The Awakening

1
The Awakening

• Kate Chopin

2
Kate Chopin

• Kate Chopin, born Katherine O'Flaherty, was an
  American author of short stories and novels. She
  is now considered by some to have been a
  forerunner of feminist authors of the 20th century

3
Realism

• Renders reality closely and in comprehensive
  detail. even at the expense of a well-made plot
• Character is more important than action and plot
  complex ethical choices are often the subject.
• Class is important the novel has traditionally
  served the interests and aspirations of an
  insurgent middle class.
• Events will usually be plausible. Realistic
  novels avoid the sensational, dramatic elements
  of naturalistic novels and romances.
• Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or
  poetic tone may be comic, satiric, or
  matter-of-fact.
• Objectivity increases as authorial intrusions
  diminish as the century progresses.

4

• Creole
• At one point there were over 30 definitions of
  Creole
• Descendents of early French and/or Spanish
  settlers born in Louisiana are called Creole.
• Another definition is a mixture of African and
  French and/or African and Spanish born in
  Louisiana
• A third definition is the Gens de Couleur
  Libres or Free People of Color who had lived
  in New Orleans alongside European settlers from
  the citys founding
• The Spanish, French and free people of color
  lived together and created a distinctive Creole
  culture with its own traditions, dialect, and
  cuisine.

5
The Cultures

• Creole Women
• Creole women were very conservative, perhaps the
  most conservative group in the nation
• They were frank and open in discussing their
  marriages and children, but could do so because
  their very moral nature did not allow any doubt
  as to their chastity
• They were committed as a group to their husbands
  and children and had a deep personal and
  religious commitment to fidelity

6
The Cultures

• Under the Louisiana Code, patterned after the
  Napoleonic code of France, a woman belonged to
  her husband.
• Article 1388 established the absolute control of
  the male over the family.
• Article 1124 equated married women with babies
  and the mentally ill, all three were deemed
  incompetent to make a contract.

7
The Cultures

• The one-drop rule is an historical colloquial
  term in the United States that holds that a
  person with any trace of sub-Saharan ancestry
  (however small or invisible) cannot be considered
  white
• Unless the person has an alternative non-white
  ancestry that he or she can claim, such as Native
  American, Asian, Arab, Australian aboriginal, the
  person must be considered black.

8

• Quadroon - is someone of one-quarter black
  ancestry. A quadroon has a biracial parent (black
  and white) and one white parent.
• In other words, the person has one black
  grandparent and three white grandparents.
• Octoroon - means a person of fourth-generation
  black ancestry. An octoroon has one parent who is
  a quadroon and one white parent.
• In other words, the person has one black
  great-grandparent and seven white
  great-grandparents.

9

• Quintroon - is a rarely used term that means a
  person of fifth-generation black ancestry.
• A quintroon has one parent who is an octoroon and
  one white parent.
• In other words, the person has one black
  great-great-grandparent and fifteen white
  great-great-grandparents.
• Hexadecaroon - is an even less common term to
  describe a person of sixth-generation black
  ancestry.
• A Hexadecaroon has one parent who is a quintroon
  and one white parent.
• In other words, the person has one black
  great-great-great-grandparent and thirty-one
  white great-great-great-grandparents.

10

• Symbols in The Awakening
• The Awakening is a novel full of symbolism
  within each narrative segment there is often a
  central and powerful symbol that serves to add
  meaning to the text and to underline some subtle
  point Chopin is making.
• Understanding the meaning of these symbols is
  vital to a full appreciation of the story. Here
  are listed some of the major symbols with
  explanations of their import.

11

• Art
• Art becomes a symbol of both freedom and failure.
  It is through the process of trying to become an
  artist that Edna reaches the highest point of her
  awakening.
• Edna sees art as a way of self-expression and of
  self-assertion.
• Mlle. Reisz sees becoming an artist as a test of
  individuality.

12

• Birds
• Birds are major symbolic images in the narrative.
  
• They symbolize the ability to communicate (the
  mockingbird and parrot) and entrapment of women
  (the two birds in cages the desire for flight
  the pigeon house).
• Flight is another symbol associated with birds,
  and acts as a stand in for awakening.
• The ability to spread your wings and fly is a
  symbolic theme that occurs often in the novel.
• Mlle. Reisz lectures Edna on the need for strong
  wings in artistic endeavors.

13

• Clothes
• Edna is fully dressed when first introduced
  slowly over the course of the novel she removes
  her clothes.
• This symbolizes the shedding of the societal
  rules in her life
• Her growing self-awakening and stresses her
  physical and external self.
• As she disrobes, the reader is presented with an
  internal voyeuristic view.

14

• Food
• There are several symbolic meals in the text and
  each stress mythic aspects in the text.
• The meal on Cheniere Caminada occurs after she
  awakens from a fairy tale sleep
• The dinner party in chapter thirty is viewed by
  some as a re-creation of the Last Supper

15

• Houses
• There are many houses in the novel
• The one on Grand Isle
• The one in New Orleans
• The pigeon house
• The house in which Edna falls asleep on Cheniere
  Caminada
• The first two of these houses serve as cages for
  Edna.
• She is expected to be a "mother-woman" on Grand
  Isle
• She is expected to be the perfect social hostess
  in New Orleans
• The other two are places of supposed freedom

16

• Learning to swim
• Edna has struggled all summer to learn to swim.
  She has been coached by the men, women, and
  children on Grand Isle.
• In chapter ten, Chopin uses the concept of
  learning to swim as a symbol of empowerment.
• It provides Edna with strength and joy.
• Also attached to the concept of swimming are the
  ideas of staying afloat and getting in over one's
  head
• Edna manages to do both.

17

• The moon
• It is used as a symbol of mythic power and
  connects Edna with the goddess Selene and the
  associated implications. Selene was the Titan
  Goddess of the moon.
• Selene's great love was the shepherd prince
  Endymion. The beautiful boy was granted eternal
  youth and immortality by Zeus.
• Edna is sexually aware of Robert for the first
  time, this is the fertility aspect of the goddess
  Artemis. Artemis is strong and commanding, the
  goddess of the moon and the hunt.
• Moonlight also symbolizes the struggle Edna has
  with the concepts of sexual love and romantic
  love.

18

• Ocean, Gulf, or Sea
• The ocean is a symbol of both freedom and escape.
  Edna remembers the Kentucky fields of her
  childhood as an ocean, she learns to swim in the
  gulf, and she finds a kind of escape in the sea.
• The ocean is also a source of self-awareness,
  both an outward knowledge of the expansion of the
  universe and an inner direct obsession with self.
  
• The sound of the surf calls to her, comforts her
  throughout the novel, and acts as a constant
  beckon in the text.
• As you read, notice how often, even in New
  Orleans away from the sea, the language mimics
  the sound of the surf or the actions of the
  water.

19

• Piano playing
• Music is an important symbol in text, both Adele
  and Mlle. Reisz play the piano.
• Each woman functions to underscore a different
  aspect of the narrative.
• Adele is considered a musician by Leonce, but she
  does not play for art, instead she does so to
  keep her husband and children cheerful and to set
  time for parties.
• Mlle. Reisz, on the other hand, is disliked by
  all, but is granted status as a musician by only
  Robert and Edna.
• The issue of the piano playing echoes the issue
  of placement in society. If you follow the rules
  and norms whatever you accomplish is considered
  great, if you defy those rules you are shunned
  and disparaged.
• Thus, the piano playing becomes a symbol of
  societal rules and regulations.

20

• Sleep
• Sleep is an important symbolic motif running
  through the novel.
• Edna's moments of awakening are often preceded by
  sleep and she does a great deal of it.
• Each major episode is punctuated by specific
  mentions of Ednas sleep or lack of sleep
• Robert Levine calls it the "sleepiest novel in
  the American literary canon" (71) and sees Edna's
  sleep patterns as a rebellion against natural
  rhythms.
• Sleep is also a means of escape and of repairing
  her tattered emotions.
• In fairy tales, sleep is a key ingredient.