1. The reviews seem to either characterize The Awakening as a tragedy or a triumph. Which do you think Kate Chopin intended for it to be?
2. The "awakening" that Edna experiences is most likely her realization of her love for Robert. Is there anything else in this work that could be an "awakening" (not necessarily limited to Edna)?
I think that this is a story about struggling to be human. I think if it served a political purpose, like the Yellow Wallpaper, or even like Fanny Fern's writings, the issues would have been less murky-- Edna would have been more likeable, the doctor and the husband would have been true villains-- and there would have been a clear line of "well, if only they had done THIS, none of this would have happened.
ReplyDeleteChopin gives us a character who has strong beliefs and a will, but doesn't know how to make herself happy with the agency she exercises, because agency isn't enough. That's a very modern problem that can't be reconciled with a policy change or a trip to the beach.
I think Edna was also "awakened" to her discontentment with her life as a mother and a wife, and possibly also her shortcomings in those two areas.
Delete