The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin published in 1899. During a summer at Grand Isle, off the coast of Louisiana, Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother from New Orleans, awakens to her own desires and to a longing for independence. Condemned at the time, it is now considered a classic of American literature.
The story
On holiday at Grand Isle, Edna learns to swim and grows close to young Robert Lebrun. She begins to feel that her life as wife and mother does not belong to her.
Back in New Orleans, she gives up her social duties, takes up painting and moves into a small house of her own. But society offers her no real place.
Creole society
Chopin paints the Creole world of New Orleans with precision: its families, its manners, its mixture of French and English.
Two women frame Edna: the devoted mother Adèle Ratignolle and the independent pianist Mademoiselle Reisz.
A scandal
Reviewers attacked the novel for its frankness about a woman's desires. Chopin published little afterwards and died in 1904.
The book was rediscovered in the 1960s and became central to the study of women's writing.
Anecdotes
The sea
The sea runs through the whole novel, from Edna's first swim to the last pages. Its voice is described as seductive and endless.
A late writer
Kate Chopin began writing seriously only after the death of her husband in 1882, when she was in her thirties and mother of six children.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Edna Pontellier?
A young wife and mother who awakens to her own desires.
Where is the novel set?
At Grand Isle and in New Orleans, Louisiana.
When was it published?
In 1899.