The Awakening

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 2008. 282p. 283 mins. 978-1-51817167-3. Available as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Edna Pontellier and her husband Léonce are spending the summer months with their children at  a resort at Grand Isle, not far from New Orleans where they reside. Léonce is here for the weekend, and returns to the city for business during the week. As a woman, her roles are seen by society as caring for her children and supporting her husband. Edna chafes under these strictures, however, and does not feel fulfilled by the two traditional roles of mother and wife. On Grand Isle, she meets Mrs. Ratignolle, a woman with many children who enjoys motherhood very much. She also meets Mademoiselle Reisz, a gifted pianist who doesn’t care what society expects of her and instead marches to her own tune. She’s comfortable in her own skin and likes her single lifestyle.

More importantly, Edna meets Robert LeBrun, son of the resort’s owner, and, quite by accident, falls in love with him. Unfortunately, respectable life the 1890s New Orleans precludes divorce and frowns upon an extra-marital affair, especially for a woman. Scared that their relationship might grow, Robert takes off for Mexico, leaving Edna behind. Returning to New Orleans, Edna realizes that she’s tired of being someone she’s not, and she slowly emanciates herself from society’s demands. Léonce is concerned enough to contact a doctor, who tells him his wife is not mentally ill.

Needing to travel to New York for business, Léonce sends the children to his mother outside of New Orleans to give them a country holiday. Suddenly Edna finds herself alone for the first time, able to enjoy herself. She decides to move out of the house, and rents a small residence nearby. Still in contact with Mademoiselle Reisz, she reads the letters Robert sends to the piano player, and longs for him. The letters make it clear that Robert still has feelings for Edna. When Robert moves back to New Orleans, the two are reunited, but as love can be ephemeral, so too can it be fatal …

Over a hundred years old, The Awakening represents one of the first novels ever written to support a woman’s choice of seeking self-fulfilment, and presents an honest view of female sexuality. An early feminist novel, The Awakening continues to foster discussions about what it means to accept or refuse the roles society assign to women in general, and mothers in particular.