Quotes In Kate Chopin's The Awakening
The Awakening Novel Quotes
The Awakening by Kate Chopin, is a story of self-discovery, the tale of a woman who breaks free from the norm and takes a dip in the untested waters of hush-hush during the nineteenth century. Edna Pontellier is a Creole woman living in New Orleans during the late 1800’s. Although she is married, she begins an intimate courtship with a man named Robert Lebrun. What seems harmless at first quickly accelerates into a journey or freedom and self-discovery for Edna. The days they spend bathing in the sea and lounging in the sand cause the woman to reminisce and pine for the days of her youth. She lets her pent up independence tumble out from the hidden shelves of her being, waves of freedom tumbling over her anxious …show more content…
It was in the midst of her secret great passion that she met him. He fell in love, as men are in the habit of doing, and pressed his suit with an earnestness and ardor which left nothing to be desired." (pg. 23-24)
This quote is a summary of Leonce and Edna’s relationship. She doesn’t really love him, nor does she really believe that she ever did. She loves him for the reason that he is the father of her children, but not for much else. Later in the book, it even seems believable that she doesn’t care for her children either. However, it could be that she left her children to spare them from the hurt she would bring if she were to stay and be their ‘mother’.
As a reader, this quote helped shed light on the relationship – or rather, lack of – between Edna and her husband. It makes it understandable for her to have an affair, but then again I found this shocking because she has children. Even if she wasn’t in love with her husband, and divorce was definitely not an option during the 1800’s – she should have stayed for her children. In the end, love for Robert or for her children, wasn’t even enough to keep her from diving into the
The Awakening by Kate Chopin, is a story of self-discovery, the tale of a woman who breaks free from the norm and takes a dip in the untested waters of hush-hush during the nineteenth century. Edna Pontellier is a Creole woman living in New Orleans during the late 1800’s. Although she is married, she begins an intimate courtship with a man named Robert Lebrun. What seems harmless at first quickly accelerates into a journey or freedom and self-discovery for Edna. The days they spend bathing in the sea and lounging in the sand cause the woman to reminisce and pine for the days of her youth. She lets her pent up independence tumble out from the hidden shelves of her being, waves of freedom tumbling over her anxious …show more content…
It was in the midst of her secret great passion that she met him. He fell in love, as men are in the habit of doing, and pressed his suit with an earnestness and ardor which left nothing to be desired." (pg. 23-24)
This quote is a summary of Leonce and Edna’s relationship. She doesn’t really love him, nor does she really believe that she ever did. She loves him for the reason that he is the father of her children, but not for much else. Later in the book, it even seems believable that she doesn’t care for her children either. However, it could be that she left her children to spare them from the hurt she would bring if she were to stay and be their ‘mother’.
As a reader, this quote helped shed light on the relationship – or rather, lack of – between Edna and her husband. It makes it understandable for her to have an affair, but then again I found this shocking because she has children. Even if she wasn’t in love with her husband, and divorce was definitely not an option during the 1800’s – she should have stayed for her children. In the end, love for Robert or for her children, wasn’t even enough to keep her from diving into the