The Awakening

Kate Chopin's The Awakening is a lucid, unsettling novel of self-discovery, desire, and social constraint in late nineteenth-century Louisiana. Centered on Edna Pontellier, a wife and mother who gradually recognizes the limits imposed upon her by marriage, motherhood, and Creole convention, the book combines psychological realism with lyrical impressionism. Its maritime imagery, sensuous prose, and carefully modulated symbolism place it among the most significant works of American literary natu ...