Kate chopins the awakening
Kate chopins the awakeningThe novel opens on the Grand Isle, a summer retreat for the wealthy French Creoles of New Orleans. Leonce Pontellier, a wealthy New Orleans business man of forty years of age, reads his newspaper. Meanwhile, Mrs. Lebrun's parrot repeats phrases in English and French and her mockingbird sings in "fluty notes." Leonce retreats to his own cottage to escape the birds' noisy chatter. The cottages are a scene of bustling Sunday activity. A lady in black walks back and forth in front of the cottages with her rosary beads in hand. Mr. Pontellier's four- and five-year-old sons play under the watchful eye of their quadroon nurse.
Leonce smokes a cigar and watches as his wife, Edna, and young Robert Lebrun, Mrs. Lebrun's son, slowly stroll from the beach. He urges Edna to swim at a cooler time of the day after he notes her sunburn. He invites Robert to play some billiards at Klein's hotel, but Robert prefers to stay and talk with Edna.
Edna is handsome, engaging woman. Robert is a clean-shaven, carefree young man. He discusses his plans to go to Mexico at the end of the summer on business. She talks about her childhood in Kentucky bluegrass country and her sister's upcoming wedding.
Leonce wakes Edna when he enters the bedroom that night. He relates his experiences of the evening, but she responds only with sleepy half-answers. Her lack of interest in his evening bothers him. He checks on his sons and informs Edna that Raul seems to have a fever. She replies that the child was fine earlier, and he criticizes her lack of motherly concern.
After a cursory visit to the boys' bedroom, Edna refuses to answer any of her husband's inquiries. Leonce soon falls asleep, but Edna is wide awake. She sits on the porch and weeps quietly, listening to the sea. It is not an unsual event, but she recognizes that Leonce is often kind and loving.
The next morning, Leonce departs to attend his business for the following week. Everyone gathers to bid good-bye because he is a popular man. He sends Edna a box of bonbons from New Orleans, and she shares them with her friends. They declare that Leonce is a wonderful husband.
Leonce notes with displeasure that Edna is not very motherly. The mother-women "idolize" their children, "worship" their husbands, and regard it as a "holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels." Adele Ratignolle is the premium example of the mother-woman. She embodies all the "womanly charms" of romantic heroines. In seven years, she has had three children and is planning on a fourth. Edna is not entirely at home in Creole culture. She cannot reconcile their lack of prudery to the irreproachable chastity of Creole women.
After a month, Edna and Robert achieve a stage of "advanced intimacy." Since early adolescence, Robert has become the "devoted attendant" of a woman every summer. One afternoon, Robert exchanges banter with...
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