Reading Notes for
Kate Chopin's The Awakening
The First Thirty Pages (NAAL pp. 633-663)
1.) Notice that the novel begins with birds -- p. 633. Keep track of other birds and bird imagery throughout the novel.
2.) Mr. Leonce Pontellier is 40 years old -- p. 633.
3.) The Pontelliers have two children (boys) aged four and five -- p. 634.
4.) The Pontelliers have a "quadroon" nurse -- p. 634.
5.) Mr. Pontellier consider his wife as "a valuable piece of personal property" -- p. 634.
6.) The first chapter ends, however, with two examples of how Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier "understand" each other.
7.) Chapter II begins with a description of Mrs. Edna Pontellier -- p. 635.
8.) Here is the first mention of Robert Lebrun going to Mexico -- p. 635.
9.) It is now summer vacation at Grand Isle.
10.) Here is the first mention of Edna's past in Mississippi and Kentucky -- p. 636.
11.) The close relationship between Robert and Edna is established by the end of chapter II.
12.) Chapter III demonstrates that Leonce and Edna are not a good match, especially when he comes in late after being out at Klein's Hotel -- p. 636.
13.) The relationship is very male-dominated -- see p. 637 -- and he does not consider her to be a good mother (see also p. 638).
14.) Here is the first mention of "the voice of the sea" -- p. 637. Keep track of other mentions of this throughout the novel.
15.) Here is Edna's big crying episode -- p. 637. Watch for how this is mentioned and becomes important later.
16.) She feels oppressed, but she does not blame "Fate" -- p. 637. "Fate" is a common reference in literary "Naturalism."
17.) Mr. Pontellier sends gifts to make up for his bad behavior, and Edna is "quite used to receiving them" -- p. 638.
18.) "In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real of imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels." -- p. 638
19.) Adele Ratignolle is the "embodiment of every womanly grace and charm" -- the "ultimate" mother-woman -- p. 638. Watch for Adele's importance throughout the novel.
20.) Mrs. Pontellier, though she had married a Creole, was not thoroughly at home in the society of Creoles; never before had she been thrown so intimately among them. There were only Creoles that summer at Lebrun's. . . . A characteristic which distinguished them and which impressed Mrs. Pontellier most forcibly was their entire absence of prudery. Their freedom of expression was at first incomprehensible to her though she had no difficulty in reconciling it with a lofty chastity which in the Creole woman seems to be inborn and unmistakable." -- pp. 639-640. Watch for other references to the Creoles and their culture (beliefs, attitudes, mannerisms, traditions, etc.) throughout the novel and how they affect Edna.
21.) Reference to a book about open sensuality (similar to this book of Chopin's?) -- p. 640.
22.) Robert Lebrun is 26 years old -- p. 640.
23.) Edna cannot now "read" the Creoles -- p. 641.
24.) Edna is a sketch artist with a natural talent/aptitude -- p. 641. Keep watch for how "art" and "artists" play a role in the novel.
25.) Question: What is Robert doing when he rests his head against Edna's arm? -- p. 641
26.) Notice the reference to the quadroon nurse at the bottom of page 641. Issues of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality are extremely important in this novel.
27.) Notice the reference to the "seductive odor of the sea" on page 642. Keep track of references to the sea's seductiveness and sensuousness throughout the novel.
28.) Notice that Chapter VI is extremely short. But, I would argue that it is extremely important. Reread it carefully! -- pp. 642-643
Paragraphs 2-3 allude to "the awakening"
Paragraph 3 refers to the night of tears -- p. 637
Paragraph 4 contains elements of literary naturalism
Edna is 28 years old
Paragraph 5 contains possible foreshadowing
Paragraph 6 contains a key passage about the sea
Paragraph 7 contains a key passage about the sea
References to the sea might also be allusions to Walt Whitman's poem, "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"
29.) Notice the reference to inner and outer lives at the beginning of chapter VII -- p. 643.
30.) Notice the influence of Adele on Edna's "loosening up" -- p. 643.
31.) Is this a passage about female (possibly lesbian) love? -- p. 643.
32.) Compare the descriptions of Edna and Adele; is Edna more "manly" while Adele is more "womanly"? -- p. 643.
33.) Here is the second reference to the "lady in black" (see also p. 634) and the two young lovers -- p. 644.
34.) Study and analyze Edna's and Adele's conversation that day down at the beach -- pp. 645-647.
Edna's past
Edna's feelings about this summer
They hold hands -- allusion to lesbian love?
Edna's sisters
Edna's past infatuations
Edna's marriage to Leonce
The conflict of romance and reality
There is no passion in their marraige
Edna's feelings about her children
A reference to "Fate" -- p. 647 -- naturalism?
35.) What was it about the conversation between the two women in the previous chapter which leads Adele to "warn" Robert about Edna? -- pp. 647-648.
36.) Edna is not one of them -- p. 648 -- like Daisy Miller?
37.) Some Creole behavior is explained -- p. 648.
38.) Here is the first reference to Alcee Arobin -- p. 648.
39.) Another reference to the lovers and the lady in black -- p. 649.
40.) Is the conversation between Robert Lebrun and his mother important at all? -- pp. 649-650.
41.) Here is the first reference to Mademoiselle Reisz -- p. 652.
She is self-assertive
She is disagreeable to many people, but ...
She favors Edna
She is an "Artist"
42.) Study Edna's thoughts about music and her reaction to Reisz's playing on this night -- pp. 652-653.
43.) Study particularly the paragraph about the song, "Solitude," and Edna's mental image of it -- p. 652.
44.) Edna can swim for the first time -- p. 654 -- Study the entire passage about her swimming:
Her feelings about it
Swimming out too far
Her encounter with "death"
45.) Study Edna's and Robert's conversation about "spirits" -- p. 655.
46.) Edna's thoughts "were elsewhere -- somewhere in advance of her body, and she was striving to overtake them." -- p. 655
47.) Here is the first reference (?) to "desire" -- p. 656.
48.) Notice the contest of wills between Edna and her husband when he wants her to come in from the hammock -- pp. 656-657.
49.) Edna's feeling about "awakening" from a dream -- p. 657.
50.) Is "the old owl" symbolic for her husband? -- p. 657.
51.) The lovers and the lady in black again -- p. 658.
52.) Here is the first reference to Mariequita -- p. 658.
53.) Edna has been "snapped" free -- p. 659.
54.) After Edna almost faints in church, they go to Madame Antoine's, where Edna has a very sensuous sleep -- pp. 660-663, but esp. p. 661.
Completed: Monday 24 January 2005 at 1:35 p.m. by SRS