Customer Reviews

The Awakening and Selected Short Stories

5 star:		(183)
4 star:		(100)
3 star:		(44)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(42)

 

 

Thank you to all my reading friends who suggested The Awakening as one of their favorite classic novels! I have been trying to branch out into new literary worlds, and the classics is one genre that I hadn't yet touched. Still a novice, but my journey has been so profitable thus far. The Awakening was one novel that is incredibly easy to read and holds such powerful prose in so few pages.

A taboo subject back in its day, The Awakening tells the story of one woman's emotional journey from a stifled, miserable marriage to a spirited and lusty freedom. Young Edna Pontellier feels trapped in a loveless, although pampered, life with husband, Leonce. Stirrings of independence begin one summer while resorting in Grand Isle, an island off the coast of Louisiana. These new feelings have begun a profound change in Edna, liberating her beyond belief. Thus ensues an infidelity that dreams are made of, although at the expense of her marriage and motherhood.

Hardly shocking in this day and age, The Awakening's subject of marital infidelity and physical lust for another is always a pageturner. The theme of the novel -- Edna's torment at the chains that bind her and the flutterings of an unbridled passion -- is brought to life with beautiful writing in simple, elegant words. I am surprised to find such a passionate and provocative story within its pages. Short but penetrating, The Awakening will move you.

Note: I do not believe that The Awakening is the sort of novel that relies on plot twists and surprises. It's *how* the story unfolds rather than *what happens* that is important. However, several folks have claimed that they needed a spoiler warning, so here it is: You have been warned.

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 or because we've been told they are correct, 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.

During the course of the novel, Edna 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.

There are, in my opinion, two weakness in the book. The first may be considered a spoiler: toward the end, Edna tells Robert 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.

The other weakness, riding on the coattails of the first, 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.

Though at one time I, too, would have rated "The Awakening" one of the worst reads of a lifetime--for its predictability in the context of a woman oppressed by Victorian society, and the most undeveloped, unsympathetic heroine for whom I was unable to muster the slightest emotional investment--a nagging, relentless undercurrent of something I couldn't quite identify festered long inside me regarding this novel until the story, and author, were at last redeemed upon my third reading, in a literature course that finally ended this internal struggle.

Having much faith in Kate Chopin as a writer, I never felt 'the awakening' was about sex. This was too easy, even for a book set in Victorian Society. Further, it occurred to me that although women were limited beyond the domestic sphere in this era, suicide was not particular to the phenomenology of Victorian women (as it was, say, to Wall Street brokers at the onset of the Great Depression).

"The Awakening," in title and content, is irony. Edna Pontellier's awakening is about who she perceives herself to be, and who she actually is. She dreams of passion and romance and embarks on a summer affair, yet she married Leonce simply to spite her parents, who don't like him. She moves out of the family home to live on her own--with the permission, and resources, of Leonce--hardly independent. She claims to crave intimacy, yet she fails horribly at every intimate relationship in her life: she is detached with her children, indifferent to her husband, leery of her artist friend, and can hardly stand another minute at the bedside of her warm, maternal friend, Mrs. Ratignolle, to assist her in childbirth. (Ratignolle was my favorite character of all, read after read, simply because she was so content with herself.)

The Awakening? The surprise is on Edna, who is not the person she imagines herself to be. The irony? Edna Pontellier is never awakened to this, even at the bitter end. Feminists have adopted this book as their siren song...embarrassing at least! A feminist reading would, predictably, indict Victorian society as oppressive to women. Yawn...So that's new?!! Tell us something we don't know! I can tell you that concept wouldn't be enough to keep a book around for a hundred years.

But the concept that has sustained this novel over a century's time is its irony. And it is superbly subtle. I believe Chopin deliberately set up Victorian society as her backdrop to cleverly mask this irony...'the awakening' is not something good (a daring sexual awakening in a dark era for women): it is something horrible that evolves and is apparent to everyone except the person experiencing it. This reading makes Edna's character worth hating! Chopin herself hated Edna Pontellier and called her a liar through her imagined conversation with her artist friend at the end of the novel.

Chopin also cleverly tips the scales in Edna's favor in the first half of the novel, but a careful read reveals those scales weighed against her in the second half. I give the novel 5 stars because it took me three readings and help from a PhD lit professor to figure out this book. And I'm proud to say that I am, at last, awakened.

This book was one of the best novels I have ever read in my life. There are many biblical allusions and hidden messages behind the authors words. I strongly disagree with the comments of the people that said it was boring...they didn't understand the book. In the beginning of the novel Kate Chopin starts with the parrot in the cage and Mr. Pontellier. Why did she start her novel like that-did you ever wonder? Kate Chopin mentions the parrot in the cage to symbolize Edna's entrappment and wanting her freedom. Mr. Pontellier wears glasses because he is blind to see how society works in the Victorian era. The lady in black and the lovers in the novel are the two different decisions that Edna has to make. The lady in black represents the spiritual love (marriage)and she is blind to everything that surrounds her-she is only concerned with her love for Christ. The lovers represent the individuality and concern only for themselves-they represent sin. Edna needs to make a decision between following the society's acceptance of her marriage or become an outcast and having an affair that can ruin Mr. Pontellier's reputation and her children's. A biblical allusion that Kate Chopin states is when Edna is having her dinner party. That party represents The Last Supper in where she is giving her good-bye to the old Edna and saying hello to the new Edna. She invites 12 guests just like the 12 disciples. She is dressed like a goddess and says "drink to my health"-'This is my blood'Jesus says. Robert, the man she plans on having the affair with is exactly like Mr. Pontellier. Edna is going through the same cycle and her only escape is death. The novel is very interesting and you just have to use your brains a little harder and ask "Why did the author write this? What was the purpose behind it? What meaning does it have?" If you ask these questions to every book you read you as a reader will understand and enjoy the book you are reading. By doing this your horizons will expand and you will be a better reader and writer which will make you a better thinker! I hope you agree with me.

I might as well say that I am a computer engineering major at the University of Kansas, so all bigots who do not even bother to respect what I say because they do not agree with me can chalk it up to the fact that I am a male engineering major and I "just can't understand it" and you will point out that my English here is not always gramatically correct (it's a Sunday afternoon and I don't care). To those of you I say: "Look at the facts and don't make excuses!"

<end of disclaimer>

I guess if you like boring writing and a soap-operaesque plot, go ahead and read. This, however, should not the book that is heralded by critics as it is. I cannot see what they see in it. Edna, who is married, runs off to see a second man. He escapes to South America when he realizes he is getting into this relationship much to deep, so Edna looks for a third man, who she knows in her heart and has been advised that he is bad for her; Naturally, she goes after him anyway. After getting too attached to Alcee, her other lover proclaims in a letter that he's coming back. So ends the plot summary of "The Awakening", written in a wash of thinly veiled sybolism and in an excruciating-to-read writing style.

"The Awakening" would have been a great book to read if I had been looking for either a feminist handbook or a book destroying the sanctity of marriage. Many people, particularly feminists, will argue two things, Edna was being oppressed and Edna was a passionate woman. True, Edna was being oppressed, but do three wrongs (oppression compounded with adultery and suicide) make a right. As for passion, Edna is a bland woman who relies on everyone else (Adele, the doctor, Reisz) to make the tough decision for her.

Most of you will not agree with what I just said, but those are what I consider to be the cold, hard facts. I was crucified in my English class (which consisted of 3 males, 15 females, and a feminist teacher), but "such is life". I also write this as a warning to all who would be swayed by the crowd to think of this as a good book when they do not believe this to be true, to give a dissenting opinion, something to balance and use as a measure to compare those other reviews against. And lastly, I write this because I believe this is the truth.

Kate Chopin, a woman far ahead of her time, did a remarkable job in writing The Awakening. She most likely felt many of the same things as her fiction character, writing them through her novel. It is so unfortunate that the book was rejected when first published, that people could not accept such a revolutionary and dynamic female character like Edna Pontellier. She was a strong-willed woman who discovered her independence, self-worth, inner strength and sexuality. In a time when wives were submissive and subservient, Edna breaks free of the confines of society's traditional role for women. Empowered by the realization that she can make her own decisions and act according to her will alone, not simply her husband's, her life becomes more fully real. It is then that she can also truly love. Edna had always been quietly rebellious and independent, but had slowly given in more and more to society's rules and the males in her life. She did not want to be seen and esteemed only for being a mother and proper woman. It was refreshing to see such a strong woman, especially considering the time period the novel was written, long before the times of civil or women's rights. Edna's happiness and freedom, her true self and being, are the most valuable things in the world to her. She does not want to be treated as a possession any longer. Edna's thoughts and actions were quite radical for the late 19th century, but many of the ideas from the novel still apply today, even in a time of supposed equality and freedoms. People must learn to look inward for true happiness; self-realizations and preservation. Today, people, women, tend to look outward for their contentment and acceptance, basing it on other people and material things. Kate Chopin and her character were attempting to break free of this a century ago. Reading The Awakening was a pleasurable experience from start to finish. We both really enjoyed the novel and definitely recommend it to others, especially women.

At a time when a woman's roles in society were the doting wife and devoted mother, Edna Pontellier becomes more and more aware of her distaste for these responsibilities. Kate Chopin's heroine embodies the theme of escapism and the view of marriage and motherhood as traps. During the summer at Grand Isle, Edna becomes more apathetic towards her devoted, providing husband (whom she never loved, but was "fond" of) and vague, nondescript children (who symbolize children as burdens rather than blessings). As she distances herself from her family, Edna grows closer to a dear acquaintance and the object of her romantic desire, Robert Lebrum. Once Edna and her family return to New Orleans, she shirks her former duties, such as being a hostess on Tuesdays, and instead focuses on her artistic talents. When her husband goes on a business trip and her children stay with their grandmother, Edna becomes more bold and independent, finding pleasure in a man who satisfies her physical desire, Alcee Arobin. As her senses awake, she allows herself to become receptive to personal pleasures as a way to discover her true self and what she really seeks: freedom. The novel provides excellent psychological insights and guides the reader through Edna's mind as she begins the journey towards self-fulfillment and independence. The novel is also filled with symbols and motifs such as birds (symbolic of Edna), music (passion), the sea (escape), the young lovers (Edna and Robert), and the lady in black (always seen following the lovers as a symbol of their fate). Nearly every sentence bears a deeper, symbolic meaning. Through the vivid characterizations and descriptions of emotions and psychological drives, the reader is pulled through the novel with a passionate sympathy and understanding of Edna's motives. As the chapters come to an end, Edna presents her realization about her desires and takes the only path that can give her what she seeks. Though one may not agree with her choices, one can see her reasons. For that, Chopin establishes herself as a master of the portrayal of the female psyche and a phenomenal writer.

I was told that after reading much of Emily Dickinson's work and Madame Bovary that I would find great delight in Kate Chopin's final attempt at novel writing, The Awakening. I was struck first reading it that the novel is written almost without feeling at first, and then unfolds to be what is surprisingly rich and complex in terms of one woman's journey into personal freedom. I won't call Chopin's work a femenist statement, no, in fact, in reading The Awakening I found that the character of Edna is not really a representation of feminism, but what the title simply suggests...an awakening. Edna is trapped in complacency of the times and has never established herself for her. I think that this is a novel where anyone who seems to be craving a change or is beginning to establish themselves will relate too, because in our own little way, we are all Edna's, people who want something more. The difference between this and what Madame Bovary suggests about women is that Chopin's work in my opinion is not really about sex at all, it's about transitions of the spirit. Unlike Bovary, Edna is not a bad mother, she does not wish for the world at all and everything inside of it...she just wishes to be alive. In the end, she fails, but there is something that is found beneath the subtle words of Kate Chopin that seems to suggest, like Edna, we too are all doomed to fail as well.

In terms of the author's ability, she is a simple writer without much emotion, far from anything gothic or of that style. She didnt strike me as amazingly romantic either, and I have read that Chopin was known for being a short story writer. I could see that, because the way she choses to write is very short story esque. Still, somehow, Chopin is able to bring out the emotions in the reader with her limited style. After reading her work, I found myself amazed and completly blown away, because you will find as the book unfolds there are lots of symbols and deeper meanings. It's a beautiful work, one of my personal favorites. Highly reccomnded.

Kate Chopin's controversial novel The Awakening was greeted with immediate attack by critics who believed it to be too provocative and questioned her motives and morals. Set in Louisiana, the protagonist Edna Pontellier, struggles to reach her awakening through her journeys and experiences in New Orleans and the Grand Isle. The Awakening is filled with symbols and different themes which reveal Edna as a complicated and intricate character. Throughout the novel, there is a constant dualism between Edna Pontellier's outward existence and her inner self. Her outward existence conforms to society and her duties as a wife and mother, and in contrast, her inner self is represented through her dreams. Her dreams are to be free and to no longer be viewed as an ornament hanging off of her husband. Symbolized by the parrots who are tamed and domesticated in the gilded cage, she feels restricted by her current life and desires to escape. The birds also foreshadow her departure by their cries of "Allez vous-en!" (Get out!) and reveals the theme of escape from maternal and matrimonial bondage. When she moves out of her husband's house, her new home is known as "the pigeon house." This is significant because pigeons are not caged and therefore, able to roam free. The dualism between New Orleans and the Grand Isle symbolizes constraint and freedom. New Orleans is proper society and extremely hectic, whereas Grand Isle possess more of an relaxed atmosphere and is much like the Garden of Eden. It is in Grand Isle where she meets and falls in love with Robert Lebrun. Edna faces a dilemma of choosing between her husband and children or Robert Lebrun. She believes that in Robert she has found her true self and identity, but later realizes that her infatuation with Robert is only a sexual desire and can be satisfied by any other man. It is ironic that in the end Mr. Pontellier and Robert Lebrun turn out to be the same-a common man. Like Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter, Edna becomes alienated from society. Her final dinner party parallels the Last Supper where she invites 12 guests symbolizing the 12 disciples. After the conclusion of her party, she returned to Grand Isle where the voice of the sea "speaks to the soul" and attracted Edna for a spiritual and emotional cleansing. Kate Chopin's novel with its simple short sentences and chapters is actually not simple at all. The Awakening is filled with many symbols and themes, all of which helps increase the readers understanding of Edna Pontellier. It must be read with close attention to detail. Although the ending was some what disappointing, it is still worth reading. This book about feminism that shocked the literary world over a hundred years ago will still shock readers today.

When The Awakening was published at the end of the XIX century, the novel was not well received. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, was accussed of being a bad wife, a bad mother, a bad person... a bad example to women. Ms. Chopin died a couple of years later without publishing another book. Less than 100 years later, The Awakening has been rescued and it is considered one of the milestones in women's literature. Edna lives a comfortable, pleasant, wealthy life in New Orleans. Edna, like all other women in her same social-economic status, is expected to conform to the images that society and literature has created and perpetuated about them: those of the angel-woman, the mother-woman, the perfect-woman. Edna's friend, Adele Ratignolle, is precisely the embodiment of all these virtues, and is against Adele that Edna measures herself and begins to question her place in the world. When seeing the Ratignolles acting at unison, Edna feels depressed rather than soothed and this picture of perfect married life left Edna with a sense of "pity for that colorless existence which never uplifted its possessor beyond the region of blind contentment." Edna begins to search for her own identity, very much like a man would, the difference is that because of her gender, Edna is not allowed to explore and grow as an individual. Edna begins gradually to awaken not only to her own independence but to her sexuality, as well. She leaves the comfort of her husband's home and moves into her own small place, she begins to paint for a living and she takes a lover. Yet she soon realizes that no matter how hard she tries to be a person, she (and all women by extension) will always be perceived as someone's appendage and never her own person. There are metaphors throughout the book that evoke Edna's increasing awareness: she goes through periods of deep sleep and she swims, which is also a metaphor for her progressive awakening. Overall The Awakening is one of those books that is still pertinent today, for although women are allowed to have careers and speak their own minds, women are still expected to be above all mothers and wives. This dichotomy between being a wife/mother-woman and a woman-woman - still sparks today - 100 years later - controversy.