What are 5 examples of Kate Chopin's writing style in The Awakening?

Chopin often uses sound devices like alliteration and slant rhyme in order to arrest our attention and make the narrative seem to mimic its content. For example, in chapter VI, the narrator says,

The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.

I've bolded all of the "s" sounds in this passage. The narrator is, of course, describing the sea, and the "s" sounds could be interpreted as mimicking the sussuration of the water as it washes onto the shore. However, it might also remind us of the sound a snake makes, and snakes so often (including in this novel) symbolize temptation, just as the water tempts Edna toward freedom. The sea, especially for Edna, is both enticing and dangerous.

We see an example of Chopin's diction in this same chapter when the narrator says,

In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her. This may seem like a ponderous weight of wisdom to descend upon the soul of a young woman of twenty-eight—perhaps more wisdom than the Holy Ghost is usually pleased to vouchsafe to any woman.

Edna is having new and big ideas about herself and her place in the world, and Chopin seems to raise the level of diction to something higher than the conversational. Phrases like "ponderous weight of wisdom," "descend upon the soul," and "usually pleased to vouchsafe" indicate this elevated diction.

Chopin also employs figurative language quite often. For instance, in the same chapter, the narrator says,

A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her,—the light which, showing the way, forbids it. At that early period it served but to bewilder her. It moved her to dreams, to thoughtfulness, to the shadowy anguish which had over her the midnight when she had abandoned herself to tears.

This light is a metaphor for the knowledge and understanding that Edna is developing; she begins to recognize the ways in which society has restricted and bound her, as well as the fact that she likely cannot change it. Even midnight can symbolize both the death of one day and the birth of another, just as Edna recognizes and lays to rest her old self and embraces her new, awakened one. We also see in this passage an example of asyndeton, when the conjunctions (like "and") are left out of a series. In typical syntax, the word "and" should precede the phrase "to the shadowy anguish," but it is missing. This asyndeton, the lack of conjunctions, seems to emphasize the buildup of emotion, giving the list a kind of snowball effect and drawing our attention to its lack of typicality.

This novel is so rich with literary elements to be evaluated that you could probably find 5 examples in each chapter or maybe even on each page.  Chopin has a masterful way with words and imagery that transport the reader to the time and place as well as into the mind of Edna Pontellier. Here are a few literary examples to get you started.

The novel open with a bird in a cage speaking in French saying, "Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi!"  (Go away, go away, for heaven's sake). Right there, the reader is transported to French Creole New Orleans with her use of these French words.  In addition to that, the fact that bird is in a cage is clear symbol of something beautiful that is entrapped, and by the end of chapter 1 the reader recognizes that Edna is perhaps like this caged bird, a woman trapped in her marriage, tied to her children, and caged too by the expectations of Creole society.  It even says that the bird can speak "a language which nobody understood" which will come to represent Edna in that she too has an understanding of herself that those around her are absolutely incapable of understanding.

As the novel progresses, we see Edna's subtle changes.  In chapter 5 she listen to the sea with its "sonorous murmur [that] reached her like a loving but imperative entreaty."  This line is filled with interesting diction.  The first word to consider is sonorous -- it means a deep or rich sound, but it suggest something grand and even eloquent in the sound.  The next two significant words seem to be a potential contradiction "loving" with "imperative" because loving seems gentle and imperative connotes a demand, but what an interesting combination to be lovingly commanded to listen to sea and be drawn into contemplation of it.  The sea is intensely compelling to Edna, and this grows as the novel progresses. In the next chapter we are explicitly told that the "voice of the sea speaks to the soul."  There is no place deeper than that.

By the time we are in chapter 19, Edna is quite dissatisfied with her life and how she living it, but she is still uncertain what to make of her feelings.  There is great parallelism in the final two paragraphs. The first paragraph says that "there were days when she was very happy without knowing why" and the last paragraph says "there were days when she was unhappy, she did not know way." Each paragraph goes on to explain those two opposite emotions and the reader is as confused as Edna as to what to make of her character. Chopin has created a character that is intriguing and complex, making us want to read on.

What literary device, besides symbolism, is used in The Awakening by Kate Chopin?

Symbolism is one major literary technique used in Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening. Irony is another.  Throughout the book, Chopin uses irony in ways that surprise us, open our eyes, or make us think. Examples of the use of irony in this book include the following:

• In Chapter I, Edna’s middle-aged husband, speaking of her new young friend Robert LeBrun, walks off to his club, but not before telling Edna concerning Robert,

"Well, send him about his business when he bores you, Edna . . .”

It doesn’t seem to occur to Léonce at this point (although it has certainly begun to occur to the reader), that it may be Léonce himself, rather than Robert, who has begun to bore Edna.

• In Chapter III, after the somewhat self-centered Léonce has returned home from a night of drinking and gambling, he awakens Edna from a deep sleep and then is annoyed when she doesn’t pay him immediate and rapt attention:

He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation.

The idea that Edna is the “sole object” of Léonce’s existence is especially ironic (and even comical) in the present context.

• At the very end of Chapter III, after Léonce has displayed a good deal of boorish behavior, he sends treats to Edna, who shares them with other women. The narrator then wryly reports that

the ladies, selecting with dainty and discriminating fingers and a little greedily, all declared that Mr. Pontellier was the best husband in the world. Mrs. Pontellier was forced to admit that she knew of none better.

These two sentences are brimming with irony, especially since we have already begun to realize that Léonce is not in fact “the best husband in the world,” although it may ironically be true that Edna does indeed know of “none better.”

• In Chapter IV, Madame Ratignolle is already, ironically, sewing winter clothes for her next child, even though it is presently the middle of a hot Louisiana summer.
• In Chapter VI, the narrator, speaking of Edna’s awakening, comments that

A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her,—the light which, showing the way, forbids it.

Here the words following the dash are quite clearly ironic and are used to emphasize the paradoxes and complications of Edna’s situation.

• Finally, at the very end of Chapter VI, the narrator remarks that

The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.

At first these words sound appealing, but by the very end of the book their irony will also be obvious.  As the novel concludes, Edna has indeed literally been enfolded into the sea, either by accident or by suicide. The sea, which is in so many ways the main symbol of life and vitality in this book, ironically by the end of the novel also becomes the main symbol of death.

Irony, then, pervades The Awakening. Hardly a chapter goes by without containing at least one instance of irony – sometimes more, indeed sometimes many more.  Chopin had a very keen eye for irony, and she uses her talent for irony repeatedly in this work.

What are the major stylistic devices used by Kate Chopin in "The Awakening"?

Published in 1899, "The Awakening" utilizes the dominant realistic style of its era of American writing.  Realism dictates that the objects of the piece (characters, setting, events, etc.) be treated with a sort of scientific detachment, as if it were merely a slice of life held up for the reader's inspection and possible judgment.  Accordingly, Kate Chopin writes the story in a neutral third person omniscient narrator, who does not intrude upon the relation of events but merely seems to dispassionately chronicle them, even while demonstrating knowledge of what is going through the protagonist's mind and heart.  For example the narrator comments, ““At a very early period she [Edna] had apprehended the instinctively the dual life - that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions.”  The narrator describes both Edna’s inner and outer life.

However, the story also abounds in symbolism.  One inescapable symbol is that of the ocean, which Edna regards as an ultimate sign of freedom.  We are told,  “the voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.”  It is because of this scintillating symbolism that Edna finally embraces the sea, as she claims the ultimate freedom that it offers.