We found this novel had just as much to say to us in 2023 as it did when we read it in our high school and college classrooms. On today’s episode, we share our thoughts about our April book, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. We share a few shows that have become part of our ethos (some you will know, and some you may not!) and had so much fun reminiscing about some great watches.ĭeb also confesses a change of heart about a show she’s been raving about, and we change up our usual end matter categories! In it, Chopin challenges gender inequalities and questions the social norms that restrict what women like Edna can do and be.Today we are talking about what we love to watch when we aren’t reading! We are both very picky about what we turn on but we are fanatical about the shows we do love. In spite of its tragic ending, The Awakening is a remarkable portrait of female rebellion. Dissatisfied and wanting something else, Edna commits suicide to escape these constraints.

Together these two reflect the limited options available to women. Ratignolle is an example of the idealized Creole woman, living a life completely devoted to a husband and children, while Reisz is single and lives on the margins of society. Two other characters, Adèle Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, serve as foils to Edna.

Edna’s search for an identity beyond marriage and motherhood creates conflict with her husband Léonce, who does not understand her need for independence this conflict contributes to her affairs with other men. The Awakening explores the experience of Edna Pontellier, who chafes against expectations of women in Creole society. Her writing combines features from both styles, blending regionalism’s attention to the features that distinguish American people and places with the objective point of view and occasional pessimism found in naturalism. To depict Creole culture, Chopin drew inspiration from both American regionalist writers such as Sarah Orne Jewett and French naturalist writers, including Guy de Maupassant. Several of Chopin’s works criticize this hierarchy, yet The Awakening largely leaves it unexamined.

While Creole people could be white, mixed-race, or black, Creole society maintained a racial hierarchy that privileged light skin. In the novel, “Creole” refers to people descended from French and Spanish colonists who settled in Louisiana before it became part of the United States. Louis, Chopin moved to Louisiana when she married at age 20 like many of her other works, The Awakening portrays the Creole elite of Natchitoches parish. It shocked readers when it was published in 1899, but today it is recognized as an American classic. Kate Chopin’s novel has been called a scandalous masterpiece.

The great awakening kate chopin