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ravalyn 's review for:
The Awakening
by Kate Chopin
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What I loved about this book:
The female power of main character Edna is epic. It radiates from the pages, and you can tell that the people around her are also affected by it. When Edna stops allowing her husband to boss her around, gets in touch with her emotions and her 'true self' and does what she wants, people admire it. I love that she wants to support herself and actually manages to do so by selling her paintings. She channels her heartbreak into taking her art to the next level. This is very cool. It shows her talent and potential in a hypothetical world where women would be valued for more than being a good wife and mother.
What I loved less about this book:
Edna is not a lovable character. With an almost unbelievable naivety, she runs away for the reality of her life for almost the entire book. She completely lacks reflection up until the very end, so this is left to the reader. She is egocentric and there's not a single moment in the book in which she considers the feelings of others. The black employees are treated as pawns rather than people with an own personality. She does love her children somewhere deep down, but it's annoying to take care of them so she just sends them off somewhere. Furthermore, while she clearly believes she is in love with him, she never even once thinks about what things must be like for Robert. Surely, the world revolves around her.
Edna isn't aware of what is happening after her 'awakening'; she relies completely on her urges and blindly follows them. This drives her to act according to the 'crazy emotional woman' stereotype, which makes her female power something that is unpredictable and dangerous to the status quo of society. This might be one of the points that Chopin is trying to make, but I don't like it. Strong female characters always seem to meet tragic ends in historic literary novels, in order to point out misogynist aspects of society (in this case the cage of marriage). Perhaps I'm just a bit done with this trope.
The ending
I saw the ending coming from the moment when she went swimming for the first time and 'awakened'. Nevertheless, it was still very powerful when it happened: it surprised me as a beautiful ending to the book. It is bittersweet, though: while it is a last act of defiance and loyalty to her true self to Edna, you just know how it is going to be perceived by those who are left: as a tragic incident of a confused woman.
On a final note: I was really impressed by how modern and realistic sexual attraction and infidelity was portrayed. I totally get how this was perceived as scandalous around 1900, but I'm sad that this caused Kate Chopin to cease writing novels after Awakening as a result of this. Even though this book wasn't entirely my cup of tea, she clearly was an incredibly talented writer.
The female power of main character Edna is epic. It radiates from the pages, and you can tell that the people around her are also affected by it. When Edna stops allowing her husband to boss her around, gets in touch with her emotions and her 'true self' and does what she wants, people admire it. I love that she wants to support herself and actually manages to do so by selling her paintings. She channels her heartbreak into taking her art to the next level. This is very cool. It shows her talent and potential in a hypothetical world where women would be valued for more than being a good wife and mother.
What I loved less about this book:
Edna is not a lovable character. With an almost unbelievable naivety, she runs away for the reality of her life for almost the entire book. She completely lacks reflection up until the very end, so this is left to the reader. She is egocentric and there's not a single moment in the book in which she considers the feelings of others. The black employees are treated as pawns rather than people with an own personality. She does love her children somewhere deep down, but it's annoying to take care of them so she just sends them off somewhere. Furthermore, while she clearly believes she is in love with him, she never even once thinks about what things must be like for Robert. Surely, the world revolves around her.
Edna isn't aware of what is happening after her 'awakening'; she relies completely on her urges and blindly follows them. This drives her to act according to the 'crazy emotional woman' stereotype, which makes her female power something that is unpredictable and dangerous to the status quo of society. This might be one of the points that Chopin is trying to make, but I don't like it. Strong female characters always seem to meet tragic ends in historic literary novels, in order to point out misogynist aspects of society (in this case the cage of marriage). Perhaps I'm just a bit done with this trope.
The ending
I saw the ending coming from the moment when she went swimming for the first time and 'awakened'. Nevertheless, it was still very powerful when it happened: it surprised me as a beautiful ending to the book. It is bittersweet, though: while it is a last act of defiance and loyalty to her true self to Edna, you just know how it is going to be perceived by those who are left: as a tragic incident of a confused woman.
On a final note: I was really impressed by how modern and realistic sexual attraction and infidelity was portrayed. I totally get how this was perceived as scandalous around 1900, but I'm sad that this caused Kate Chopin to cease writing novels after Awakening as a result of this. Even though this book wasn't entirely my cup of tea, she clearly was an incredibly talented writer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicide
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexism
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism