Showing results for "Kate Chopin" in Literary History & Criticism

The Modern Library edition of The Awakening has an introduction by Kay Gibbons, who writes: “The Awakening shocked turn-of-the-century readers with its forthright treatment of sex and suicide. Departing from literary convention, Kate Chopin failed to condemn her heroine’s desire for an affair with the son of a Louisiana resort owner, whom she meets on vacation. The power of sensuality, the delusion of ecstatic love, and the solitude that accompanies the trappings of middle- and upper-class life are the themes of this now-classic novel.” – As Kay Gibbons points out, Chopin “was ...

The Awakening explores one woman's desire to find and live fully within her true self. Her devotion to that purpose causes friction with her friends and family, and also conflicts with the dominant values of her time.Edna Pontellier's story takes place in 1890s Louisiana, within the upper-class Creole society. Edna, her husband Léonce, and their two children are vacationing for the summer on Grand Isle, an island just off the Louisiana shore near New Orleans. They are staying at a pension, a sort of boarding house where each family has their own cottage but eat together in a main dining hall....