The Awakening

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It's a hit!

This book is amazingly soulful. As I finished the book I had chills running through my body, a tear in my eye, and the sound of ocean waves crashi... (show more)

This book is amazingly soulful. As I finished the book I had chills running through my body, a tear in my eye, and the sound of ocean waves crashing on a distant shore in my ears. Edna was raised to believe that a lady was to act in a certain way, marry a certain man and be a doting mother to her children. Edna “played” the game until she began to realize that her life was hers and no one else’s. She was no longer her husband’s property and she would never sacrifice herself for her children. Edna never really had to deal with the trials of life which left her feeling unfulfilled and empty. As she began her "awakening" she became more child-like in her mannerisms. The dinner party she threw before moving into the "pigeon house" is a prime example. It was reminiscent of a little girl's tea party. She began to say what she was feeling without forethought and she loved being around her children playing and romping through the yard as if she were a child herself. She longed to be her own woman and to be able to do whatever she felt like doing whenever she felt like doing it and with whom she felt like doing it with. Chopin has presented the world with a classic piece that should stir, within every woman, an ember of power and an urge for self-fulfillment. I cannot speak from a male's perspective but as a woman this is one of my favorite books and it reminds me to never take myself for granted and to never let opportunities slip out of grasp if they are truly near and dear to my heart. This is an excellent book full of vivid imagery and is masterfully crafted. (show less)

 

 

by Andrea Winslow

No, it's a flop!

I don’t like Edna Pontellier. She can’t be bothered to learn the name of the nanny who takes care of the children she can’t be bothered to lift a ... (show more)

I don’t like Edna Pontellier. She can’t be bothered to learn the name of the nanny who takes care of the children she can’t be bothered to lift a finger for (throughout the book, the nanny is referred to only as “the quadroon”). She is the exemplar of indulged idleness. She plays at flirtation, but the slightest hint of animal desire between men and women sends her running in revulsion. She strikes out on her own, at least as much as a society woman in the 1890s could, scandalously entertaining men at her house without chaperones. But I’m damned if I can find the slightest indication that she ever does more than plant a smooch on her young paramour, far less take him to bed. When she drowns herself on the last page, she’s as confused as she was in the beginning of the book, unable to articulate what it is she really wants. Oops, sorry about the spoiler there.

The Awakening is a novel about a “liberated” woman and was thus automatically controversial in 1899, when Kate Chopin wrote it. The book was banned and Kate was shunned – actually banished from the literary society of which she had been a prominent member – and I’m told she ever wrote another novel. Women, fictional or otherwise, simply didn’t liberate themselves in those days.

Ah, but now we live in what we are told are post-feminist times. So I was shocked, shocked to learn that this 110-year-old book is still being challenged by parents’ groups today? Believe it – here’s the link: http://www.abffe.com/bbw-classkc-chopin.htm.

Apparently many reviewers – and would-be censors – believe that Edna did in fact do the dirty deed with her boyfriend, and even had that most forbidden and liberating of all experiences, an orgasm. Kate Chopin isn’t around any more so we can’t ask her if that’s what really happened, but I’ll tell you what, when you read Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (a novel written almost 50 years before The Awakening), there isn’t any doubt or ambiguity about what Emma Bovary did to secure her liberation. I think that if Kate Chopin had meant to indicate that actual boffage had occurred, she would have made it at least as clear as Flaubert did.

Well, no matter what Edna Pontellier did or didn’t do back in 1899, sex – more precisely, the promise of sex – is at least hinted at in The Awakening. And in the USA, that’s enough to get the folks in Kansas riled up – 110 years later! (show less)

 

 

by Paul Woodford

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  Completely banished from the literary world when it first came out in the late 19th century, this book by Chopin is deeply admired in today's world. It speaks to every woman, I think, and not just the ones who are struggling with obvious entrapment. Edna Pontellier is awakening from a realm she has been asleep in and is slowly finding herself. Or is she? Some argue that she is like a confused, dazed child. I personally think that her individual nature has been so suppressed by society and its... (show more)

  Completely banished from the literary world when it first came out in the late 19th century, this book by Chopin is deeply admired in today's world. It speaks to every woman, I think, and not just the ones who are struggling with obvious entrapment. Edna Pontellier is awakening from a realm she has been asleep in and is slowly finding herself. Or is she? Some argue that she is like a confused, dazed child. I personally think that her individual nature has been so suppressed by society and its 'norms' and expectations that she awakens not to reality but into another dream where she is lost in a maze. I personally found a personal connection with Edna, and I think that most women will be able to relate to some part of this character. It's best to get the Critical edition as the literary observations serve to understand Chopin's work and give you a bigger palate of ideas to think about. (show less)

   

  by Facebook User on Feb 08, 2009 at 07:11AM

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  What a nice little treasure to have fall in my lap the other day on a referral. Written in 1899, this book has a definite 'adjustment to the times' to make when you begin reading it. Like Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, or Jane Eyre, we have female authors doing what was dominated by men of their time. I pictured a Louisiana summer spent like the movie 'Dirty Dancing'. All the well-to-do people of New Orleans head out to an island for the summer to relax in their little bungelos and pl... (show more)

  What a nice little treasure to have fall in my lap the other day on a referral. Written in 1899, this book has a definite 'adjustment to the times' to make when you begin reading it. Like Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, or Jane Eyre, we have female authors doing what was dominated by men of their time. I pictured a Louisiana summer spent like the movie 'Dirty Dancing'. All the well-to-do people of New Orleans head out to an island for the summer to relax in their little bungelos and play on the beach without a worry in the world. But along the way, 'Edna' has a revelation. She understands that love is what she wants from Robert and doesn't have it toward her husband. Her treatment of her husband subsequently, baffles and irritates him. It is a time when women were much less apt to have an affair so Leonce thinks his wife might have something wrong mentally. But having gone through a divorce I saw those signs clearly as i read the book. 1899 or 2009, they are the same. And so were his actions. He gave her space and lost. He gave her gifts and lost. He worked hard to provide for their family and lost. What he didn't do was change his pattern of late night visits to the bars and gambling rooms, or ease up on the daily criticism that spews from your mouth uncontrollably when you are in a tailspin you don't really know you are in. It was frustrating to read what basically constitutes my ex-wife's journal 100+ years in the making. She'd have the right thoughts about her husband and children until she got them out of sight and mind. Sage advice from her friends would fall on deaf ears. Edna didn't exactly cheat on her husband. Yes, she kissed Alcee and then Robert. And yes, she would have done more if Robert waited for her. But I love that he didn't wait. And the end went somewhere I didn't expect. Kate Chopin's only other book will make it onto my wishlist! (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook User on Nov 23, 2009 at 03:52PM

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