The Awakening

By Kate Chopin

When first published in 1899, The Awakening shocked readers with its honest treatment of female marital infidelity. Audiences accustomed to the pieties of late Victorian romantic fiction were taken aback by Chopin's daring portrayal of a woman trapped in a stifling marriage, who seeks and finds passionate physical love outside the straitened confines of her domestic situation.
Aside from its unusually frank treatment of a then-controversial subject, the novel is widely admired today for its literary qualities. Edmund Wilson characterized it as a work "quite uninhibited and beautifully written, which anticipates D. H. Lawrence in its treatment of infidelity."
Although the theme of marital infidelity no longer shocks, few novels have plumbed the psychology of a woman involved in an illicit relationship with the perception, artistry, and honesty that Kate Chopin brought to The Awakening. Now available in this inexpensive edition, it offers a powerful and provocative reading experience to modern readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Feb 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486110523

Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin, born Katherine O'Flaherty (1850-1904), was an American writer of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. Chopin is best known for her novel The Awakening, and for her short story collections, Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). Of French and Irish descent, her work depicted the various ethnic groups of Louisiana, especially of Creoles, with sensitivity and wit, and featured vivid descriptions of the natural environment there. After her husband died in 1882 and left her $42,000 in debt, Chopin took up writing to support her family of six children. Though popular, her serious literary qualities were overlooked in her day, and she is now seen as an important early American feminist writer.

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DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS

GENERAL EDITOR: STANLEY APPFLBAUM

EDITOR OF THIS VOLUME: PHILIP SMITH

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 1993, is an unabridged, slightly corrected republication of the work first published by Herbert S. Stone & Co., Chicago, in 1899. A new introductory Note and explanatory footnotes have been specially prepared for this edition.

Copyright Copyright © 1993 by Dover Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chopin, Kate, 1851-1904.

The awakening / Kate Chopin.—Dover thrift eds.

p. cm.

9780486110523

1. Women—Louisiana—Fiction. I. Title.

[PS1294.C64A64 1993]

813’.4—dc20 93-24271

CIP

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation

27786020

www.doverpublications.com

Table of Contents

Title Page

Bibliographical Note

Copyright Page

Note

I

II

III

IV

V

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DOVER · THRIFT · EDITIONS

Note

KATE CHOPIN (née O’Flaherty) was born into a wealthy St. Louis family in 1851. Of French Catholic and Irish extraction, she was schooled in the elaborate conventions of her social class, and married into a prominent Louisiana Creole family in 1870. Until her husbands death in 1882 she lived as a respectable wife in New Orleans and northwest Louisiana, bearing six children and being exposed to the Creole culture that would later supply much of the material for her fiction.

Returning as a widow to St. Louis, with her resources dwindling and a family to support, Chopin gradually turned to writing, possibly out of economic necessity. Her stories and sketches began appearing in magazines in 1889, and her first novel, At Fault, was published a year later. Drawing upon the Creole society of her married life, Chopin gained national recognition during the 1890s as an exemplar of the then-burgeoning local-color movement, which focused attention upon Americas distinctive regional cultures.

Chopin’s second and last novel, The Awakening, was published in 1899 and aroused a storm of controversy for its then-unprecedented treatment of female independence and sexuality, and for its unromantic portrayal of marriage. Socially ostracized for her scandalous frankness, Chopin died in 1904; it was not until the second half of the twentieth century that The Awakening was rediscovered and assumed a place of significance in the canon of American literature.

The present text follows that of the first edition with the exception of minor typographical corrections; inconsistencies and irregularities of spelling and punctuation have been retained. Unfamiliar foreign-language expressions have been glossed by the editors of this edition.

Sensitive readers should be forewarned that the text in places contains racial references characteristic of the era which may be deemed offensive by modern standards.

I

A GREEN AND YELLOW parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over:

"Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi!¹ That’s all right!"

He could speak a little Spanish, and also a language which nobody understood, unless it was the mocking-bird that hung on the other side of the door, whistling his fluty notes out upon the breeze with maddening persistence.

Mr. Pontellier, unable to read his newspaper with any degree of comfort, arose with an expression and an exclamation of disgust. He walked down the gallery and across the narrow bridges which connected the Lebrun cottages one with the other. He had been seated before the door of the main house. The parrot and the mocking-bird were the property of Madame Lebrun, and they had the right to make all the noise they wished. Mr. Pontellier had the privilege of quitting their society when they ceased to be entertaining.

He stopped before the door of his own cottage, which was the fourth one from the main building and next to the last. Seating himself in a wicker rocker which was there, he once more applied himself to the task of reading the newspaper. The day was Sunday; the paper was a day old. The Sunday papers had not yet reached Grand Isle. He was already acquainted with the market reports, and he glanced restlessly over the editorials and bits of news which he had not had time to read before quitting New Orleans the day before.

Mr. Pontellier wore eye-glasses. He was a man of forty, of medium height and rather slender build; he stooped a little. His hair was brown and straight, parted on one side. His beard was neatly and closely trimmed.

Once in a while he withdrew his glance from the newspaper and looked about him. There was more noise than ever over at the house. The main building was called the house, to distinguish it from the cottages. The chattering and whistling birds were still at it. Two young girls, the Farival twins, were playing a duet from Zampa upon the piano. Madame Lebrun was bustling in and out, giving orders in a high key to a yard-boy whenever she got inside the house, and directions in an equally high voice to a dining-room servant whenever she got outside. She was a fresh, pretty woman, clad always in white with elbow sleeves. Her starched skirts crinkled as she came and went. Farther down, before one of the cottages, a lady in black was walking demurely up and down, telling her beads. A good many persons of the pension had gone over to the Chênière Caminada in Beaudelet’s lugger to hear mass. Some young people were out under the water-oaks playing croquet. Mr. Pontellier’s two children were there—sturdy little fellows of four and five. A quadroon nurse followed them about with a far-away, meditative air.

Mr. Pontellier finally lit a cigar and began to smoke, letting the paper drag idly from his hand. He fixed his gaze upon a white sunshade that was advancing at snail’s pace from the beach. He could see it plainly between the gaunt trunks of the water-oaks and across the stretch of yellow camomile. The gulf looked far away, melting hazily into the blue of the horizon. The sunshade continued to approach slowly. Beneath its pink-lined shelter were his wife, Mrs. Pontellier, and young Robert Lebrun. When they reached the cottage, the two seated themselves with some appearance of fatigue upon the upper step of the porch, facing each other, each leaning against a supporting post.

What folly! to bathe at such an hour in such heat! exclaimed Mr. Pontellier. He himself had taken a plunge at daylight. That was why the morning seemed long to him.

You are burnt beyond recognition, he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage. She held up her hands, strong, shapely hands, and surveyed them critically, drawing up her lawn sleeves above the wrists. Looking at them reminded her of her rings, which she had given to her husband before leaving for the beach. She silently reached out to him, and he, understanding, took the rings from his vest pocket and dropped them into her open palm. She slipped them upon her fingers; then clasping her knees, she looked across at Robert and began to laugh. The rings sparkled upon her fingers. He sent back an answering smile.

What is it? asked Pontellier, looking lazily and amused from one to the other. It was some utter nonsense; some adventure out there in the water, and they both tried to relate it at once. It did not seem half so amusing when told. They realized this, and so did Mr. Pontellier. He yawned and stretched himself. Then he got up, saying he had half a mind to go over to Klein’s hotel and play a game of billiards.

Come go along, Lebrun, he proposed to Robert. But Robert admitted quite frankly that he preferred to stay where he was and talk to Mrs. Pontellier.

Well, send him about his business when he bores you, Edna, instructed her husband as he prepared to leave.

Here, take the umbrella, she exclaimed, holding it out to him. He accepted the sunshade, and lifting it over his head descended the steps and walked away.

Coming back to dinner? his wife called after him. He halted a moment and shrugged his shoulders. He felt in his vest pocket; there was a ten-dollar bill there. He did not know; perhaps he would return for the early dinner and perhaps he would not. It all depended upon the company which he found over at Klein’s and the size of the game. He did not say this, but she understood it, and laughed, nodding good-by to him.

Both children wanted to follow their father when they saw him starting out. He kissed them and promised to bring them back bonbons and peanuts.

II

MRS. PONTELLIER’S EYES were quick and bright; they were a yellowish brown, about the color of her hair. She had a way of turning them swiftly upon an object and holding them there as if lost in some inward maze of contemplation or thought.

Her eyebrows were a shade darker than her hair. They were thick and almost horizontal, emphasizing the depth of her eyes. She was rather handsome than beautiful. Her face was captivating by reason of a certain frankness of expression and a contradictory subtle play of features. Her manner was engaging.

Robert rolled a cigarette. He smoked cigarettes because he could not afford cigars, he said. He had a cigar in his pocket which Mr. Pontellier had presented him with, and he was saving it for his after-dinner smoke.

This seemed quite proper and natural on his part. In coloring he was not unlike his companion. A clean-shaved face made the resemblance more pronounced than it would otherwise have been. There rested no shadow of care upon his open countenance. His eyes gathered in and reflected the light and languor of the summer day.

Mrs. Pontellier reached over for a palm-leaf fan that lay on the porch and began to fan herself, while Robert sent between his lips light puffs from his cigarette. They chatted incessantly: about the things around them; their amusing adventure out in the water—it had again assumed its entertaining aspect; about the wind, the trees, the people who had gone to the Chênière; about the children playing croquet under the oaks, and the Farival twins, who were now performing the overture to The Poet and the Peasant.

Robert talked a good deal about himself. He was very young, and did not know any better. Mrs. Pontellier talked a little about herself for the same reason. Each was interested in what the other said. Robert spoke of his intention to go to Mexico in the autumn, where fortune awaited him. He was always intending to go to Mexico, but some way never got there. Meanwhile he held on to his modest position in a mercantile house in New Orleans, where an equal familiarity with English, French and Spanish gave him no small value as a clerk and correspondent.

He was spending his summer vacation, as he always did, with his mother at Grand Isle. In former times, before Robert could remember, the house had been a summer luxury of the Lebruns. Now, flanked by its dozen or more cottages, which were always filled with exclusive visitors from the "Quartier Français," it enabled Madame Lebrun to maintain the easy and comfortable existence which appeared to be her birthright.

Mrs. Pontellier talked about her father’s Mississippi plantation and her girlhood home in the old Kentucky blue-grass country. She was an American woman, with a small infusion of French which seemed to have been lost in dilution. She read a letter from her sister, who was away in the East, and who had engaged herself to be married. Robert was interested, and wanted to know what manner of girls the sisters were, what the father was like, and how long the mother had been dead.

When Mrs. Pontellier folded the letter it was time for her to dress for the early dinner.

I see Léonce isn’t coming back, she said, with a glance in the direction whence her husband had disappeared. Robert supposed he was not, as there were a good many New Orleans club men over at Klein’s.

When Mrs. Pontellier left him to enter her room, the young man descended the steps and strolled over toward the croquet players, where, during the half-hour before dinner, he amused himself with the little Pontellier children, who were very fond of him.

III

IT WAS ELEVEN o’clock that night when Mr. Pontellier returned from Klein’s hotel. He was in an excellent humor, in high spirits, and very talkative. His entrance awoke his wife, who was in bed and fast asleep when he came in. He talked to her while he undressed, telling her anecdotes and bits of news and gossip that he had gathered during the day. From his trousers pockets he took a fistful of crumpled bank notes and a good deal of silver coin, which he piled on the bureau indiscriminately with keys, knife, handkerchief, and whatever else happened to be in his pockets. She was overcome with sleep, and answered him with little half utterances.

He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation.

Mr. Pontellier had forgotten the bonbons and peanuts for the boys. Notwithstanding he loved them very much, and went into the adjoining room where they slept to take a look at them and make sure that they were resting comfortably. The result of his investigation was far from satisfactory. He turned and shifted the youngsters about in bed. One of them began to kick and talk about a basket full of crabs.

Mr. Pontellier returned to his wife with the information that Raoul had a high fever and needed looking after. Then he lit a cigar and went and sat near the open door to smoke it.

Mrs. Pontellier was quite sure Raoul had no fever. He had gone to bed perfectly well, she said, and nothing had ailed him all day. Mr. Pontellier was too well acquainted with fever symptoms to be mistaken. He assured her the child was consuming at that moment in the next room.

He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his brokerage business. He could not be in two places at once; making a living for

Reviews for The Awakening

[danielstj · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

An appeasing novella, but dated and lacking in many instances. Altogether, did not enjoy very much.

[lukes_171461 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This spare 19th century novel tells the story of Edna Pontellier of New Orleans, who discovers she wants something more out of life. She is married to a prosperous and respectable stockbroker, but takes a lover when her husband is away on business. The story isn't that simple of simplistic, but it's close. Chopin's evocation of place and person leave something to be desired, and takes our understanding of the mores of the time very much for granted.This doesn't seem like enough of a literary or social transgression to ruin its author's career, but that's what it apparently did. Perhaps it's the lead character's attitude throughout, that was just too much to countenance. Not recommended, not from this quarter.

[abbeystombaugh · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like this one very much.

[john_warner-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The plot of this American classic revolves around Edna Pontellier, the wife of a New Orleans businessman during the cusp of the 20th century, who feeling restrained by feminine social roles of the times and rebels in unorthodox ways.Imagine if Lucy and Ricky slept in the same bed during their 1950s sitcom. Although this book pales in comparison to today's nightly entertainment, it would have been considered risque for the time because of the social commentary, which is why it has been included on the banned book list. Although several archaic words had me checking the dictionary from time to time, the dated language interfered little in my enjoyment of this paragon of feminist literature.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A well-written thought-provoking book, particularly given the fact that it was published first in 1899. It is very understandable why this book was later re-discovered as it still seems very fresh. The attitude of this woman seems to be ahead of her time, which adds to the intrigue of the book. Plus it was very evocative of New Orleans. I could almost smell that City and I could certainly almost see it in her descriptions. My main problem, actually my only problem, with this book was the ending. Not because it was a tragic ending, but rather because she exhibits a belated concern for her children which she immediately throws out the window by killing herself. It was her relationship with her children in conjunction with her other decisions and actions that somehow didn't ring true. But it was still a wonderful surprise.

[mthelibrarian_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Awakening? The ending is more like The Darkening (not to mention "The Hours" and "Madame Bovary.") My edition included some reviews from the 1899 publication date which were interesting. Even Willa Cather trounced the book at the end of her review. I've been meaning to read this one for years, though. Certainly the ending was a surprise.

[junesong · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. Edna is such a bold character. It really shows the beginnings of marrying for love instead of money and social status. Even though it was wrong of Edna to leave her husband, Robert opened her mind to a different kind of love.

[pennsylady · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I came to this book with a few criteria.The Awakening basically fulfilled my objective.The time period was late 19th century......The topic was controversial for the time....The writer was a woman----------------I might add, my e reader copy presented a nice biographical sketch of the authoras an addendum.3.5*

[porch_reader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The theme for my book club this month was Choose Your Own Classic. I had lots of possibilities in mind, but didn't get one started until just a few days before the meeting. So, I found a list of classic novellas and chose [The Awakening] from that list. (I think that I'll read more from that list this year. I always intend to read more classics, but time gets away from me, so novellas seem like a good compromise.)One of the joys of reading a classic is being taken back to another time. Chopin does an amazing job of transporting her readers to the late 19th century. The novel chronicles Edna Pontellier's awakening during a vacation at a summer resort and later back in New Orleans. While her husband is focused on business and pays little attention to Edna, Edna develops a friendship with Robert Lebrun and begins to want more from life than she has found in her roles as wife and mother. Through telling Edna's story, Chopin not only provides a rich picture of life in the late 19th century, but also raises important questions about the discontent that comes with changing expectations. I didn't find the story itself that engaging, but I did appreciate Chopin's ability to use a year in Edna's life to illustrate the challenges faced by women at this point in history.

[tpoi_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Early feminist work. Important but depressing.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book because I'd heard it was an early example of feminist literature. In that aspect, I was not disappointed. Writing in the late 1800s, Kate Chopin describes a young woman's dissatisfaction with her roles as wife and mother and wanting something different from what society expected her to want.As a novel, I thought the book was beautifully written. Edna Pontellier, the main character, was portrayed with great depth and in many ways, I identified with her sense of longing and questioning the cultural "givens" of her times. Her husband, Leonce, wasn't as richly portrayed, but I had some sympathy for him as well. After all, he too was trying to conform to the normes of his culture. I found him, at worst, benign, and not oppressive.In the end, the story left me depressed. I wish something other than a man had awakened Edna's need to examine her marriage. And most of all, I wish Edna had been able to enrich her life rather than end it.

[gmillar_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book. I didn't expect to. The language used and the character pictures painted were really good. The only thing that stopped me from another half star was the ending. I didn't see it coming so it was good from that aspect but it left me high and dry and unhappy. I guess that makes it good too, a good novel should extract emotion from the reader. However, this old romantic would have liked something a bit more positive.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sometimes the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list surprises me with a great book that I had never heard of. Such was the case with this book.Published in 1899, The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontillier, a young married woman with two sons. It opens in a resort in Grand Isle on the Gulf of Mexico where Mrs Pontillier and the boys are staying for the summer with Mr. Leonce Pontillier coming down from New Orleans on weekends. The owner's son, Robert Lebrun, falls in love with Edna and the feeling is reciprocated although there is no physical intimacy. Towards the end of the summer Robert leaves Grand Isle to seek his fortune in Mexico and Edna feels very depressed. Back in New Orleans Mrs. Pontillier stops involving herself in polite society and feels happier and free. Her husband goes to New York on a business trip and the boys are sent to their grandmother in Iberville so Edna is free to do as she likes. What she really wants to do is live with Robert but society would find that scandalous. Edna Pontillier is a prisoner of her times and, like Anna Karenina, she is made to suffer.As can be imagined this book was vilified by many reviewers when it came out. But I imagine a number of women probably read it and felt it spoke to them. The writing style is so evocative of the Deep South that I felt transported there. We spent a few days on Grand Isle last year and although I am sure it is far different from the 1890s when this story was set I too felt the langourous pleasure of that locale. It is a perfect setting for this story.

[mtlkch-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it as much this time as the first time I read it in college.

[dwsampson · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Awfully dry and a chore to get through. We read this in a Literature class as an example of writing from a woman's perspective... but there are better examples of the female perspective. Opinions of this book seem to be pretty divided in my experience.

[amandacb_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's been a few years since I've read this, but my overall impression of it was very dreamlike. The entire (rather short) book felt like a dream sequence. Yes, it's depressing, but it's also very powerful and moving. Give it a read if you haven't done so!

[lyzzybee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Acquired via BookCrossing 16 Jul 2010 - donation to OBCZ from ex-library stockA classic of feminist writing which was decried in its late 19th-century day and only rediscovered in the 1960s, this is the story of a woman who finds family life too constricting; she engages in a series of flirtations and gradually prises herself out of the claustrophobic mould in which she has found herself, to seek emotional, financial and sexual freedom. But will she have to pay too high a price...? This is a very atmospheric book; the sea plays a huge role and life on the summer resort is evoked beautifully. The language is a little indirect but never confusing, and it's an interesting and though-provoking read.

[vikkilaw · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book in either junior high or high school and, even though my circumstances were very different than the protagonist's, I identified so strongly with the feeling of being confined and restricted and just wanting to break free.

[kaydence_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wouldn't have read this book without needing to for my class, but I wasn't completely disappointed. As a book that is influential in the women's movement of the early 1900s, it's not the worst. I really like the short stories by Kate Chopin, but the novel just doesn't seem to go anywhere. The awakening that the main character goes through is not as entertaining as it could have been. Also, it was very controversial during the time that it was written because of the affair that the main character has, but for today's standards it's not as shocking and therefore not as interesting.

[daniellamarie29 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely fell in love with book when I first read it in 11th grade. I love Edna and her persistence to become independent from her family. She goes on to live by herself and leave her family behind, which was considered sacrilegious during Edna's life.

[bcrowl399 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was somewhat difficult to read, mainly because of the writing style of the time period, I think. I was overly dramatic. There were some lovely passages of description and I understood the point of the story, but the style was a little clumsy.

[threeara · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i read this for school and really liked it. the metaphors are a little overboard but presented with nice images, the romance addictive (the love interest is my favorite character!), and the ending, well, i doubt you'd see it coming. It's very much about women's rights, and it's pretty old. People tend to either love or hate it-i loved it...

[joye_22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing book. Can't believe they just tried to ban this in a NW suburb!

[ireed110 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found this to be a frustrating story. There were no characters that I really liked. The women were snobby and self-absorbed, the men distant and self-absorbed. I never really felt any empathy for Edna until close to the end of the story, and then, the story was over. Very unsatisfying.

[tapestry100 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A novel of growth, both personal and emotional, Kate Chopin's The Awakening follows the journey of Edna Pontellier, who after spending a summer vacationing with her husband and children, decides to give up the archetypical role of wife and mother and strikes out on her own, realizing there is more to life than what society deems appropriate for a woman. The principal reasoning for her "awakening" is the realization that she is in love with another man, and believes that he loves her in return. Feeling overpowered by her own life and obligations to family, she does what few women did in that time, and moved out of her home into another house, and begins a life that is her own.When The Awakening was first published, is was looked on as being "unwholesome," both in its independent attitude towards women and its rather frank attitude towards Edna Pontellier's sexual nature. In today's regard, the novel wouldn't be seen as being all that shocking, but it still speaks clearly for the need of independence and freedom in one's own life.To be frank, I had a hard time getting into the book. I think I found the flow of the writing to be distracting, and halfway through reading switched to an audio book, and was able to follow the story much more clearly this way. The story did prove to be powerful in its telling, and in how Edna finally moves forward with her life.

[bness2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well written romantic. feminist tragedy. Considered a classic. The main character needed a good therapist. :-)

[suzannepalmieri · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Probably one of the most important books I've read... and I always forget about it! Forced to read in high school I fell in love with literature. And then, re-read as an adult... as a writer... simply unforgettable. I turn to it again and again for work with transitions and scenery. Brilliant.

[tngolden_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

SHUDDER! Egads, I had to read this again and again in my undergrad literature career. Each time I found the main character not only unsympathetic, but revolting. Gah! And no, I'm not handing in my feminist card just because I hate this book!

[dquazzo_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

story of repressed womanhood. written 100 years ago yet very contemporary. new orleans and the islands. mrs. pontellier -- edna - an artist. a less repressed age of innocence. her lover - robert.

[thatotter-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Really did not sympathize with the protagonist.