The Awakening
Background on Chopin
Romantic Movement
Realism
Naturalism
Major themes
symbolsim
Kate Chopin
• Born Catherine O’Flaherty on Feb. 8, 1850
• 5 yrs of age, sent to Catholic boarding
school in St. Louis
• Lost father to train accident, sent home to
mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother
• Returned to Sacred Heart after two years,
studied French and English
More Kate Chopin
• Always surrounded by intelligent and
independent women
• Lacked male role models = rarely witness
to traditional female submission and male
domination of the 19th century marriages
• Consistent themes of female freedom and
sexual awareness
Kate’s Marriage and Motherhood
• Married Oscar Chopin in 1870,
son of prominent creole family
• Bore 6 children in first ten
years of marriage
• Good wife and mother but
oftentimes, restless: escaped
to smoke cigarettes and talk
long walks through New
Orleans
• Took strong, often
controversial positions on
political issues
• Supported by Oscar
• Became subject of much gossip
for her nontraditional habits
• 1882 – Oscar dies and Kate
continues to live
independently
• 1883, returns to Missouri and
her mother, who dies shortly
after her return
• 1889 – begins writing fiction
• 1899 – publishes The
Awakening
The Awakening
• Marked the end of Chopin’s writing career
• Public shocked by the sympathetic view toward
the actions and emotions of the sexually aware
and independent female protagonist
• Feminist movement just began to emerge in
other parts, but under Louisiana law, a woman
was still considered property of her husband
• The novel was scorned and ostracized for its
open discussion of the emotional and sexual
needs of women
Romantic Movement
Elements in the Novel
• Romanticism themes included sublime, terror,
and passion, three themes in The Awakening
• Primal power of nature and spiritual link
between nature and man was subject of writing
• Sense of liberty, dreamy inner contemplations,
exotic settings, memories of childhood, scenes of
unrequited love, and exiled heroes
• Success from failure, immensity of America,
power of man to conquer, individualism
Realism in The Awakening
• Stressed the real over the fantastic, and
developed as a reaction of the romantic
movement
• Writers probed the recesses of the human
mind via an exploration of the emotional
landscape of characters
Naturalism in The Awakening
• Grew out of Realism and stressed the
uncaring aspect of nature and the
biological destiny of man
• Man’s instincts dominate actions and
cannot be evaded
• Human beings are hostage to their
biologies
Themes in The Awakening
• Search for individuality and freedom
• Rebellion against society and death
• Humanity is captive to its biology
• Relationship between the sexes
• Fate: Edna is a victim of fate, an uncaring
world, and an indifferent sea
Symbols
• ART: freedom and
failure
• BIRDS: ability to
communicate,
entrapment of women,
flight for freedom
• CLOTHES: shedding of
societal rules, growing
awakening of self
• FOOD: the Last Supper
• Houses: cages for Edna,
supposed freedom
• LEARNING TO SWIM:
empowerment
• THE MOON: sexual
goddess, strength
• OCEAN: freedom and
escape
• PIANO PLAYING:
placement in society
• SLEEP: moments of
awakening, means of
escape