AF: Tomorrow's discussion questions

Discussion Questions for The Awakening, by Kate Chopin

In many works of literature, the title is very straightforward — for example, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  For other works, however, an understanding of the title’s meaning is derived only after fully understanding the work’s contents and themes, such as Native Son, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Awakening.  Explain the title’s significance in relation to the novel as a whole. What kind of awakenings does Edna experience?  Explain; describe.

With which of Edna’s three men do you sympathize most?  Explain, and discuss all three characters.

In her article from The Guardian, Barbara Kingsolver connects The Feminist Mystique with The Awakening, specifically referring to "the problem that has no name."  How does this nameless problem apply to Edna Pontellier?

Discuss the ways in which Adéle Ratignolle serves as a foil for Edna.

Edna Pontellier and Adele Ratignolle share several intimate conversations about Edna’s relationship with her children. Edna sums up her sense of duty to her children in this way: “I would give up the unessential; I would give up money, I would give life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself” (67). What does she mean by this? What is the unessential?

In many works of literature, society is portrayed as stifling or frustrating for a main character.  Discuss how this is true of The Awakening, and how the stifling/frustrating nature of society serves to develop the novel’s themes.

In Chapter 27 of The Awakening, Mlle Reisz tells Edna that “the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings.”  What does this mean?  And is it true?  Explain your ideas.

The Awakening was a scandalous book when it arrived from the turn-of-the-century presses, with a “heroine who found her husband dull, married life dreary and confining, and motherhood to be bondage.” Is this an accurate summary for the novel? Explain.

Consider the significance that setting plays in this novel: the cottage at Grand Isle, the Pontellier estate in New Orleans, the Pigeon House, Mlle Reisz’s apartment, the beach and ocean, Louisville, etc. How do these various setting locations reflect Edna’s metamorphosis throughout the novel?

Chopin scholar Erin E. McDonald, PhD, states, “Past feminist examinations of Kate Chopin's work have focused on the question of whether the heroine's suicide in The Awakening was intended to signify rebellion or defeat, most commonly reaching the conclusion that the author intended to leave this point ambiguous.” Discuss the significance of Pontellier’s final act. Why was her suicide necessary, (or was it)? Was Edna’s death a suicide? Did she intend to kill herself when she set out to Grand Isle?  To the beach?  Into the water?

Is Edna Pontellier an immoral character?

Imagine an alternate ending for The Awakening.  Could the story have ended another way?