The Awakening- summary

AF: Vocab --> The Awakening

Love these blog posts that came out of Socratic Seminar.

Oh, oops.  I'll bet you've been looking for these words.

evince
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.

tacit
They seemed never before to have weighed much against the abundance of her husband's kindness and a uniform devotion which had come to be tacit and self-understood.

iota
She was growing a little stout, but it did not seem to detract an iota from the grace of every step, pose, gesture.

efface
They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.

impervious
But she did not want to appear unamiable and uninterested, so she had brought forth newspapers, which she spread upon the floor of the gallery, and under Madame Ratignolle's directions she had cut a pattern of the impervious garment.

droll
Oftener than once her coming had interrupted the droll story with which Robert was entertaining some amused group of married women.

remonstrate
She did not remonstrate, except again to repulse him quietly but firmly.

languorous
The sun was low in the west, and the breeze soft and languorous that came up from the south, charged with the seductive odor of the sea.

Feminism: Finding a Balance

Hey guys! I really liked how Socratic seminar went today, but something was really bothering me as it was going on, and I'm afraid I'm one of those people who's much more confident behind a keyboard than in front of the whole class, so I'm going to use this post to talk about something I think is really important: the concept of being a feminist.

First things first, the definition of a feminist is a person who supports feminism. The definition of feminism is "the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men." EQUALITY. Not special treatment. We're fighting to end double standards, and yet today, I felt that the "feminists" in the class were encouraging them.

I think whenever things got heated today during second period, it was fairly obvious that there were three different groups in the class: the hardcore Edna-sympathizers  who thought this whole thing happened because she was a women blamed everything on her husband and society (led by Jessica), the people who disapproved of almost everything Edna did (led by Austin), and the people who were caught in the middle or too afraid to say something (led by Chris and Hannah... I think).

The problem with the first group was that they were willing to let everything Edna did go, simply because she was a woman. The longest question we spent time on today was the one that asked about whether or not Edna was immoral. At first, it seemed everyone was on the same page: yes, she was immoral because she cheated on her husband with two men and left her kids. But soon the discussion got a lot more heated. The first group kept mentioning that it was just the fact that Edna lived in that time period, and if she had lived in  more modern times, everything would've been seen as normal. They said it wasn't her fault that she was caught up in this society in a loveless marriage and so in a way, it was ok for her to do what she did. However, when asked if they would sympathise with sympathise with Mr. Pontellier the same way they did with Edna if the roles were switched (if he had cheated on his wife instead), the class went silent. Double standard number one: Just because Edna was a woman in a more patriarchal society, it was ok for her to cheat on her husband in her attempt to find herself.

The main problem with the second group was that they could do only the exact opposite. They saw Edna as a mother, and put that before her feelings and her problems in society. They held strong to their idea that once she had kids, being a mother should be her top priority, even above herself. But when the fact that Mr. Pontellier didn't care much about the kids either (they were mostly taken care of by their nanny) was brought up, they still believed that Edna should still have held out for her kids because she was their mother. Double standard number two: it was totally ok for Mr. Pontellier to leave his kids alone with one parent while he went away, but not ok for Edna to drop them off at her mother-in-law's house and move out to spend time for herself. (I'm not talking about the suicide here.)

I felt that the difference between the two groups (other than their opinions of course), was that the first group was much more reckless in their arguments. They turned it into a debate about how women were treated throughout history and in modern times, and once it was no longer about Edna and the Awakening as a whole, random points started being brought up that made me not want to listen anymore. For example, at one point someone brought up the fact that females in modern day society are acknowledged for being mothers more than for their accomplishments, and while it might've been useful to their argument if they'd said it at a different time, they said it when  we'd already moved on to another topic, and the just kept bringing stuff like that up. It made me feel as though they really lost sight of the whole point of the discussion. The second group was more careful with their arguments. They stuck to the book, they used evidence, they were actually answering the question. So while I started out a part of the first group, I left class not wanting to be associated with them in any way, lost in the third group somewhere.

I am a feminist, and usually, I am proud of it. But there are two main lessons I learned today:

1) When people are too extreme in their arguments, they give feminism a bad name, and it makes people think we're this group of man hating people and we're not. The same way we shouldn't make excuses for people based on race or religion, we shouldn't make excuses for others based on gender, male or female. However, we also shouldn't let a person's gender define their role in life.

2) The structure of your argument is just as important as the argument itself. If you're messy about when and how you say things, you're going to lose people really fast.

I'm honestly not trying to call people out, so for those of you who were mentioned by name, I hope you don't mind that, and I did switch from group to group throughout the discussion also, so I was a little messy in my arguments too. I don't want to offend anyone with this, but in any situation, too much of any one extreme is bad. They tend to lose sight of what's really happening, what's really important, and, as Patty said, "That was like Islam and hardcore Republicans all over again."

DFTBA,
      Lina <3

Chopin's The Awakening and Chopin's Impromptu

Being the classic nerd that I am, I have been thinking frequently about the Awakening. I ended up listening to Chopin’s Impromptu, the piano piece that Madame Reisz plays throughout the book. I absolutely loved it. I recommend everyone go and listen to it on Youtube, even if it’s just background music for your homework (side note: if you want to be really astonished, watch a video with a little girl playing the piece. It’s insane that a child’s little fingers can move so fast!). It is a very beautiful piece, and at the end of listening to it, you can definitely understand why Edna ends up in tears after listening to it! I think the song meshes so well with the themes of the book. It’s very unpredictable and impromptu, so it is justly named. It reminds me of Edna’s varying emotions in the book, as Edna experiences so many intense emotions that come and go in flurry, as sometimes she goes to bed depressed but wakes up happy and hopeful. It also reminds me of the impromptu decisions she makes in the book, like breaking a vase in a fit of anger and deciding to move to the pigeon house.  Also, the trills and runs in the song remind me of flying. In this case, the song can be seen as the exact opposite of Edna or an example of what Edna will never be: free. She is instead a bird deprived of flight and freedom. Well, anyways, I could think about comparisons like this all day! (well, I kind of did…) Just wanted to share this little jewel of the Awakening I found to see what everyone would think.  :)

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?

AF: Read this! Barbara Kingsolver discusses The Awakening

from The Guardian.

And if you say, "Who's Barbara Kingsolver?" I'm going to lose it.  Look her up if you don't know.

AF: The January Work Schedule, Part 1

Here is the link to our work plan.  More to come later.