Classic
The Awakening
by Kate Chopin
Summary
During a summer at a Louisiana resort, wife and mother Edna Pontellier awakens to desires and ambitions that her marriage and Creole society leave no room for, and she begins to walk away from every role assigned to her. Chopin follows Edna's experiments in independence, art, and love with cool sympathy and refuses to punish or excuse her, ending instead on a famously open final swim. The novel's frank treatment of female desire made it decades ahead of its time.
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Historical Context & Significance
Chopin published the novel in 1899 and reviewers condemned it as morbid and unwholesome, effectively ending her career. Rediscovered by feminist scholars in the mid twentieth century, it now stands as a classic of American literature.