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Summary: The Awakening-English Class
Review: The Awakening is a novel about independence, understanding, and the personal freedom received concerning love. The basic plot is that of a woman, Edna Pontellier, falling in love with a man other than her husband. She abandons all duties to her family and society. Through out her scandalous love for this man, Robert, Edna begins to find herself and becomes more independent. Realizing that she had fallen in love with Robert is what caused her "awakening."
The book was first published in 1899, a time when many people found it offending. Some felt it criticized women and their role in society during the late 1800's. The fact that Edna abandoned her role as a wife and mother made male critics angry. I did not find the book offensive at all. There are endless possibilities of what the situation could have led up to. Edna was not treated like a person by her husband, but as a piece of property. This gives her a good reason to search for love elsewhere. The Awakening is an accurate portrayal of life, and also provides entertainment for the reader.
Kate Chopin is a skilled author, and her work with The Awakening shows women's need for independence. The Awakening is a tragic love story that makes readers want to fall in love themselves. Many say Chopin's career ended with the publishing of this book, but I feel it is an excellent example of an author telling the truth in a time when it wasn't accepted. Many people strive to tell the truth and that is exactly what Kate Chopin did.
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Summary: trash
Review: i have just finished this book and have to hand in a book report of it tomorrow. I really don't know what to write about it.It's so silly. I have no idea why my teacher put it in the book list. I cannot see how Edna has been awakened, she 's just got bored of her routine life and wants to get some excitement, something different and so she becomes capricious and imprudent and act according to her own will without thinking anymore of the consequence and the impact brought to her husband and her children.Someone may say that The Awakening is good,a masterpiece, a successful... novel for the enlightenment of female, i myself is also a female but i don't feel awakened after reading it. What do you mean by "awakened"?is it to leave your husband, to abandon your children, and to have affairs with other men...?this is totally irresponsible and inconsiderate!!!if Edna likes drawing, she can draw whatever she wants after she has finished the housework and looked after the kids.It's her job and she has to take this responsibility, furthermore, it's she who bore the kids,she chose to do this but not the kids and again,she should take responisibility for her decision.She can fall in love with Robert and even marry him but please do it after getting divorced with her husband,this is her legal responsibility.You may dislike my comment based on responsibility but this is very true that we all live in the same society,it is inevitable that we have to be cooperate with others and abide by the rules of our society.If everyone acts like Edna, how many broken family and orphans will there be?it's not a matter of gender but for everyone of us. Edna has undoubtedly she has recognized that she is one individual and doesn't belong to anyone.it's inspiring that she has found her value of existing and struggles to lead a "what she considers a better life".but too much self-awareness and self-assertion only leads to egotism and selfishness. At the end of the story, Edna commits suicide. There's no point for it at all. she has been "awakened" according to Chopin, and should be very happy with her new life. it's confusing.does she not enjoy living, or does she just want to die because her subdconscious mind, that is, without pausing and pondering(she must be mad)?Anyway, if this is what people called "AWAKENING", i 'd rather never be awakened.
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Summary: A good book, but a confusing ending!!
Review: I liked this book for the most part. I thought that the begining was a little bit slow but it picked up once you got into it. Another thing that i would like to comment about was the ending. I liked how it was left kind of open for people to interpret in their own way, but I thought that it was confusing. I would recommend this to other people but tell them to be ready to think.
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Summary: The Awakening in one word: HORRID.
Review: Okay, I was assigned to read this book in my lit class, I thought it would be kind of good, but then it just got boring and really dumb, I mean it was depressing to read, the ending [stank] and with most books, people are like "Oh yeah, I can't wait to see what happens next!" For me it was just like another obstical that I had to do, if I wasn't assigned to read it, do you think I would of, heck no!...
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Summary: Half-Awake : Trapped by Patriarchy and Bourgeois Selfishness
Review: Both negative and positive "customer critics" of Kate Chopin's The Awakening are partly right. Ms. Pontellier, as a sensitive, thinking human being, chafes under the restraints of a male dominated world. She longs for the sexual and emotional freedom of men and her frustration ultimately leads her to make an extreme decision(I am vague here out of consideration for those who do not want the plot given away.) She is also partly frustrated however by the often transitory and impermanent nature of love itself--her condition is thus partly a human condition, not just an oppressed woman's condition. I believe Kate Chopin is aware of both those factors. This awareness is part of what makes this a work of literature rather than a mere propaganda piece or mere pulp entertainment. However, there is yet another factor that Chopin is only partly aware of and that is the oppressive nature of class society. Edna Pontellier is a pampered bourgeois woman who realizes her own "comfortable" enslavement but habits of selfishness due to her class upbringing leave her unappreciative of the proper social perspective that would make her more cognizant of a proper balance of one's rights and responsibilities as a member of society. I mean society in general, not high society. She is not fully aware of the fact that her leisure is contingent on the exploited labor of others and that she does have responsibility to her children if not her husband. All of these contradictory factors are swirled together and and some readers will fail to appreciate how entangled they are, choosing instead to pick one piece of the puzzle and ignore the rest. The result is a black or white view of the book and/or its main character. Chopin is ahead of her time (1890s)in some ways and rather typical of it in other ways. The swimming metaphor is well-developed, complex and ultimately tragic and ironic. There are also many insightful descriptions of emotional states. The Awakening certainly broke some new ground in exploring feminist themes but it is hardly a model for enlightened feminist conduct. This book is recommended with reservations.
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Summary: It couldn¿t be more timeless
Review: Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" has led to many different response since 1989. Some think this is great and, even, inspirational, others point out that it is silly and meaningless. In my opinion, this is a masterpiece. To truly understand this book, we must look back to when it was first published. Not only was the novel a shock, but also very inspirational throught the years. Many women have done like the protagonist, Edna, and taken their chace to live a better and independent life.The books tells the story of a repressed woman, who lives under the husband opression. She is bored and feels that she has to do something meaningfull with her life. Surrounded by snobish people, Edna feels alone, despite all the 'friends' she has. During one summer she is taken aback when she realizes she is in love with one of this people. It takes her a time to come to terms with this, but once she does, her life has a completely new breath. Robert, the man, seems to be more afraid than Edna, and runs away. Edna's solitude only increases her desire of changing her life. Robert's returm may be the event she has always expected. The characters are quite strong and well written, even the supporting ones. Of course Edna is the most developed one, and she faces the same fears of any other human being in any time or place. Perhaps, the men are a bit silly and confused, novertheless realistic. Robert and Mr Pontelier -- the ones who surround Edna most of the time-- are particularly intriguing: they love her, but can't tell why. All in all, this is a very interesting novel: both as a character study, and also as a portrait of a period of time. However, women's condition haven't changed so much as one could expect it to. Many women nowadays face the same feelings, and the conditions that Edna did.
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Summary: Not quite as expected.
Review: I can see why this is described as an early feminist work, however I did not see this excellent book in this light, no doubt due to being male. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel for the quality of the writing, the excellent characterization, the period and the setting. However I found myself impatient at the slow pace of the heroines activity or should I say inactivity in moving toward her goals. To me this is the tale of someone who for the times in which she lived had everthing that was available to her but was unable to achieve satisfaction. In the story the heroine wants to reject even her children to achieve another life she is unable to define, she is confused and frustrated with tragic consequences. To my mind her sex is not the crux of the novel, the complexities of life and how individuals achieve or cannot achieve self fulfillment regardless of gender are the subject explored. Well worth reading regardless of your interpretation.
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Summary: Brilliant
Review: I read "The Awakening" several years ago for an english class in college and it remains my all-time favorite. It tells the story of a woman who must comply with the traditional conventions of her era but who desperately longs to break free. It is a marvelous read and you are taken into the story with the rich and descriptive words of Kate Chopin, a pioneer for women writers. Personally, it changed my life for the better.
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Summary: A harbinger of novels to come
Review: That something is wrong with the Pontellier marriage is self-evident, especially when one compares the dinner between the Pontelliers in Chapter 17 with that of the Ratignolles in Chapter 18. The Pontelliers may share a house, but do not seem to share much else. Edna has no interest in the elusive "business" engaged in by Léonce, and he seems to have no thought that his wife might have an interest outside of their home. The added confusion that Edna feels about Robert--an infatuation, even--implies a future in which changes will be made. At the end of Chapter 18, all it would take, it seems, is the return of Robert to induce this change. Why should Edna be so inclined to risk her domestic safety? Léonce represents stability--if an enforced one--that is the respected idea of society. But Edna's temperament towards the creative arts (seen in her enjoyment of music and her drawing) implies an impulsive streak in her, a possibility for abandonment that might lead to her passions revealing themselves. Edna seems to be oblivious to the necessities that fund her lifestyle, so even poverty is not necessarily a hindrance to throwing over her marriage in a fit of passion. Given the foregoing, one might think that Edna would be tempted to leave her husband. While she might challenge the "conventions" of her state and status, I think that she will stop herself from that final leap off the cliff of respectability. Just as she "awakens" to her newfound ability to swim and immediately tests herself by swimming farther offshore than is likely safe for such a beginner, she is able to recognize the danger in her situation and summon the strength to return before any harm is done. This bathing scene strikes me as both a perfect metaphor for her discontent and desire to push the limits of her situation, but also a foreshadowing of the events to come. Edna is decidedly unhappy in her life, but is she suicidal (i.e., mad enough to destroy her safe life)? I concentrate on Edna for hers is the main perspective of the story, although we do obtain a limited amount from Robert's point-of-view. We are not privy to the true reason for his sudden departure, but the combination of the warning issued by Mrs. Ratignolle, the comments made by Marguerite, and his own faltering farewell speech indicates that he removes himself for the safety of distance from Edna, realizing that their relationship is growing to be more than simply polite companionship. All in all, at midway through The Awakening, the subject seems to be the disillusionment of loveless marriage, in contrast to what Edna terms "life's delirium" in the last paragraph of Chapter 18. From the point-of-view of her friends and acquaintances, Edna's life seems perfect: a doting husband, two lovely and healthy children, a household with the domestic amenities, a house that is perfectly appointed. Underneath this surface perfection runs a weak thread, a flaw in the looking glass, which is the life of the mind. Edna's consciousness does not mirror this outward happiness seen by her friends, and it is this inconsistency that threatens to shatter the picture of domestic bliss. This emphasis on the mind makes The Awakening a precursor to the modernist style. While it still expresses the story of Edna through a flat, third person narration typical of the past, its psychological method is a harbinger of novels to come.
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Summary: Sad but interesting
Review: This story was very interesting. Even though Edna was a very bad mother and wife, I didn't expect her to become so attached to two men named Robin and Arobin. However, occurrances with these men sadly causes Edna to commit suicide. I liked this story very much, and I recommend it to risk-takers.
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