Title:
- Awakening, The
Authors:
Genres:
Editions:
| # | Date | Publisher | Binding | Cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1899-00-00 | Herbert S. Stone & Company |  |
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- Blurb:
- During the long hot summer, upper-class Creole families from New Orleans flee to Grand Isle to relax by the ocean. When her husband Leonce returns to the city during the week for work, Edna Pontellier becomes enamored of young Robert Lebrun. In the young gallant"s company Edna develops a sense of herself as a unique human being, with wants and desires separate form her husband and children. One day Edna and Robert take a trip to another island by boat, when she falls asleep and awakens a new woman. Nervous about their growing closeness, Robert suddenly goes off to Vera Cruz on business, leaving Edna depressed. When she returns to the city Edna tries to settle into her old routine, but it proves to be too much for her. Instead she begins painting and engaging in other behaviors her husband considers eccentric. Edna is committed to doing what she wants, regardless of what society or her husband think about her actions. With her husband and children both out of town, Edna enjoys her new-found freedom and meets Alcee Arobin, a charming young philanderer at the local racetrack. With the money she makes gambling and selling paintings, Edna decides to move out on her own and while she realizes it is Robert whom she loves, she has an affair with Albion. But a meeting with Robert will have fatal consequences for Edna"s newfound independence. THE AWAKENING is a compelling portrait of a woman discovering her own identity and demanding to be treated as an autonomous human being, consequently rebelling against the norms of society. Kate Chopin"s use of subtle prose in the Naturalist style and the constant symbolism of water and the ocean, help to reveal Edna"s state of mind. This novella will remind readers of Gustave Flabuert"s MADAME BOVARY, but the differences are significant and reflect more than the fact one was written by a Frenchman and the other by an American woman. THE AWAKENING is more sensual and its heroine eminently more worthy of sympathy and admiration. --Lawrance M. Bernabo cc