The Awakening – Kate Chopin
4/4.5 out of 5 stars
Buy: Amazon | Bookdepository *
In The Awakening Kate Chopin tells the story of Mrs. Pontellier, or Edna, a married woman of 28 with several children. While she’s on holiday at Grand Isle she finds herself attracted to Robert Lebrun. Throughout the novel she starts to feel restless, confused, but also more confident as an individual. This leads to her acting in a more and more unconventional manner. In the end, she realizes that she does care for her children and her husband, but that she’s not willing to give up her own identity for them.
Reading this I couldn’t help but wonder how the novel was perceived when it was published back in 1899. Surely, a mother who does not particularly care for her husband or her children (not in a manner that was considered healthy at the time, or “the natural sensibility” of a woman) must’ve been an unspeakable subject? According to the Wikipedia page, the novel did indeed lead to controversy and was considered immoral. However, she did get some positive reviews alongside the negative ones. I would love to read more about Kate Chopin’s life and career one day, because it must be a fascinating story.
I have to admit that I didn’t particularly like Edna. Even though I can imagine that some of her feelings of wanting to break free from the conventions that bind her are reasonable, I couldn’t help but think she’s selfish in her treatment of her husband in particular, since the children were still raised by nannies and their grandmother. Not that I felt any special sympathy towards Mr. Pontellier either. Before reading the book, I read the review of this book by Ana at thingsmeanalot. She remarks that this book is still highly relevant in its treatment of the subject of women who do not particularly love their husband or children. Maybe I read the book with this remark in mind, because the book left me with the unsettling feeling that I am perhaps ridiculously conventional in my ideas on marriage and children. I do get that you can have sexual feelings for a man other than your husband, but that does not mean it is right to act on them. I might have to add that I think it’d have been more right for Edna, since marriage was so different back then and it wasn’t often that people married for love. However, I find it hard to say the same about the children. I somewhere might understand that a woman might not care so much for her children, but then I instantly start to think that she should and that I do not want to “get” that part of Edna’s character. I do not find fault with her leaving the everyday care to a nanny or a grandmother per se, but more her feelings of choosing herself over them.
Apart from these more personal feelings towards the story, I really liked reading it. It was intriguing. There was some foreshadowing and inevitability about the story, but it somehow never got on my nerves. I also loved the style. It’s highly readable and I love how it shows a character’s growth and development through everyday occurrences. I do not know a lot about style and genre, but Wikipedia tells me that Kate Chopin is a naturalist. Which leads me to conclude that apparently, I like naturalist writing?
*spoiler ahead*
I do wonder about the ending however (this might’ve been influenced by my reading of Anna Karenina). There do seem to be a lot of novels that deal with the theme of a women feeling restricted, who think about- or end up having an affair, are “liberated” so to say, but end up committing suicide in the end in the second half of the nineteenth-century. On the one hand, I think this book might be progressive in its portrayal of women. At the same time, I wonder if it can be considered “conventional” in that a woman who tries to break free from her restrictions, an “abnormality” so to say, seems to make the almost “natural” choice to end her life. Or should I interpret it as the ultimate rebellion?
*end of spoiler*
I highly recommend reading this book, but I’m sure many have already read it. The Awakening is a fast, but meaningful book. I do think it is perfect for either the Women Unbound, or the 1% Well-Read Challenge.
* This is an affiliate link. If you buy a product through this link, I will receive a small percentage of the purchase price.
This book was part of my final exams in university and it caused a huge scandal back when it was published. Nowadays it’s considered to be one of the first ‘New Women’s Novels’, but back then, Chopin was condemned for her depiction of Edna Pontellier.
I know what you mean about Edna’s character, she seems indeed very selfish, especially in regard to her own children. But in a way I could sympathise with her – her life couldn’t have been easy. Women weren’t as free and independent as they are today, but they surely must have felt the need to break free, just as we do these days.
The ending has been discussed frequently in secondary literature – is it her utterly breaking free or is it her giving up? I think one could read it both ways.
I’m really glad that you enjoyed the book – I adore ‘The Awakening’. Could just be because I am a feminist (even though not a hardcore one).
I think everyone participating in the Women Unbound challenge is a feminist, at least to a certain extent
.
I can sympathize with her in that way as well: realising what the conditions of women were at the time and the need to break free from restricting situations is I think something most of us can recognize. But I cannot say I sympathize with her all the way, that’s where these unsettling feelings of thinking that she might’ve been selfish get in. I don’t think that takes away any of the impact of the story, but it is something I struggled with, an am still struggling with. This edge to her character, might just be what makes the story very rewarding as a discussion topic?
It certainly would be a very good book club choice. I think even when you’re a feminist, you can still disagree with Edna’s decision. And even when you can’t find yourself understanding her, you can surely sympathise with her need to break free. And you’re right, the impact of the story isn’t lessened when you can’t agree 100% with the main character.
I think Iris that this is one of those books that needs to be “read” very specifically in terms of its times – women, even those who might have been materially well off, had such little freedom to do anything much else than be wife and mother. I guess, for me, that transcended whether I liked her or not.
While I understand your remarks, I do not feel it makes my remarks on being able to relate to Edna any less relevant. I admit that they are not relevant to the worth of the story, but then I do not review books with the intent to officially review them, but also tend to add my own reflections.
I understand that and I do know and realise what the position of women at the time was like. Yet, I still have a hard time understand the feeling of choosing yourself over your children, especially when taken specifically as her choice to drown: I can’t help but feel that that was more selfish than her children deserved, even in consideration of the times. I do not think that not liking her, or warming to her as a character, relates to my ability to grasp the context of the times per se. I understand perfectly why these things might’ve needed to be portrayed as they were. Still. it’s a thing I’ve struggled with in my thoughts on the book. Her character.
I’m not saying that the message of the book isn’t warranted, I can see that it transcends my dislike of her, to me, “selfish” characteristics. I still enjoyed reading the book a lot, it was a worthwhile read. I’m simply expressing what the book made me, personally, reflect on. I have to admit I’m quite shocked by my apparent “conservative” opinions, because I do not think of myself as a conservative person at all. It might also have to do with the fact that I do not have children of my own. I can imagine and understand the struggles of the situation when you have children, but the ending unsettled me and left me to feel that I cannot condone choosing yourself over others in that manner, although I do get that she felt the need to create her own identity, other than “the wife of.. and the mother of..”
I feel I’ve formulated my opinions in my response to your comment a bit harsh maybe and just wanted to add that I did not mean it in that manner.
No offence taken at all Iris. I may not have been clear enough what I said. And just look at the response you got. I certainly don’t think you have to like a character to like a book – and I get frustrated when people say they didn’t like a book because they didn’t like the character. But that wasn’t what my comment to you was about … it was simply to do with the fact that because of the time the book was set I could understand her.
You know I’ve known a couple of women who had children and suicided and my initial response was horror for the exact reason you gave. But, I have also experienced suicide in my near family and so through all these experiences have thought, read and listened long and hard about it. The point I have got to is that the person suiciding is no longer rational – for whatever reason – and so I feel (even more than usual) that I cannot judge them. Instead, I feel the immense pain they must have been feeling to take this step. And this is perhaps Chopin’s point – that a women would feel SO badly, so much pain and hopelessness, that she would do the unthinkable (not quite the unthinkable that occurs in Toni Morrison’s Beloved – but that’s another story). It’s a pretty powerful statement don’t you think?
BTW I like what you say about why you review books.
I saw that review and am looking forward to reading this book too. Your review has me wanting to read it even more now
You should read it
It is a very fast read as well, since it’s not incredibly long.
I didn’t warm to Edna either when I read it. I remember feeling really angry and ripped off about the ending. At Edna, at the author, I don’t know. I think this calls for a re-read. It’s been awhile since I’d read it.
Angry and ripped off? Wow? I was gutted – such a waste. But maybe it’s a generational thing … I’m 50-something and so grew up with 1970s feminist wave and am perhaps more aware of what was being fought for.
I don’t recognize the anger at the ending, but I can imagine being left with an unfulfilled feeling. You kind of want to give both sides of the family a future, instead of this.. Then again, it seemed kind of inevitable to me, given the setting.
This is one of my favorite books ever, but I think your place in life and your personality play a big role in how you view Edna and her actions. The first time I read it, I was a newly stay at home mom with three children under the age of 6. I was around the kids 24 hours a day and my job was neverending. I have never been a very mothering sort of person and I do not get along well with children (I wish I’d known this BEFORE I had children, because I certainly would not have had them if I’d known). Spending all that time with them was so stressful to me and I thought about running away and abandoning my family constantly. Reading The Awakening had me bawling the whole way through because I could identify with every trapped feeling Edna had. Especially in the lines that say “the children appeared before her as antagonists.” I will never forget those lines. It didn’t matter that a nanny took care of the children – society still looked at her like she was supposed to act a certain way. She was not Edna. She was Mrs. Pontillier, she was her childrens’ mother. She herself no longer had an identity. This is why the book was so powerful to me.
Reading it again a few years later, when my kids were older and mostly in school during the day, I connected with Edna less. I couldn’t as easily understand her attitudes, and only remembered vaguely feeling the way she did. It was an interesting lesson to me in how life situation changes your view.
I believe Chopin retired from writing because of the reaction the public had against this book, and pretty quickly the book was forgotten and out of print. It was rediscovered in the 70s and brought back into print. I’m SO happy it was!
And there’s a reason I guess why it was rediscovered in the 70s! Thanks for sharing your experience Amanda. I first read it in the 80s when I either had my first child – or was pregnant with him. I felt far more liberated than Edna but I could understand how fine a line there is/was between what I had and where she was.
First of all Amanda, I admire you for admitting these things “in public”, so to say. I also wanted to add that hearing your story, I can imagine what you have felt like and that I hope you understand that my struggles with Edna’s character do not mean I think of you as a “bad” mother or a “bad” person. I don’t think so at all! It also made me understand this feeling of “escape” better, that are being talked about in the book. The thing is though, I can understand it and appreciate it a lot more from what you said, than from the story. I do not have children of my own, but like you I have never been a real “children person”. I have a hard time playing with children, etc. I do want children of my own someday though.. Anyway, I think in the slightest bit I can relate to the feeling of wanting to run away from all the pressure that’s caged you in. A lot, actually, just in different situations.
I think the message of wanting to realise an identity on your own, without being referred to as related to other persons constantly is a very powerful one, and meaningful in its own right, even in different times and periods. Thinking of the book in that way brings back so many personal reactions that I wish I could rewrite the review. Still, it does not take away my initial struggle with this concept of choosing yourself over your loved ones. And yet I wish that wasn’t the only thing about the review that I keep repeating, because really, it wasn’t a problem towards liking the book at all.
I agree with you that your own experiences in life and the situation you’re in when reading the book influence your reaction to it a lot. I’m interested to see how it’ll change when I’m 20 years older.
Don’t you think the moment at which you write a review influences the review and the themes a lot as well? I do. I’d have picked different things writing it at this moment, than I did when I wrote my draft a week ago.
This comment really is going nowhere, which has to do with the many reactions and thoughts your comment triggered. I can see very clearly now why at this stage in life I choose to think of Edna as selfish. And I know for sure that had I read this book 8 years ago, I wouldn’t have said so at all. (If you simply ignore the fact that I was 14 at the time, so maybe too young to read the novel). You see, I’ve been through this period in which I wanted to have my own identity, without being referred to as only “X’s daughter” or “Y’s friend” and it lead me to a period of depression and a lot of thoughts of running away, etc. (I know this sounds like the standard teenage thing, but it was different). The only way of overcoming this was realising how much I wanted to be connected to other people and how much they had to offer me so that I could never give up my own life and hurt them. It was what got me out of that depressing period and is I think what might’ve influenced my idea of it being selfish and my struggle to relate to these characters, as in a struggle to relate to that part of me that acted that way back then. This book just made an even stronger impression on me for realising this. I can only imagine the impact it’d have if you’ve been in your situation.
I don’t think there’s much I can add after reading all the excellent comments here, especially Amanda’s and your own response, Iris. I don’t have children myself, but Amanda is not the only friend I have who ‘s told me she had at times experienced those feelings – I think it’s more common than we tend to admit, and it worries me to tell women that they “should” feel maternal. Some won’t, and there’s absolutely nothing that can be done about it. I think I’m one of those women, actually, and that’s one of the many reasons why I don’t want to have children myself. It could be argued that all of us who don’t have particularly strong maternal feelings should just decide not have children, but social pressure is still very, very strong.
I so agree! Why is it that it isn’t considered acceptable to not want or have children? I always get people telling me that I will change my mind when I get older. Maybe I will, but I really don’t think that is something that you can just take for granted!
And I get the “but you’d make a wonderful mother!” from people who barely know me. THAT always bothers me (I don’t have children and am passed the age of worrying about it, no regrets)
What wonderful comments on this post! I love the discussions that The Awakening stimulates.
I really liked The Awakening and could very much relate to Edna. It wasn´t that I especially “liked” her but the restrictions and pressure placed on her were described so well. Freedom of choice is probably something most people feel very strongly about and I know that I still feel the pressure in today´s society. Like Nymeth said, especially the pressure on women to have children and feel very maternal towards them. It´s depicted as if you naturally want children because you´re a woman, I know that I always took for granted that I wanted them until I was about 16 and for the first time actually questioned whether I did indeed want them or not.
I don’t know what I can say that is more intelligent than other people before me. But I also think that this book is important in that it ALLOWS women to feel dissatisfied. Even if you don’t particularly like Edna or her feelings, I think it’s important that the author knew how constricting life can be for women, and how desperate they can be to escape that. And I don’t have kids, but I think they must be a mixed blessing. They are probably wonderful to have, but at the same time… they require a huge amount of sacrifice. And that line in the book- that Edna would give up her life, but not her SELF for her children, I think really strikes a lot of women as real.
Excellent review! I love this book, too, and have read it at least three times over the years – once in college, then as a stay-at-home mom with 3 kids under 5, and again in my 40′s. I absolutely agree with Amanda that where you are in life influences your reaction to the book and to Edna. Very much enjoyed reading the discussion here in the comments, too.
I enjoy your thoughtful reviews and all the comments here. I have always wondered about this book, now the discussion here has cemented my decision to read it. I am no position to judge the character because I have yet to read the book. But I think the time and the social psyche heavily influence a person.
I just read this book for the first time earlier this year. I loved it. I don’t think her death was the ultimate rebellion I think it was Chopin hoping to not be completely vilified for writing such a characater. Just like much early gay and lesbian literature and film, the gay ones had to die at the end so the writers wouldn’t be seen as condoning “deviant behavior”.
Pingback: Why I Blog (and Why I Love It!) « Amy Reads
Pingback: May Wrap-Up & June Reading Plans « Iris on Books
Pingback: Bookshelves: The Kindle TBR Edition « Amy Reads
Such a wonderful review, and so many valuable discussions. I love when a book generates such opinions.
I read this book, and loved it. But, the ending did not really resonate with me. I just can’t look at it as an “escape”. I agree with Thomas’ comment that Kate probably had to put it in, in order to make it less scandalous.
I would much rather have preferred an ending where she realizes what she needs to be happy, and takes positive actions towards achieving it.
Pingback: Looking Back.. 2010 | Iris on Books