The Awakening by Kate Chopin

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The Awakeningby Kate Chopin

• Review PowerPoint
• Mrs. Dibble

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Setting and Social Background

• Grand Isle and New Orleans, LA circa 1899 are
  the two settings
• NO Catholic, French, with a great deal of
  interracial mixing is a relatively easy-going
  society.
• Husbands are NOT overly jealous of the attentions
  that their wives receive from other men. Women
  do not place too much credence on these
  attentions.
• The problem comes from Edna who is not from there
  she does take Roberts flirtations seriously.

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Cont.

• Edna is a Southern Presbyterian who contrasts
  with her husband who is a Creole.
• Creoles are the descendants of early French or
  Spanish settlers. Another definition is a
  mixture of African and French or African and
  Spanish. A third definition is Gens de Couleur
  or Free People of Color

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Cont.

• NO was established in 1718 as a French-Canadian
  outpost.
• Located by the mouth of the Mississippi, it
  developed rapidly.
• Its unique social structure began to evolve with
  the mass importation of African slaves in the
  1720s.
• By the end of the 18th century it was the haven
  of smugglers, gamblers, prostitutes, and pirates!
• Became refuge of whites and free blacks and
  their slaves escaping slave revolts in St.
  Dominque.

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Cont.

• The Spanish, French, and people of color worked
  together, lived next door to one another, and
  intermarried, creating a distinctive Creole
  culture.
• NO was already a diverse city when it was part of
  the Louisiana Purchase American immigrants
  werent particularly welcome there.
• Then, in the Battle of NO, the final battle of
  the War of 1812, Anglos and Creoles fought side
  by side. They were even backed by pirates like
  Jean Lafitte!

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Cont.

• Before the Civil War, NO experienced an economic
  Golden Age as a port and finance center for the
  cotton industry.
• This came to an end with the Union occupation and
  the Union blockade.
• The Old French Quarter- where Edna and the
  others live is the site of the original
  settlement. The Quarter is laid out on a grid
  that hasnt changed since 1721.
• The architecture is predominantly Spanish, with a
  strong Caribbean influence.

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Victorian and Early 20th Century Sexuality

• The Victorian attitude toward human sexuality was
  largely influenced by two people Darwin and
  Freud
• Darwin lowered man to almost animal status
• Freud revealed that mans most every thought
  was sex related
• Although it is clear that Alcee Arobins threat
  to Edna is sexual and that they did indeed
  consummate their relationship, Chopin does not
  openly discuss this.
• Men and women were not supposed to talk or THINK
  about sex.

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Symbolism in the Text

• ART
• - a symbol of both freedom and failure
• - a major part of Ednas awakening is her
  decision to take up painting again
• - through her sale of paintings, she is able to
  leave Leonces house and move to the Pigeon House
  
• - there is the suggestion that her art is flawed
  (her drawing of Mad. Ratignolle is not a good
  likeness)
• - Mad. Reisz often cautions Edna about what it
  takes to be an artist the courageous soul and
  the strong wings.

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• Birds
• - major symbol from the first page to the final
  image
• - the mockingbird and parrot symbolize various
  ineffective attempts at communication.
• - both birds are best known for their imitation
  of others, rather than having their own voice
  they cannot tell their own stories
• - the parrot screeches Get out! Get out! which
  could foreshadow Ednas desire to leave confines
  of her middle-class life.

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• - The fact that both birds are caged clearly
  shows entrapment.
• - the ability to spread wings and fly occurs
  often in the novel strong wings
• - while listening to Mad.Riesz, Edna daydreams
  about a naked man standing on a beach watching a
  bird fly away.

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Food

• There are several symbolic meals in the novel
  including
• The meal on Cheniere Caminada which occurs when
  she wakes up from her fairy tale sleep
• The dinner party at her old house when she is
  ready to leave for the Pigeon House viewed by
  some to recreate the Last Supper

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Swimming

• Appears as a central issue 3 times
• - Edna tells Mad. Ratignolle of her experience
  as a young girl swimming through the meadow
  here the swimming is an escape from formalized
  religion (Ednas fathers gloomy prayers)
• - Edna finally learns how to swim after trying
  all summer. Experiences exhilaration and
  freedom. Also experiences the fear of drowning

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Cont.

• The final swimming episode is, of course, her
  suicide. It is ultimately ambiguous whether Edna
  is embracing a new freedom from restriction by
  stripping off her clothes and surrendering
  herself to the seduction of the sea. Or is it
  a final desperate act because she can no longer
  live the life she seems destined to live???

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Water

• Water is a symbol of both freedom and escape.
• Edna remember the Kentucky fields of her
  childhood as an ocean, and she daydreams of the
  day she swam the meadow. Her learning to swim
  in the Gulf is a show of self-assertion, and she
  finally escapes to the sea. Even in NO there
  are lots of references to water in the form of
  rain or the river.

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Piano Playing

• Even at the beginning of the novel we hear the
  Farival twins playing the piano. Here, the fact
  of playing the piano is an allusion to the opera.
  On the evening of Edna 1st swim, the twins play
  again, but their inept poundings are replaced by
  Mad. Reisz.
• Both Adele and Mad. Reisz play the piano. Each
  woman functions to underscore a different aspect
  of the novel. Adele is good because she
  practices every day but she does not love it.
  She wants to set a good example for her kids.
  Mad. Reisz is an artist. She serves as a mentor
  to Edna.

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Sleep and Awakening

• The 1st night of the novel, Edna cannot sleep
  after her husband rebukes her for neglecting the
  children. It is during this sleepless night that
  her awakening begins. We are told, An
  indescribable oppression, which seemed to
  generate in some unfamiliar part of her
  consciousness, filled her whole being with a
  vague anguish.

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Cont.

• Similarly, the night of Ednas 1st successful
  swim, she also cannot sleep. Yet, the next day,
  she experiences a deep, dream-filled sleep during
  her nap at the home of Madame Antoine.
• Each major episode disagreements with Leonce,
  encounters with Alcee, Madame Ratignolles
  childbed are punctuated by specific mentions of
  Ednas sleep, or lack of sleep. During this
  time, physical sleep also comes to represent a
  state of awareness as in Ednas conversation with
  Doctor Mandelet the night of the birth, the night
  before her suicide.

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Themes

• Repressed Feelings almost everyone in the book
  , w/ the possible exceptions of Mad. Ratignolle
  and her hubby, repress their feelings, and this
  repression has a significant impact on how the
  characters interact and how the plot develops.
• - We are told very early that Leonce truly loves
  Edna. But does he tell her??? Robert flees to
  Mexico rather than express his love. On his
  return to NO, he delays seeing her for the same
  reason.
• - Mademoiselle Reisz seems to possess an insight
  into matters of the heart and soul yet she never
  reveals what in her past gives her this wisdom.
• - It is ultimately Ednas inability to repress
  her newly discovered feelings that drives her to
  suicide.

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Cont.

• Personal Freedom all of the characters are
  trapped by social expectations. The only
  characters who are not ( Victor, Mad. Reisz, and
  Alcee) are criticized by others. As Edna begins
  to gain a sense of personal freedom (evidenced by
  her learning to swim, painting, bagging her at
  home days, and moving out), she, too, falls
  subject to gossip and criticism.

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Cont.

• Role of Women- The society of Chopins novel
  allows for essentially one feminine role, and
  that is wife and mother (women who idolized
  their children, worshiped their husbands, and
  esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves
  as individuals and grow wings as ministering
  angels.) The various female characters in the
  novel represent the various responses to this
  single role.

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Cont.

• Madame Ratignolle fills the role perfectly. She
  is the embodiment of every womanly grace and
  charm. Notice that she is pregnant throughout
  the novel.
• Mademoiselle Reisz represents the woman who has
  thumbed her nose at the role. She is described
  as a disagreeable little woman, no longer young
  (with) a temper which was self- assertive and a
  disposition to trample upon the rights of others.
  She lives in near poverty.
• Edna, of course finds it difficult in her role
  and kills herself

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Cont.

• Search for Self To some extent, this theme is a
  combination of the idea of the repressed feelings
  and the search for personal freedom. It is only
  by witnessing Ednas struggle of
  self-actualization that we can question whether
  any of the characters has a strong sense of self.
  If there is such a character, it is probably
  Mad. Riesz.

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Alienation and Loneliness

• Mad. Riesz lives alone but does not seem to be
  lonely. Edna, on the other hand, feels lonely
  when her husband and children and more but she
  feels no less alone when she is with him. With
  Robert, however, she is not lonely. It is the
  ultimate aloneness caused by Roberts final
  leaving that immediately precipitates Ednas
  suicide.

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• Consequences of Choices
• - Immediately before Robert and Ednas reunion,
  Madame Ratignolle warns Edna, You seem to me
  like a child, Edna. You seem to act without a
  certain amount of reflection that is necessary in
  this life. Does Edna care about the
  repercussions of any of her decisions?