The Awakening Circle Discussion Possibilities
Directions: Using specific page numbers and quotation references in your book, answer each of the following questions.
These answers do not have to be in complete sentences, but make sure to have a thorough amount of specific textual
references for discussion purposes. You may also use your discussion questions. Please understand that you will receive
discussion points for the intellectual insight and maturity you provide during this discussion.
1. Much of the action in The Awakening is interior, taking place in Edna Pontellier’s mind. Yet without question, she faces
conflict throughout the novel. Select a physical, moral, intellectual, or emotional conflict and analyze its effect on Edna.
2. Edna at first considers her sketching and painting mere “dabbling,” but by the end of the novel she is selling her work.
What is the significance of art and the artist in Chopin’s novel? Consider Edna’s developing relationship with
Mademoiselle Reisz.
3. Mulattos and quadroons appear throughout The Awakening, yet remain silent. Is Kate Chopin making a statement about
the social role of African-Americans in the early 20th century? Explain.
4. Throughout Chopin’s story, the author includes images of birds and wings. Trace and discuss the references to freedom
and flight in The Awakening.
5. Even before Adèle’s entreaty to “remember the children,” mothers and their offspring are central to the plot of The
Awakening. Why might Chopin focus on this topic?
6. Compare Edna’s relationship with Robert Lebrun to her affair with Alcée Arobin. What does each man provide? What
is the irony in these relationships?
7. Edna refuses to “sacrifice herself for her children,” yet, because she cannot give them what they need, she takes her
own life. Is this not a sacrifice? Discuss Edna’s paradox.
8. Virginia Woolf wrote in 1931, “Killing the Angel in the House stereotype was part of the occupation of a woman
writer.” How does her claim apply to Kate Chopin and The Awakening?
9. Pick one quotation from the novel that is particularly significant, that seems to speak to one of Chopin’s major themes
or intents, and that would make good sense on the cover of the book.
10.Many novelists and playwrights chose ambiguous endings for their works in order to explore multiple possible resoluti
ons to the main conflict. Examine the ending of The Awakening and explore the ambiguous significance of Edna’s suicide
Be certain to support your points with direct references to the text.
11.Is Edna’s act of suicide at the end of the novel an act of bravery or cowardice? Do you think it was an intentional or pr
emeditated act on her part? Why does Chopin leave the answer to this question so vague?
12. Analyze the significance of the specific settings on the meaning of the book: Grand Isle/New Orleans,
Léonce’s house/the pigeon house”
13. Analyze the roles of various men in Edna’s life and their contribution to Chopin’s social commentary: The Colonel,
Léonce Pontellier, Dr. Mandelet, Robert Lebrun, Alcée Arobin.
14. Discuss nineteenth‐century Victorian social attitudes toward women, children, and family, and how they are
represented in the novel.
15. Discuss the following examples of symbolism in the novel: Art, Birds, Food, Swimming, Water, Piano-playing, Sleep,
and Awakening.
16. Make a case for what you identify to be the main theme of the novel. Provide textual support.
17. Which aesthetic do you think the novel most adheres to? Naturalism, Feminism, Realism, Romanticism?
18. Compare/contrast or connect this novel, either thematically or stylistically, to anything else that you have read.