The Awakening

A detailed Summary of The Awakening

The novel The Awakening is written by Kate Chopin. The plot consists of the conflict

between Edna, the protagonist, and the expectation required of her as a Creole wife. Her

escape from her husband, Leonce, and children comes to her at the Grand Isle, the family's

vacationing home, in the form of Robert Lebrun. Because she feels trapped in her role as a

woman living during the early 1900's, she seeks Robert's youthful companionship!

Leonce being nearly twice her age is a bore, and Chopin uses this boring marriage and

Edna's affairs to express the resentment and frustration of a woman during the 1900's. In

the novel, The Awakening, the main character Edna, expresses disqust and resentment of

her life through her lack of enjoying her children, her desire for Robert, her relation ship

with Leonce, her husband, and her own sense of being trapped emotionally.

Edna Pontellier is a mother of two young boys who are four and five. These are the two

boys who she is expected to devote her whole life to. "If one of the little Pontellier boys

took a tumble whilst at play, he was not apt to rush crying to his mothers arms for

comfort"(Chopin 9). "In short, Mrs. Pontelleir was not a mothers-woman"(Chopin 9).

can only add to Edna's resentment and already low sense of self-worth, and the readers

to. Edna was in love with Robert and can not escape the infatuation. The readers finally

While Robert is gone, Edna waits for letters, and only receives one. The readers know he

and crumpled the paper between her hands"(Chopin 13). Her life has turned into a boring

can never work, and he leaves and goes to Mexico. The sense of abandonment is

Approximate Word count = 1254
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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