The Awakening

I love this book because Edna Pontellier is perhaps the original flawed yet sympathetic heroine—a character ahead of her time and a symbol of the growing stirrings of feminism.

I underlined many passages in my dog-eared copy from college (my professor was the editor), including the line, “Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman,” a contrast with the other mothers summering on Grand Isle who doted on their children. She’s not what a woman and mother was supposed to be in 1899—she’s in love with a man other than her husband; she eschews the trappings of motherhood; and ultimately she escapes… show more.

This book was a revelation for me for two reasons: one, it’s a bildungsroman about a female, and two, it was published in 1899. Maybe three, for how it ends.

Is unrequited love the gold standard of relationships? Do most people settle for second best, perhaps without understanding why they let the greatest love of their life get away? Edna, the female protagonist, finds herself in this difficult situation. Her quandary is deep, and she lets the reader know just how painful it is.

I see Chopin as one of the earliest earnest authors of American naturalism, as powerful a… show more.

Kate Chopin’s body of work vividly depicts Creole life in Louisiana while focusing on matters of the heart.

The Awakening follows Edna Pontellier through a summer at Grand Isle, where “she [begins] to loosen a little.” Short chapters with brisk pacing unfold in this novella alongside breezy Gulf Coast descriptions. Chopin writes without judgment of her characters and instead allows her audience full autonomy to contemplate their decisions, empowering them in the process.