Literary Analysis # 2 The Awakening by Kate Chopin

GENERAL 

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same.)

- Edna starts off as the wonderful wife who fulfills the role of a proper mother. They take a vacation as a family and spend their time in Grand Isle. There she meets a man named Robert and a romance begins. They end up declaring their love in the novel and we see the two grow and fall apart. Robert seeks a marriage but couldn't find it in Edna. Edna also became intimate with another man named Alcee. That connection Alcee and she had seemed like pure lust because he awoke feelings in her that lead to other realizations but no attachment  Edna learns about her independence while being with these men and she tries to become the woman she always wanted to be. Her marriage seems to be fading away as she spends more and more time with her new persona. As her family is away she moves into her own home persueing her new lifestyle. Times goes by and her past is awaken when her friend Adele goes through a birth. Adele reminds Edna of the life she left behind and this leads Edna to think about things. Edna realized that in the end she was left alone, because Robert had walked out on her. She then decides to return where everything began and end her life there.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.

- The theme revolves around marriage and Edna's involvement within her life. During their time period marriage, money and security was all society cared for. Love wasn't a favored characteristic in relationships because then they had different priorities and beliefs. Edna underwent a dramatic change that lead to her marriage's collapse. She became a wild and disobedient women as the novel progresses letting her true colors free. Her decision to start her life over with her lover helped the audience see that marriage wasn't of great importance for her.

3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).

- The author's tone is gloomy and direct. She addresses Edna's feeling on marriage in the story but reveals that Edna isn't the caring, loving person a mother's supposed to be. The tone is shown when Edna speaks to her husband or when she reveals Edna's thoughts on marriage. It sounded like the relation they had faded away as Edna found herself and let her past fade away. 

1) "Before dinner in the evening Edna wrote a charming letter to her husband, telling him of her intention to move for a while into the little house around the block, and to give a farewell dinner before leaving, regretting that he was not there to share it.." (Chapter 26)

2) “They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow as ministering angels.” (Chapter 4)

3) "Her marriage to Leonce Pontellier was purely an accident, in this respect resembling many other marriages which masquerade as the decrees of Fate." (Chapter 7)

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

*Symbolism: “The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude.” (Chapter VI) For the first time she feels free and is reborn. 

*Dialogue: "The water must be delicious; it will not hurt you. Come." (Chapter V) He tries to convince her that she should trust in him.

*Setting: “They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow as ministering angels.” (Chapter IV) She's surrounded by the ideal mothers.

*Diction: “He pleased her; his absolute devotion flattered her. She fancied they was a sympathy of thought and taste between them..” (Chapter VII) It reveals how she feels about the situation. 

*Foreshadowing: "She is not one of us; she is not like us. She might make the unfortunate blundder of taking you seriously." (Chapter VIII) Adèle Ratignolle warns Robert that Edna might take his affections seriously.

*Imagery: "A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength."  (Chapter X) It shows Edna’s rebellious side. 

*Irony: "She remembered the night she swam far out, and recalled the terror that siezed her at the fear of being unable to regain to shore. She did not look back now, but went on and on..." (Chapter XXXIX) Edna's death in the ocean.
*Forshadowing: "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" (Chapter 17) Shows Edna losing interest in her husband.

CHARACTERIZATION

1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)? 

- The author uses both direct and indirect characterization because it helps the reader understand who each character is and how they are. Every reader takes in a story differently and characterization helps in developing a visual image for those who need it. 
- DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION:

1) "I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself." (Chapter 16) She tells that she is in it for herself and her needs. That she wouldn't give herself up for her children. 

2) "That she was seeing with different eyes and making the acquaintance of new conditions in herself that colored and changed her environment, she did not yet suspect." (Chapter 14) Edna has changed and this is being stated by showing a new person masked behind the old Edna.

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?

- The diction does change because the author is adding emotional appeal to it. As you read about her romance with Robert the diction changes adding an atmosphere of mystic. She experiments many things with her lover thus changing the way she thinks, sees and feels the world. For every action she made her character changed as well as how she spoke or acted.  

3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.

- Edna is a dynamic and round character because she shows change from the beginning of the novel to the end. Every time she encounters new people her persona changes and we see her feelings change as well. The reader was able to pick this up as they saw how she treated her husband and her lover Robert.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.

- I read a character because not everyone is as open as Edna was. She underwent a dramatic change which is understandable considering the time period, but she wasn't all there. Emotionally I saw a woman who needed to find herself and experiment the only way she could. Not everyone will see or think the way she did because putting oneself in her shoes would make you think otherwise. The ocean is where Robert and she spent some time and it's ironic how she spent her last hours there. Only a character would end there life where their grief starts not an actual person.