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Audiobook edition · 7 h 15 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a wife and mother begins to want a life that belongs to her?
On Grand Isle, among the Creole families of Louisiana, Edna Pontellier spends the summer with her young sons. Robert Lebrun’s attention stirs feelings she cannot name. Back in New Orleans, her husband Léonce expects the household to run as usual, but Edna begins to question the role she has always filled.
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening follows this quiet struggle between duty and desire. Alongside the novel, selected short stories explore marriage, motherhood, race, money, and freedom in sharp scenes. In The Story of an Hour, Louise Mallard receives news of her husband’s death, bringing another woman’s inner life into focus.
What you’ll discover
- A self taking shape Follow Edna as she begins to separate her own wishes from the expectations around her.
- Music that opens doors Meet Mademoiselle Reisz, whose playing moves Edna and whose independence both inspires and warns her.
- Two ways of living See Adèle Ratignolle’s devotion to family beside Edna’s growing wish for a life of her own.
- Louisiana in sharp scenes Enter a world of summer shores, city households, and social rules that shape private lives.
- An eye for irony Discover clear, cool storytelling that draws close to Edna while revealing how others see her.
Who will love it
For readers who love quiet, character-driven stories about marriage, freedom and the limits society sets on women, and anyone meeting Chopin for the first time.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A summer on Grand Isle stirs Edna
- Music and art open new doors
- Edna leaves the old life behind
- What the book says about selfhood
- How Chopin tells the story
- The short stories show the same world
Who’s who
- Léonce PontellierEdna's husband, a prosperous New Orleans businessman who is kind in his way but treats his wife as part of his household.
- Adèle RatignolleEdna's close friend, a warm and graceful mother who embodies the ideal of the devoted Creole wife.
- Robert LebrunThe charming young son of the Grand Isle landlady, who pays Edna attention and stirs feelings she cannot name.
- Mademoiselle ReiszA solitary, sharp-tongued pianist whose music moves Edna and whose advice warns her that freedom takes strength.
- Alcée ArobinA charming man about New Orleans with a reputation for affairs, who awakens Edna's senses.
- Doctor MandeletHe senses that Edna's trouble is not an illness.
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Das Erwachen und ausgewählte Kurzgeschichten
by Kate Chopin · 1899
On Grand Isle, Edna Pontellier begins to question the life others expect of her and seeks a self of her own.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
It is set among the Creole families of Louisiana, on the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans. It follows Edna Pontellier, a wife and mother who slowly sees that her life has been shaped by what others expect of her.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A summer on Grand Isle stirs Edna
The novel opens on Grand Isle, a resort island off the Louisiana coast where well-off Creole families spend the summer. Edna Pontellier is there with her two young sons. She is a wife who grew up in Kentucky, married to Léonce Pontellier, a New Orleans businessman who comes out on weekends and speaks to her as if she were a possession. The cottages belong to Madame Lebrun, whose guests gather at the main house.
Edna has married into a Creole world that is not quite her own. Her friend Adèle Ratignolle is everything that world admires in a woman. She is graceful, devoted to her children, and easy with open talk about the body and about feeling. Edna is more private, and Adèle's frankness both startles and draws her out. During a morning together by the sea, Edna speaks of her girlhood and begins to share feelings she usually keeps private.
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What is The Awakening by Kate Chopin about?
Through a summer by the sea and a new life in New Orleans, she searches for independence and a self of her own.
Why was The Awakening controversial when it was published?
Many reviewers in 1899 found its frank treatment of a married woman's desire and her rejection of duty shocking. The book was widely condemned at first, then rediscovered later in the twentieth century and praised for its honesty.
What does the sea symbolize in The Awakening?
The sea stands for freedom, desire and solitude. It first frightens Edna, then thrills her, and its voice calls and soothes throughout the book. Its meaning deepens as her sense of self grows.
The author
Kate Chopin
1850–1904 · American novelist and story writer
Kate Chopin was an American novelist and short-story writer born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1850. She lived in Louisiana after her marriage and returned to St. Louis in 1884. She published Bayou Folk in 1894 and The Awakening in 1899. She died in St. Louis in 1904.
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