The Awakening

A detailed Summary of The Awakening

The Awakening, written by Kate Chopin, is a unique novel that shows the reader a woman that comes to her senses and grasps reality. Throughout the whole story the main character, Edna Pontellier, comes and goes between her home in New Orleans and her summer home in Grand Isle. By using these different settings Chopin represents Edna's conflict and the meaning of her work. The author also used foreshadowing, situational irony, and symbolism to make the novel more understanding and interesting.

Grand Isle was Edna's summer home. Edna's home in Grand Isle is like a luxury resort while her home in New Orleans is more like a "down to earth" dwelling. New Orleans seems to be dull while Grand Isle is full of cheerfulness. Almost everyday in Grand Isle Edna would go down to the beach and relax, but in New Orleans she always seemed to be restricted to solitude in her depressing antique-like home.

Edna didn't really get pleasure from her living style, and that eventually lead her husband to call a doctor. This is also where Edna Pontellier defined T

Chopin used foreshadowing to build drama so the reader will always be second guessing what is going to happen next. This built up a lot of suspense and made the novel more enjoying. She used situational irony when Edna committed suicide. And she symbolized Victorian women as caged birds. The novel opens with two caged birds. The parrot speaks a little French, a little Spanish, and a language that no one understood. The parrot serves as a metaphor for Edna's dilemma. The lady in black also was an important symbol in The Awakening. She represented the socially acceptable version of widowhood. She is completely devoted to religious worship. She often appeared in conjunction with the two younger lovers. Her connection with the young lovers foreshadows the failure of the love between Edna and Robert.

Why do people commit suicide? Some common reasons are isolation and loneliness, disruption of one's social life, and suicide for the common good. Edna's took her life because of the isolation of her small house and the common good of the childre

Some common words found in the essay are:
Awakening Edna, Edna Pontellier, Grand Isle, Alcee Arobin, Isle Edna, Kate Chopin, Robert Robert, Isle Edna's, grand isle, , home grand isle, edna pontellier, home orleans, suicide common, love edna, summer home, caged birds, situational irony, social life, home grand,

Approximate Word count = 708
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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The Awakening

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