna Pontellier, strives for. Edna had many awakenings […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 23rd, 2021
The Awakening is a story of a housewife in Louisiana who laments her lot in life in an unfulfilling marriage and finding ways to rebel against the society that she lives in. For women, they don’t have the autonomy women of the 21st century enjoy. They’re not allowed to own property, not allowed to live […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 22nd, 2021
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is quite a moving book. It is a rebellion towards how women were treated and seen during this time period. It teaches that women are more than property to own. Women are human beings, with a heart and soul, not just a body to control. The main character Edna shows every last bit […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 21st, 2021
Throughout the course of the narrative, Edna is faced with opposition that should not exist. Her yearning for a broader life is not a crime, yet wanting that level of freedom ultimately cannot be met and she takes her own life. Society, principally during the time period that the book takes place in, was unjust in its […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 21st, 2021
While I was reading The Awakening, it became apparent to me that the moon holds great significance to our main protagonist, Edna. The symbolism of its appearance in the book is profound and plays a huge role in defining Edna’s character. It speaks to her ever-evolving personality and showcases how influential we are over our own […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 21st, 2021
One thing I found immediately interesting at the start of The Awakening was that Kate Chopin began the novel through the point of view of Mr. Pontellier, Edna’s husband, rather than beginning with Edna herself. Firstly, Chopin sets the tone of the novel with her humorous style of writing as well as the multi-cultural setting, […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 21st, 2021
The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin, depicts the role of women in New Orleans society in the late 1890s by following Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother who no longer wants to live in the constraints that society has given her. From the beginning to the end of the novel Chopin uses an […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 21st, 2021
The Awakening follows the story of Edna Pontellier and her ever-changing journey. At first glance, this book comes across as a love story – which it most definitely is – but it also comes across as a journey of self-identity. Throughout the entire story, Edna is struggling and trying to figure out where she fits […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 21st, 2021
In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, readers are introduced to the harsh, melancholic reality of Mrs. Pontellier’s life in her marriage. Each interaction between them in the first few chapters demonstrates the way that Mr. Pontellier merely views his wife, Edna, as an accessory to his own life rather than a distinct person with her own desires and […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 21st, 2021
The Awakening is set during Victorian-era New Orleans and in Grand Isle, where the Pontellier family stays for the summer. Going into this book I had no idea what it would be about, so I was pleasantly surprised and shocked to see it was about a woman having an affair. I was excited by this because […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 21st, 2021
The Awakening is written by Kate Chopin; it tells the story of a female protagonist trying to find an independent identity outside of societal norms and failing to do so. Throughout the book, we see her in the eyes of everyone but herself. In the first introduction to her character, she is not introduced by her name […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 21st, 2021
The Awakening begins during a blissful vacation, interestingly not with the main protagonist’s voice or input. Edna is the main protagonist, but instead, Mr. Pontellier’s voice and character are the narrators at the beginning of the book. I think this is very telling as to Mr. Pontellier’s character both as a man and as Edna’s […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 20th, 2021
The relationship between Edna and Mademoiselle Reisz was especially interesting to me throughout The Awakening. The man Edna conducted her first physical affair with, Alcée, made a mention about how he’d “heard she’s partially demented,” on p. 127 when, in stark contrast, we saw on the previous five pages how well Mademoiselle Reisz and Edna got […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 20th, 2021
When reading “The Awakening,” I took note of the way in which Edna had her revelation. It was not some sudden blow to the head or anything of the sort, but instead a gentle rousing, a coercion to begin seeing the world in a new light. I believe this is a far more realistic depiction […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 20th, 2021
[Posted on behalf of a student] The sea plays a crucial role in Katie Chopin’s The Awakening even though it is not a character in the story. In the novel, the sea symbolizes freedom and escape for the main character, Edna Pontellier. Edna feels confined by the roles that she must take on as a woman […]
Posted in The Awakening on Sep 19th, 2021
Throughout Kate Chopin’s The Awakening the issue of — and potential damage from — prescribed gender roles for women is apparent. The main protagonist Edna struggles with the few select roles she is allowed to play as she “awakens.” There were very few roles a woman could play in the 1800s, and by the end of the novel, Edna ends […]