Report: Kate Chopins The Awakening - Book Report/Review Example

Book Report: Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening.” “The Awakening” is a short novel by Kate Chopin. It relates the story of a young New Orleans’ woman, Edna Pontellier. Edna has a kind, loving husband, Leonce and two little boys. She is an obedient wife and affectionate mother. While on a summer vacation at Grand Isle with her family, Edna falls in love with young Robert Lebrun, who soon leaves for Mexico. Edna is fired by a restless longing and misses Robert. On her return to New Orleans, she enters into an affair with Alcee Arobin. Her sexual awakening coincides with her longing for self-identity and independence. She leaves her husband and moves to a separate house. Robert returns and declares his love for her. Edna is trapped in the social strictures of the age. She returns to Grand Isle and drowns herself in the sea, preferring to die rather than submit to a life of superficiality. Kate Chopin began “The Awakening” in 1897 and completed it on January 21, 1898. The original title of the story was “A Solitary Soul.” It was published as “The Awakening” by Herbert S. Stone & Company in Chicago on April 22, 1899 (Kate Chopin.org). “The Awakening” reflects the historical period and society in which it was written. “The Awakening” is set in New Orleans. Kate Chopin lived in New Orleans from 1870-1879, in the early years of her marriage. The action of the story also takes place in the Grand Isle, an island off the Louisiana coast. Grand Isle was a popular tourist destination for the upper classes of New Orleans. The women and children of many families spent the hot summer months there, while the men worked in the city and commuted to the island on weekends. Like other wealthy families in the city, Kate Chopin and her family would go by boat to vacation on Grand Isle. Chapter XII is located on Cheniere Caminada, an island across the bay from Grand Isle. Cheniere Caminada was destroyed by The Great Storm, or the Hurricane of 1893. This hurricane, which struck the Louisiana coast on 1st October, 1893, was one of the greatest natural disasters in US history. With wind speeds of over 100 mph, the storm raged for hours and flattened the dwellings. The Storm killed 779 people out of a population of 1471. The total causalities was over 2000 lives. Kate Chopin refers to Cheniere Caminada’s “quaint little Gothic church of Our Lady of Lourdes, gleaming all brown and yellow with paint in the sun's glare” (Chapter XII). Edna, along with Robert Lebrun and a few others from Grand Isle, attend the Sunday morning service at the church. Lying in the vicinity of the Gulf of Mexico, the island’s warm climate supported lush groves which supplied New Orleans with oranges. In “The Awakening,” Edna is seen “plucking an orange from the low-hanging bough of a tree” (Chapter XIII). The story is a faithful record of the historical setting of the islands, written from the perspective of Chopin’s familiarity with these locales (Loyola University New Orleans web site). The language used by the characters in “The Awakening” reflects the fact that a large part of the New Orleans’ population at that time had French and Spanish roots (Toth). This is seen in the names of the various characters, almost all of whom have French names: Lebrun, Etienne and Raoul, Leonce Pontellier, Adele Ratignolle, Mademoiselle Reisz and Alcee Arobin. Most of the characters in The Awakening speak French, in addition to English. They are a part of Louisiana’s Creole society. Louisiana’s Creoles were the French speaking white descendants of early French and Spanish settlers. They had a unique culture which retained many European customs. They imported wine, books and dresses from France. In line with this, Edna reads Goncourt on the Grand Isle. Creoles tended to form a close circle, seldom marrying outside. Art and music comprised an integral part of their lives. This is reflected in “The Awakening,” where music recitals and appreciation are a recurring feature of the story. Mademoiselle Reisz is an accomplished pianist, while the Ratignolle’s have regular musical soirees. Kate Chopin herself was a part of this Creole heritage. Chopin’s mother, Eliza Faris O'Flaherty, belonged to a prominent French Creole Family, while Chopin’s husband was a Creole cotton trader (Loyola University New Orleans web site). In the story, Chopin incorporates the Creole way of life. “There were only Creoles that summer at Lebrun's. They all knew each other, and felt like one large family, among whom existed the most amicable relations.” Chopin also touches upon their characteristic “absence of prudery” and the “lofty chastity” of Creole women (Chapter IV). However, Edna Pontellier is from a different background. Adele Ratignolle asserts, “She is not one of us; she is not like us” (Chapter VIII). Adele’s Kentucky Presbyterian background compounds her increasing alienation from the tightly-knit Creole society. “The Awakening” gives a vivid picture of New Orleans’ society in the late nineteenth century, particularly the prevalence of gender stereotypes. The man’s duty is to provide for his family, while the woman’s role is to be a housewife, wife and mother. The ideal women were those “women who idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals” (Chapter IV). Adele Ratignolle, with her complete dedication to her husband and children, is portrayed as the exemplary woman. Society expects conformity as a condition for acceptance. Leonce Pontellier tells his wife “people don't do such things; we've got to observe les convenances if we ever expect to get on and keep up with the procession” (Chapter XVII). Edna’s revolt against gender conformity and social norms, and her search of self-identity, make her the New Woman of the nineteenth century. This was the period in which women increasingly attempted to throw off the shackles of traditional gender roles. It is significant that Chopin met Victoria Claflin Woodhull, a famous suffragette and symbol of women’s suffrage, rights and free love. Claflin advised Chopin not to “fall into the useless degrading life of most married ladies, but to elevate my mind and turn my attention to politics, commerce; questions of state, &c. I assured her I would do so” (Gilbert, in Loyola University New Orleans web site). Kate Chopin effectively uses her story to portray New Orleans and its environs, Louisiana’s Creole society and the gender stereotypes of the late nineteenth century. This make “The Awakening” a valuable interpretation of its historical period. Works Cited. Chopin, Kate. “The Awakening.” Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication. Toth, Emily. “Kate Chopin: The Awakening.” KateChopin.org. Kate Chopin International Society. 11 Nov 2013. Web. 11 Nov 2013. “The Hurricane of 1893.” Loyola University New Orleans. 1999. Web. 11 Nov 2013. http://www.loyno.edu/~kchopin/new/culture/cheniere.html Read More