THE AWAKENING
BY KATE CHOPIN
Approaches
to Reading
the Novel
CHARACTERIZATION
 As you read the novel, look at the characters in relation to the
protagonist, Edna Pontellier.
 Question and look for how the characters are constructed.
 Questions to think about:
 What are Edna’s predominant character traits?
 Which of these are flaws and why? Which are virtues and why?
 What is Edna’s predominant struggle?
 Ultimately, how is Edna depicted and what is the message?
SOCIOLOGICAL – FEMALE ANGLE
 Through this angle, the focus is on female characters in the
novel and their views of other females during the Victorian
time period.
 Questions to think about:
• According to this text, what options were there for female
“roles” in Victorian times?
• How is Edna defined in relation to the female characters
around her?
• How do these female characters represent the roles for
women at this time?
SOCIOLOGICAL – MALE ANGLE
 As you read The Awakening, how are the men portrayed in this
“feminist” novel?
 Some questions to guide you in reading this novel from a male
angle:
 How are the men of this text portrayed?
 How are the cultural roles of the Victorian culture limiting for
men, in a sense, as well?
 Regarding Leonce, how is he seen by you? As reprehensible,
or a victim?
SYNTHESIS-GENDER ROLES
 How are the gender roles that are presented by other authors
(that you read on Schoology) present in Chopin’s novel?
 Focus on 2-4 texts that you read on Schoology that you found
interesting.
 Questions to consider:
How do the preliminary texts inform Chopin’s points?
How has the issue of gender roles evolved over time?
What issues are still present today, and which supplementary
texts support this?
THE MUSICAL ANGLE
 In The Awakening, Edna finds solitude, peace, and truth in music
in this novel. Edna’s mentor, Mademoiselle Reisz, assists her
finding this solitude.
 When reading the novel using this angle, you can focus on the
moments in which music is played, or focus on the Edna/Reisz
dynamic as a metaphor for music .
 Questions to ponder while reading:
 Which music effects Edna, and which does not? Specifically, how
does it affect her?
 How do other characters’ understandings of music reveal their
characterization?
 What can music do for a person that words cannot?
THEMATIC
 A theme is a life lesson (given in a sentence) that can apply to
other stories.
 Use your past knowledge of searching for life lessons in
literature while reading the novel.
 Questions to consider while looking for themes:
What, ultimately, does Edna learn? What doesn’t she learn?
What is the “answer” and how does she miss it ?
 Most importantly, how do you relate to what she (or other
characters) are experiencing here?
THE MOVEMENT-REALISM
 Using what you learned about Realism, you will read the novel
keeping the guidelines and aims of the Realism movement in
mind.
 Remember to refer to your Realism handout and active
reading notes about the movement!
 Questions to think about:
o How does this novel show “a slice of life in a realistic way”?
o Are there naturalist elements?
o How does Chopin’s writing style show signs of typical Realist
writing?
SETTING
 If you are interested in travel, this is a great angle to use
while reading The Awakening.
 Kate Chopin uses setting and the device of local color to
communicate the “where” of the novel.
 Questions to think about while reading the novel using this
angle:
 How does place inform mood, tone, and message in this
story?
 How does Chopin make her reader feel her setting?
 What specifically allows us to travel to Grand Isle and New
Orleans so easily in this book?