Valentina Gutirrez

Advisory
Beth Thurber
Q2
Read-On Summary: The Awakening
It takes two to have an affair. However, we dont often see the story told from the
perspective of a woman. An exception: The Awakening by Kate Chopin, follows a young woman,
Edna Pontellier, who falls in love with a man outside of her marriage. The story recounts both
her emotional and sexual awakening as she spends her summer at the Grand Isle with Robert
Lebrun, whose relationship with Edna begins as innocent flirtation and blooms into deep
affection.
In the beginning, Edna Pontellier is an obedient -- not dedicated -- mother and wife. She
responds to her husbands commands immediately. For example, when Mr. Pontellier returns
from a late game of billiards and demands Ednas attention, then wakes her angrily to chastise
her for being a neglectful mother (he really meant wife), she gets up anyways to check on her
sons, who she knew all along were well. After various incidents such as this one, and much
sweeter encounters with Robert, married life begins to weigh on Edna. Indeed, she says, [s]uch
experiences as the foregoing were not uncommon in her married life [But they then caused] an
indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her
consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist
passing across her souls summer day (11). By the end of the book, Edna is living on her own,
away from her children and husband, having committed adultery, and admitted her love for
Lebrun. However, upon realizing that the social norms of her time would never allow her what
she most desires, she kills herself.
Ednas story deals with the themes of the oppression of societal and gender norms and the
consequences of ignoring said conventions. This is clear in the very end, when, after Lebrun has
left her, Edna spends the night thinking to herself, and discovers that, she understood now
clearly what she had meant long ago when she said to Adele Ratignolle that she would give up
the unessential, but she would never sacrifice herself for her children (120). In this case, the
unessential is her life, as she is willing to give it up in order to save the reputation of her sons.
By killing herself, however, she can escape the social norms which dictate that she cannot be
independent nor leave her husband -- even if she is unhappy. Then, it makes sense, that she is not

sacrificing her sense of being but rather her chained existence -- all of this in order to avoid the
solitude and judgement brought by independence.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a feminist novel that discusses topics not often
broached. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to anyone interested in a controversial
story with a strong female lead.

New Read-On Summary

After a Book
1. The Title, Author, Genre and a 2-3
sentence summary of the book.
2. Answer one question below in a
paragraph. Include at least one quote or
passage from the text in your answer.
3. Choose another question below to
answer in a paragraph, again including at
least one quote or passage from the text in
your answer.

Fiction/Memoir
What is the main character like? What problem does he or she have and how does he or she face
that problem?
Are the characters believable? Why or why not?
What is the most important thing that happens in this story? Why? What effect does it have on
the character(s)?
Where does the story take place? Why is this setting important to the story?
What themes do you see in this story?
What is this story saying about humanity or about the world?
Comment on the writing style. What did you notice about the way the author writes?
Compare this story to another story youve read. How are they similar? Different?

What characters or items might be symbolic? What are they symbolic of?
What questions does this story leave unanswered? Please explain.

Short Stories
Which story was the most suspenseful or surprising? Why?
Find a theme that is in at least two of the stories and describe how it was portrayed in both
stories.
Compare/contrast what two different stories are saying about humanity or the world.
Compare and contrast two characters from two different stories. Which was more believable?
What kind of choices did each make? Would they be friends if they were real people? Why?
Which stories were the best written? Why?
Find two stories that seemed to be about similar ideas. How were the stories the same? What
made them different?
What character seemed to be the most believable?
Which of the authors would you read again? Why?
Setting is sometimes important and sometimes hardly mentioned in short stories: for which
stories was setting important? For which was setting not important? Why?