The Awakening LRB 4

A general statement of the literary work’s content, a summary or a paraphrase

            The Awakening, by Kate Chopin portrays the story of Edna Pontellier and the changes or “awakenings” that occur in her life. Through story Edna experiences many awakenings and discovers more about herself, while wanting independence. This book is mostly of one woman’s struggle to mesh with society and to her inability to cope with others in her search for liberation and independence. At the start of the story, Edna is a young mother of two and the wife to a successful businessman. While the family is vacationing, Edna becomes acquainted with Robert Lebrun, a younger man who plays with her fertile heart to become more intimate with her. These cherished conversations with Robert invite Edna to become more independent along with her learning to swim in the ocean. All in all, Robert awakens feeling Edna had long since forgotten to before becoming married. “Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions”; this shows how Edna has both and inner and outer feelings and is used as a contrast from the beginning to the end of the novel to show how she conforms less and less as the story progressed. After returning from the vacation and her lover’s departure to México, Edna has despairs like no other and as a result abandons her old life of a mother and wife, to one of remorse and independence. She has no attention to society’s expectations and no devotion towards her family, but instead explores individuality of love, life, and sexual serenity. Chopin's uses real and symbolic imagery to display Edna’s senses and the feminism component of society. She uses the character Edna to portray the struggle most women went through during this time period and the traditional restraints most women had on them.

The Awakening LRB 3

A discussion of the title’s significance

            In literary works the title usually plays a crucial role in the understanding of the inner meaning of a novel. The title, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin first paints a mental picture for the reader of one of life or death. In this novel both of these are partially true. After reading of the novel, one can fully understand the deepest meaning Chopin is trying to convey and understand that the title represents the main character, Edna Pontellier. Overall the title plays the role of the different resurrections of Edna in the story and how she “awakens” at different points.

First, Edna has a form of awakening when she encounters Mademoiselle Reisz, which is really the only person who she can communicate with and understands her inner feelings. Mrs. Pontellier has an emotional outbreak when Reisz demonstrates her musical talent. This form of awakening in Edna depicts one theme of the novel, which is liberation. As the story continues Edna becomes more independent demonstrating another awakening, mostly after her learning to swim in the ocean. That symbolized her awakening of her independent nature, becoming more of a greater relevance as Edna begins to express herself through her artwork.

            There is another awakening which is more intimate, with her lover Robert. She is sexually awakened by Robert in every way despite being married, because she wants to be independent and not held down. She is attracted to Robert loose livelihood while she gets further and further from her husband.  

The Awakening LRB 2

An analysis of the work’s symbolism

In Kate Chopin’s literary masterpiece, The Awakening, symbolism is a crucial component to the novel’s overall meaning. Such symbols include the sea and the birds. First off the sea is a symbol for liberation in Edna. Edna learns to swim in the sea and in a sense acquires self-control, which in turn guides her whole life from that point on.  By finally “taking control” over her own body, Edna is more independent in her nature; for example, she is less obedient to her husband, whom is fairly good to her. The sea also can be seen as love - "The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace." -  which is ironic considering Edna drowns in the sea. I believe Chopin is trying to convey this ironic image and symbolism to show how love can be poison and lead to treachery.  

            Another symbol in Chopin’s eye-opening novel is the birds. There are several different types of birds which show up in crucial points in the story. In the beginning, there was a parrot and a mockingbird which represented Edna’s unspoken feelings toward her husband and her friend Mademoiselle Reisz. The parrot is like Edna in the sense that the bird isn’t fond of Leonce, her husband. The mockingbird represents Edna’s and Reisz’s relationship, where Reisz understand Edna and her feelings, just like the Mockingbird can understand the parrot.

             The other bird which makes its way into the story is the one with the broken wing. As Edna is about to traverse into the ocean, she sees a bird with a broken wing struggling to stay aloft, fluttering its crippled wing in an effort to stay upright, disabled, falling, plunging down into the water. I believe this bird represents Edna’s failure to find liberation, in Mademoiselle Reisz’s words, “the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings”.  The bird indeed does not have strong wings, which is similar to Edna who definitely lacks these strong wings as she plunges into  the sea like the disabled bird.

The Awakening LRB 1

An analysis of a major character

            In Kate Chopin’s literary masterpiece The Awakening, Robert Lebrun is a handsome and charming man whom seems to have fallen in love with the already wed Edna Pontellier. Mrs. Pontellier, as Robert must call her, is married to Leonce Pontellier. Robert is mostly a dynamic character who has a personal secret relationship with Mrs. Pontellier. However, he is unwilling to further his relationship with a married woman and leaves the country for Mexico, where he had planned to become unfathomably wealthy.  In his actions, the reader can tell that Robert is much more materialistic than Edna.

Robert is a very selfish an immature guy, who courts a different woman each summer with intentions less than thoughtful. His words are very indicative of his own personal story. For example, when Robert tells Edna about the “Gulf ghost who returns to the coast every year waiting for a woman to win his heart”, he is indirectly talking about himself. He mainly concentrates on married women who are not very canny and unable to respond to his wistful courting.

I believe Robert is a dynamic character because his characteristics change throughout the novel. In the forefront the reader can see how he is an immature guy who wants relationships with older women because they are more susceptible to his cravings, but near once he starts to know Edna more and more he truly falls in love with her and wants to marry her. Unlucky for him that Edna has no such desires, even though she does in fact love him, and instead she wants her independence. Although Robert is away during much of Edna’s “awakening” he plays a huge role in her life because he demonstrates certain characteristics which she admires, such as, charisma, sensuality, imagination, and chivalry.

Timed Writing Grade

I would award my timed writing as a 7 overall, because I offered a reasonable analysis of a single pivotal moment of a protagonist in a bildungsroman, while incorporating how the pivotal moment shaped the meaning and entire work as a whole. However, my analysis was less thorough and undeserving of a higher score due to the fact that I lacked certain qualities to the writing, such as, textual support. My essay was less perceptive than that of an 8 or 9, while still being insightful and understanding of the topic.

If I were given the chance to revise my essay I would provide a more persuasive analysis of the novel and how a single pivotal moment shaped the psychological or moral development of my protagonist. I would contribute specific textual support to compliment my analysis and be less repetitive in my introduction while enhancing my vocabulary, thus yielding a more sophisticated outcome and an effective control of language.   

 After reading the response examples, I have learned that it is better to just simply analyze the topic and stray away from plot summary. I have also seen that the higher graded papers seemed to have exquisite vocabulary. These responses may not be perfect or entirely correct, but they answered the question and gave textual support to back up their view of the topic. I would change the fact that I didn’t incorporate that much textual support and I would be more descriptive when analyzing the protagonist’s maturity.

          I feel that in my timed writings I need the most help in incorporating more textual support while still being sophisticated in my perception and devilment of the prompt. I think in class I could focus most on specific parts of text from a particular novel and then revolve paragraphs around them.