Género e identidad en los estudios ingleses.

Curso 2021-22
Professor: Matilde Martín
Questions for discussion.

THE AWAKENING Kate Chopin

1. Give an account of Mr. Pontellier’s personality as evidenced in chapters I, III
and XVII.
- Ruling
- Egotistical/Narcissistic
- Patronizing towards Edna
- Business man unaware of his wife’s unhappiness

Class:
- He doesn’t perceive his wife as a human, it is a property.
- Possessive husband.

2. Analyze the characterization of Adele Ratignolle and decide whether she is a flat
or a round character. Support your answer with textual evidence throughout the
novel. Pay special attention to chapter IV. Which values does she embody?

- She embodies the values regarding the perfect woman during the nineteenth
century: a woman who is devoted to her children and her husband.
- Rounder character described using certain clichés, angel in the house,
personality of her own, role of making Edna realized somethings about herself.
Sake of contrast with Edna, motherhood not as an oppression,

3. What does chapter V tell us about the personality of Robert Lebrun?

- He enjoys being around women, totally harmless

- Much more the gentleman type.
- Defends women, described as a total admirer of women, begin for them
affection but never expects anything in exchange.
- Patterns of behavior (“games”), he doesn’t raise the suspicion of the husbands
regarding Robert’s admiration for their wives.
-
4. Chapter VI reveals important insights about Edna Pontellier. Identify them and
decide whether the narrator is subjective or objective.

- Dichotomy: what she is supposed to do and what she really wants to do

- The awakening first sight represented as a “A certain light was beginning to
dawn dimly within her, —the light which, showing the way, forbids it”
- First person plural.
- Sea: symbol of inspiration, empowerment.
- Bird: Edna
- Music:
 Género e identidad en los estudios ingleses. Curso 2021-22
Professor: Matilde Martín
Questions for discussion.
5. Chapter VII describes the nature of Edna’s marriage to Leónce Pontellier.
Explain the relevance of this for the unfolding of the story. What do the first
three paragraphs of this chapter tell us about Edna Pontellier?

- Her marriage is the catalyzer for her awakening, she realizes that she is unhappy
in her current situation, controlled by her husband, just a wife, she searches in
Robert true love she wants to feel something
- The first three paragraphs mean that she is not really in love with him,
bisexuality? (Not really), love (affection) is something she craves.

6. Chapter VII: Why does Madame Ratignolle say “pauvre chérie” (poor darling)
to Edna? Explain why Madame Ratignolle asks Robert to “leave Edna alone” in
chapter VIII. Is this fact relevant for the story?

- She feels genuinely pity for her, because she can perceive how she is an animal
in a cage in hopes of freedom, finally getting a glimpse of it. She has been
running all her life, oppressed by religious patterns during her childhood. Adele
Ratignolle understand Edna’s conflict, she sees what is happening inside her =
Edna is not fulfilled in her life therefore Madame Ratignolle (who is the
opposite) perceives that. The hand = sign of support.
- She doesn't want Edna to be caged by the idea of another man, she knows how
he is and she is afraid that she’s going to take his advantages seriously and she
doesn’t want her to suffer.

7. Chapter IX shows the character of Mademoiselle Reisz for the first time. How is
she described? What role will she play in Edna’s life? Do you think she
represents a type of woman of that time?

- She is described as “a disagreeable little woman, no longer young, who had

quarreled with almost every one, owing to a temper which was self-assertive and
a disposition to trample upon the rights of others.” For Edna she will represent
an inspiration to her own awakening due to the fact that she symbolizes what
Edna could have been if she had grown old following her instinct and
independent from her family. Not a “beautiful” woman, she is not delicate she
does not follow the canons of the time regarding beauty. I don’t think she
represents a woman of the time but how women who broke the social standards
supposedly to be followed were described.

8. What is the most significant aspect we see about Edna Pontellier in chapter XI?

- She is growing resistant, “insolent” to her husband. She is starting to stand for
herself and her own wants and opinions.

9. Chapter XVII marks the beginning of the second part as it is set in the city of
New Orleans. Analyse which are the most important things that happen in this
chapter.
 Género e identidad en los estudios ingleses. Curso 2021-22
Professor: Matilde Martín
Questions for discussion.

- The Tuesdays afternoons = she receives calls therefore has to stay in home. She
starts breaking the pattern of what is expected from her.

10. Explain the relevance of the dialogue between Mr. Pontellier and Edna
Pontellier in chapter XIX.

- This dialogue is relevant because in it we see Edna’s raw feeling regarding her
marriage, she does not want to keep being the submissive perfect wife any
longer, she rejects the idea of only being a mother (who takes care of her
children and the house) and a wife. She is not a painter, nor is Mademoiselle
Reizz a musician; they are just women. Motivation other than the domestic life.

11. Chapter XXI presents a conversation between Mademoiselle Reisz and Edna
Pontellier. Identify the most important statements/sentences of this dialogue.

- She is not sure if she likes Mademoiselle Reisz or not. “I don’t know whether I like
you or not,” replied Edna, gazing down at the little woman with a quizzical look.
- We see Edna’s interest for the letter in which Robert talks about her.

12. Give an account of Dr. Mandelet’s and Mr. Pontellier’s conversation in chapter
XXII.

- Mr. Pontellier states that his wife can only be going mad if she is starting to act
rebellious taking on account the fact that she has always been submissive. Is
crazy that she believes and defend the rights of women and the rights she must
have as a woman herself.

13. What kind of man is Alcée Arobin? What role does he play in Edna Pontellier’s
life?

- He is indeed a womanizer, Edna and him maintain an affair for a while. His role
in Edna’s life is to represent

14. Which are the two most important sentences we read in chapter XXVI?

- “He was ready at all times to submit to her moods, which were as often kind as

they were cold. She grew accustomed to him. They became intimate and friendly

by imperceptible degrees, and then by leap”

- “There was nothing which so quieted the turmoil of Edna’s senses as a visit to

Mademoiselle Reisz. It was then, in the presence of that personality which was
 Género e identidad en los estudios ingleses. Curso 2021-22
Professor: Matilde Martín
Questions for discussion.
offensive to her, that the woman, by her divine art, seemed to reach Edna’s spirit

and set it free.”

15. Explain the significance of the last two lines in chapter XXVII.

- “It was the first kiss of her life to which her nature had really responded. It was a
flaming torch that kindled desire”. With these two lines we learn that it is the
first time that Edna felt a real desire and she is actually following her instinct.

16. Give an account of chapter XXVIII.

17. Explain the importance of chapter XXXVI for the unfolding of the story. What
do we learn about Robert Lebrun’s thinking/feelings about/for Edna Pontellier?
Identify the most important paragraph/sentences of this chapter.

18. Give an interpretation of Robert Lebrun’s message to Edna at the end of chapter
XXXVIII.

- He leaves for her own good.

19. Describe/explain Edna Pontellier’s role as a mother. Give textual evidence

throughout the novel.

- Edna do not posses a maternal instinct, she did not want to be a mother however
she takes care of her children but never giving herself up in the process. She
does not seem to be especially affectionate towards them as we could expect
from the socially accepted mother figure perhaps due to the lack of true
affection, she experienced during her childhood therefore she might not
conceive it as a necessity to be expressively shown. (When she says she will not
give herself up, paragraph about the relief she felt when they were gone).

20. Explain what we learn in chapter X about Edna’s life and personality.
-

21. Elaborate your own conclusions about Edna Pontellier’s story. Focus on the last
chapter as well as on the previous ones. What does Edna Pontellier’s story teach
women, if anything?
 Género e identidad en los estudios ingleses. Curso 2021-22
Professor: Matilde Martín
Questions for discussion.
- I think she is mainly teaching woman to not be contented in their situation, to
wake up and rebel against their subordination. To die having living in their own
power.