The Awakening as an Example of Romantic, Realistic, and Local Color Writing
A fair woman slowly, but surely, makes her way into the water. It is obvious that she is slightly afraid, but not to the point where she is willing to stop progressing into the gradually deepening water. She believes that after she lets the water grab her life, everything will be fine. Sounds appealing? I did not think so. However, Edna Pontellier thinks that this is the best option for her. Drowning seems to be the only way out. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, describes Edna Pontellier's battle against society, and how she decides to handle this battle. This novel was considered an immoral piece of literature during the early 1900's. Its descriptions of a strong woman who goes against a grim and strict Creole society shocked critics and readers alike. Edna's strong will and determination cause changes that were not welcome at the time. Despite the fact that The Awakening was unwelcome in the early 1900's, it is a widely read novel that most consider to be an extraordinary piece of literature. The Awakening is a great novel because of its unique combination of Romantic, Realistic, and local color writing.
The Awakening demonstrates Romanticism in many ways. The accentuation of the imagination, freedom, emotion, nature, and nobility of the common man characterize Romanticism. The Awakening demonstrates this in many ways. For example, a mockingbird and a parrot are shown to describe the role of women of that time; they had the potential to be successful and respectful citizens, but society kept them caged in. This demonstrates the "natural world" aspect of Romanticism. In addition to this, constant references are ma...
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...nd city names in her writing adds a lot to the feeling behind the novel. Using the name "Grand Isle" has a larger effect on the reader than if she were to say "beach", or even "summer getaway". Through the utilization of local color, the reader actually feels that he or she is a part of the novel, walking alongside the characters and feeling all their pain and suffering. He or she can form visual images of life during the time of the Creoles.
Through her inclusion of Romantic, Realistic, and local color writing, Kate Chopin makes The Awakening a truly extraordinary piece of literature. Reading this novel makes the reader feel that he or she is living during the society of that time. This is a unique writing that demonstrates one-of-a-kind combinations of literary elements. Every person should read this novel and appreciate it for the talent.
Chopin, Kate. "The Awakening." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 561-652. Print.
The Awakening is a novel about the growth of a woman becoming her own person; in spite of the expectations society has for her. The book follows Edna Pontellier as she struggles to find her identity. Edna knows that she cannot be happy filling the role that society has created for her. She did not believe that she could break from this pattern because of the pressures of society. As a result she ends up taking her own life. However, readers should not sympathize with her for taking her own life.
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening takes place in the late 19th century, in Grande Isle off the coast of Louisiana. The author writes about the main character, Edna Pontellier, to express her empowering quality of life. Edna is a working housewife,and yearns for social freedom. On a quest of self discovery, Edna meets Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, falls in and out of love,and eventually ends up taking her own life. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening shows how the main character Edna Pontellier has been trapped for so many years and has no freedom, yet Edna finally “awakens” after so long to her own power and her ability to be free.
The Awakening sheds light on the desire among many women to be independent. Throughout the novel Edna conducts herself in a way that was disavowed by many and comes to the realization that her gender prevented her from pursuing what she believed would be an enjoyable life. As the story progresses Edna continues to trade her family obligations for her own personal pleasures. This behavior would not have been accepted and many even criticize the novel for even speaking about such activities. Kate Chopin essentially wrote about everything a women couldn’t do. Moreover, it also highlights the point that a man is able to do everything Edna did, but without the same
When Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" was published at the end of the 19th Century, many reviewers took issue with what they perceived to be the author's defiance of Victorian proprieties, but it is this very defiance with which has been responsible for the revival in the interest of the novel today. This factor is borne out by Chopin's own words throughout her Preface -- where she indicates that women were not recipients of equal treatment. (Chopin, Preface ) Edna takes her own life at the book's end, not because of remorse over having committed adultery but because she can no longer struggle against the social conventions which deny her fulfillment as a person and as a woman. Like Kate Chopin herself, Edna is an artist and a woman of sensitivity who believes that her identity as a woman involves more than being a wife and mother. It is this very type of independent thinking which was viewed as heretical in a society which sought to deny women any meaningful participation.
Kate Chopin's novella, The Awakening. In Kate Chopin's novella, The Awakening, the reader is introduced into. a society that is strictly male-dominated where women fill in the stereotypical role of watching the children, cooking, cleaning and keeping up with appearances. Writers often highlight the values of a certain society by introducing a character who is alienated from their culture by a trait such as gender, race, or creed.
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin seems to fit neatly into twentieth century ideals. Chopin addresses psychological issues that must have been difficult for people of the late nineteenth century to grasp. Just as Edna died a premature death, Chopin's book died too. The rejection of this book, at the time, ironically demonstrates the pressure many women must have felt to conform to society. Chopin shows the reader, through Edna Pontellier, that society restricts women the right to individuality. This restriction by society can be seen in the clothing Victorian women wore during the time.
“The Transcendentalist adopts the whole connection of spiritual doctrine. He believes in miracle, in the perpetual openness of the human mind to new influx of light and power; he believes in inspiration, and in ecstasy.”(Emerson 196). These two lines written by Ralph Waldo Emerson exemplify the whole movement of transcendentalist writers and what they believed in. Though to the writers, transcendentalism was a fight for a belief, unknown to them they could have been fighting for the betterment of human health. The transcendentalist writings of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson have directly affected the health of modern society through the idea of transcendental meditation. Through modern science, scientists have linked increases in health among individuals through the use of transcendental meditation.
Ranging from caged parrots to the meadow in Kentucky, symbols and settings in The Awakening are prominent and provide a deeper meaning than the text does alone. Throughout The Awakening by Kate Chopin, symbols and setting recur representing Edna’s current progress in her awakening. The reader can interpret these and see a timeline of Edna’s changes and turmoil as she undergoes her changes and awakening.
Kate Chopin's The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother living in the upper crust of New Orleans in the 1890s. It depicts her journey as her standing shifts from one of entrapment to one of empowerment. As the story begins, Edna is blessed with wealth and the pleasure of an affluent lifestyle. She is a woman of leisure, excepting only in social obligations. This endowment, however, is hindered greatly by her gender.
Kate Chopin's The Awakening is a terrific read and I am hardly able to put it down! I am up to chapter XV and many of the characters are developing in very interesting ways. Edna is unfulfilled as a wife and mother even though she and her husband are financially well off. Her husband, Leonce Pontellier, is a good husband and father but he has only been paying attention to his own interests. At this point he is unaware of the fact that his wife's needs are not being met. Robert and the other characters are equally intriguing but something else has piqued my interest. Some of Chopin's characters are not fully developed. I know that these are important characters because they are representative of specific things; they are metaphoric characters. In particular, I've noticed the lovers and the lady in black. I'm fascinated by the fact that both the lovers and the lady in black are completely oblivious to the rest of the world. They are also in direct contrast with each another. For this week's reader response I am taking a different approach. Rather than analyzing the main characters, I will examine the lovers and the lady in black.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 535-625. Print.
Central Lib. Fort Worth, TX -. 11 Feb. 2003 Dawson, Hugh J. & Co. "Kate Chopin's The Awakening: A Dissenting Opinion. " American Literary Realism 26.2 (1994):18.
Transcendentalism was a widespread philosophical movement that took place in America during the 1840s and 1850s. Transcendentalists believed that God, man, and nature were all connected to one another and that every man has a soul. Through this belief, the transcendentalists worked to become one with nature and, therefore, one with God. Two of the most popular authors from the transcendental period are Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Both men discussed the five traits of transcendentalism through their writings and expressed how all men should follow them to live a purely good life. In all of their writings, one of their most prominent points was the need for nature. This point was strengthened by the belief that God, man, and
Did you know that 81% of Americans feel they have a book in them? That the life they’ve experienced, sprouted, and learned countless lessons from gives them the initiative to write. That's exactly what Kate Chopin had in mind when she wrote the book, “The Awakening.” In, “The Awakening” Chopin writes about the culture she lived in, the situations she went through, and the feelings she felt in the society.