Name: _____________________
Is Edna Aphrodite Triumphant?
Project Summary: Throughout the next few weeks, you will have read, discussed, and analyzed
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. Through our class discussions, activities, and writings, you will
come to a greater understanding and appreciation of this novel. This essay is designed for you to
tackle the analytical writing process. In addition, you will be able to demonstrate your
understanding of the elements of fiction and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.
Purpose: This writing is an analytical essay; the main intent is to compose an organized and well
supported essay. If written well, there will be a clear argument fully supported by primary and
secondary quotes. Your ideas should be well-organized and fully developed.
Form: This project is broken into five parts:
1. Choice of prompt, which are listed below.
2. Reading and analysis of secondary articles.
3. Brainstorming and finding primary quotes.
4. Outlining process, which will help you compose your first draft.
5. Composition of your rough draft. Your final draft should be double-spaced in Times New
Roman 12 pt. font. Remember to use correct citation format throughout, and you must
include a Works Cited with your final draft!
Procedures: Before you write your completed analytical essay, you must complete these five
procedures.
1. First choose the prompt that you can fully support. See prompts listed below.
2. Read over the articles. Find two that will help you support your argument the most. Take
notes and pull significant quotes from the text. You have to use at least one secondary
source.
3. Brainstorm ideas and pull out quotes from the novel.
4. Begin the process of outlining your paper—make sure to include your primary and
secondary quotes.
5. Sit down and compose your rough draft—3 -4 pages, typed, and double-spaced.
a. Read your paper out loud
b. Make corrections
c. Submit your paper to Miss Cheikh on __________________________
Name: _____________________
Prompts:
1. Discuss the following statement: three important female characters—Adele Ratignolle,
Mademoiselle Reisz, and Edna Pontellier—appear in The Awakening but not one achieves her full
potential as a human being. (Feel free to agree or disagree in full or in part with the statement, but
be sure to support your views with specific references to the novel.)
2. What is your personal response to the final scene of the novel? Do you view Edna as “the bird
with the broken wing”? Or “Aphrodite triumphant”?
3. What importance does Chopin assign to the sea in this novel? Discuss the sea as a symbol in
The Awakening.
4. Discuss the men in Edna’s life: Leonce, Robert, Alcee and the part they played in “her
awakening.”
5. Discuss the bird imagery in The Awakening. Consider the screeching cry of the parrot at the
very beginning of the novel, Mlle. Reisz’s admonition to Edna (p. 82 in Norton edition or p.138 in
yellow edition), Edna’s calling her new home “the pigeon house,” and her sighting of the “bird with
a broken wing” as she walked down to the beach in the final scene of the novel.