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.
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1 comment:

  1. James WangMarch 20, 2011 at 11:59 AM

    I agree with the foreshadowing part, but also want to mention that it could also be a vague sort of allusion to the Sirens of Greek mythology, which were beings of temptation that lured unsuspecting victims to their doom. Likewise, Edna fell to Temptation and was lost to the seas.

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