Historical fiction from the end of the nineteenth century brings us to a book by Kate Chopin of St. Louis, Missouri and later New Orleans, Louisiana. First published in 1899, The Awakening offers a bold look for the time of what fidelity, adultery and the demands of society say about duties to self, children and marriage from the female perspective. There was controversy about The Awakening as a book, with the quote from a contemporary of Chopin‘s saying this: “Willa Cather, who would become a well known twentieth-century American author, labeled it trite and sordid.” This review includes some spoilers; skip to the last paragraph to receive my rating of the book.
The Awakening is set in New Orleans and along the Louisiana coast with the Gulf of Mexico. Set in the same era of the book’s publishing, the book predates the realism of novelists including Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner while echoing such contemporary writers as Edith Wharton and Henry James.
The novel itself first sets the stage by introducing businessman Léonce Pontellier, his wife Edna, and their two kids Etienne and Raoul vacationing with the management and support of Madame Lebrun and her two sons, Robert and Victor. Edna spends much of the vacation with her friend Adèle Ratignolle, who helps to establish a central conflict for the story by pointing Edna to her responsibilities as a wife and mother.
Robert Lebrun, the son of the woman helping watch the Pontellier children, seeks and earns the affection of Mrs. Edna Pontellier. Robert sense problems with a romantic relationship developing from his affection, so contrives a business venture in Mexico to avoid the impropriety of a relationship with Edna. The feelings this brings for Edna become a focus for the novel.
With Edna reassessing her place in the world following the vacation, publicly observed changes in the traditional roles of a mother of a businessman husband in society lead to an insidious yet societal norm of the period of Léonce Pontellier approaching his physician with questions about his wife’s mental health. Things develop from this place to include a business trip to New York City, New York for Léonce, explicit further behavior for the marriage partners in isolation, and what society truly owes women in the United States and the American South of this period. The story culmination to these questions addresses themselves either through Robert Lebrun or Léonce Pontellier for Edna; my point in not sharing specifically reflects my suggestion that you read the book.
The Awakening offers mature themes on the subject of marriage. The book prompts readers to confront their feelings about the subject matter, specifically about where to set relationship boundaries. Doing this in the safety of a book where dialogue can exist feels like a strength for the book. This leads me to give The Awakening by Kate Chopin 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Matt – Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Matt Lynn Digital 