The Awakening, first published in 1899, is considered a classic. I have tried to read it a couple of times, and found it so boring I never finished. However, it was a selection for my book club this month, so I had to read it. I was still bored, but did finish it. I am not a fan of this type of writing; it reminds me too much of Jane Austen! I do have to admit that it is wonderfully descriptive; readers can feel the sea breeze, see and smell the lush flowers, and hear the soft lapping of the ocean waves. In the beginning, the setting is the Louisiana coast, where Edna Pontellier is spending the summer with her children; her husband comes from their home in New Orleans to join them on weekends. Edna spends a great deal of time with the young man (Robert Lebrun), whose mother runs the resort. She has some vague stirrings of feelings that lead her to think there may be more to life than just being a wife and mother.
When she returns to New Orleans in the fall, she finds she has changed, and is no longer willing to live the vapid, constrained life that is expected of her in the social mores of the day and place. She has always drawn, and now sets up a studio and works seriously on her art. She declines to take part in rigid social customs, such as being ‘at home’ to callers on Tuesday afternoon, and calling on others on their ‘at home’ days. She eventually moves out of her husband’s house, and finally admits that she is in love with Robert.
This book was considered scandalous when it was published, and the reviews were sometimes vitriolic; the awakening of women was not popular. It became somewhat of a feminist manifesto, although today it seems very tame.
120 pages
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