The Awakening Group

Question:

littlebritney
littlebritney
Student
High School - 10th Grade

What is "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin about? Explain the thesis, plot, and characterization.

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Posted by littlebritney on Sunday November 16, 2008 at 12:01 PM and tagged with characterization, kate chopin, plot, the awakening, theme.

Answers:

  1. morrol
    morrol Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin is about Edna Pontellier's personal awakening. She is a married woman who is unhappy with her husband, her children, and where her life is headed. Edna instead likes to paint. She is bored with the inane chatter around her and wants something more in her life. She has an affair, and decides to choose her own freedom. Rather than stay in her present life, she decides to commit suicide by swimming out into the ocean.

    The main themes of the story include the social roles of women, and personal and sexual understanding of the self. Edna is a bright, vibrant, sensual woman. Her desertion of the rules of society reveal her independent and daring nature. 

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/awakening/characters
    http://www.enotes.com/awakening/summary
    http://www.enotes.com/awakening/themes

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    Posted by morrol on Monday November 17, 2008 at 1:39 PM