Introduction

The Awakening was written by Kate Chopin and published in 1899. It is set in nineteenth-century New Orleans, Louisiana. Kate Chopin, also the author of the short story "The Story of an Hour," was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1851. Chopin drew from personal experience to write The Awakening; at the age of 20 she married, by the time she was 29 she had already given birth to six children, and she eventually became submerged in the Creole culture of New Orleans. The novel, which centered around Edna Pontellier and her inability to accept the motherly and wifely duties she was expected to have, was a social commentary on the role of women in an oppressive society. The Awakening became a staple in the world of literary feminism.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Analysis: Chapter 5

At the very end of chapter 5, the following is stated:

 "Her glance wondered from his face away toward the Gulf, whose sonorous murmur reached her like a loving but imperative entreaty."

An audience unaware of the upcoming doom of Mrs. Pontellier would assume that the statement just foreshadowed the bound to happen romance between Edna and a man who was not her husband. Although I have not finished the book, I always read the last few pages just to see where and how the characters' paths end. Therefore, I am aware of the suicide that occurs in the closing chapter of the novel. Mention of "her glance [wondering] from his face toward the Gulf" foreshadowed Edna's death caused by her voluntary surrender to the ocean.

Analysis: Chapter 3

In chapter 3, the following is stated:

"An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish."

This hinted at the fact that Edna was not satisfied with her life. She was tired of the immobility she was experiencing with the obligations that came along with having a family. The statement also served to foreshadow future events. Edna sought ways to escape that "indescribable oppression," and in the end escaped in the most permanent way.

Analysis

I've noticed that Edna is referred to by her full name or last name in equal amounts in the novel. Her friend Madame Ratignolie is, however, referred to either nearly entirely or solely by her last name. Her being referred to as Madame Ratignolie throughout The Awakening automatically stamps her with the wife label, "Madame" used to address a married woman and Ratignolie being the last name she adopted as her own after marriage. The way she is addressed throughout the novel makes it obvious that she is identified by her status as a wife and a mother.

Analysis: Chapter 5

In chapter 5 Edna describes Madame Ratignolie as possessing the same "grace and majesty which queens are sometimes supposed to possess." Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Pontellier also describes the scene as her friend's kids run up to their mother and pull on her skirt. The indirect connection made between "grace and majesty" and motherhood is evident. Society at the time placed being a good mother on the top of the list of values women were to uphold. At the beginning of the novel, even Edna was convinced that such a standard was right.

Analysis: Chapter 5

In Chapter 5, the following was stated:

"They accepted without murmuring what she chose to give them, each holding out two chubby hands scoop-like, in the vain hope that they might be filled."

This described Edna's two kids as they waited to receive treats. The statement could be related to the fact that although Mrs. Pontellier is their mother, she will never and was never able to completely embody and embrace motherhood. Children will be children and yearn for their mother's attention; the Pontellier kids are no exception. They, however, will yearn with "vain hope" that their mother will truly want them, a hope that will go unfulfilled.