The Awakening Socratic Seminar Questions

Be sure to bring questions or juicy passages to discuss tomorrow!  

Like this one, just before the knock on the door.

"I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not.  I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, 'Here, Robert, take her and be happy, she is yours,' I should laugh at you both.?
His face grew a little white.  "What do you mean?" he asked.

Read over these discussion questions.  I'll make copies for you to have in your hands tomorrow, but read them in advance.

1. In many works of literature, the title is very straightforward -- for example, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  For other works, however, an understanding of the titles meaning is derived only after fully understanding the work's content and themes, such as Native Son, Grapes of Wrath, and The Awakening. Explain the title's significance in relation to the novel as a whole. What kinds of awakenings does Edna experience?  Explain; describe.
2. With which of Edna's three men to you sympathize the most? Explain, and discuss all three characters.
3. In her article from "The Guardian," Barbara Kingsolver connects Betty Friedan's classic The Feminist Mystique with The Awakening, specifically referring to the "problem that has no name."  How does this nameless problem apply to Edna Pontellier?
4. Discuss the ways in which Adele Ratignolle serves as a foil for Edna.
5. Edna Pontellier and Adele Ratignolle share several intimate conversations about Edna's relationship with her children.  Edna sums up her sense of duty to her children in this way: "I would give up unessential; I would give my money, I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself. I can't make it more clear; it's only something I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me."  What does she mean by this? What is the unessential?
6. In many works of literature, society is portrayed as stifling  or frustrating for the main character. Discuss how this is true of The Awakening, and how the stifling/frustrating nature of society serves to develop the novel's themes.
7. In Chapter XXVII of The Awakening, Mlle Reisz tells Edna that "the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings."  What does this mean?  And is it true? Explain your ideas.
8. The Awakening was a scandalous book when it arrived from turn-of-the-century presses, with "a heroine who found her husband dull, married life dreary and confining, and motherhood to be a bondage." Is this an accurate summary of the novel?  Explain.
9. Consider the significance that setting plays in the novel: the cottage at Grand Isle, the Pontellier estate in New Orleans, the Pigeon House, Mlle Reisz's apartment, the beach and the ocean, Louisville, etc.  How do these various setting locations reflect Edna's metamorphosis throughout the novel.
10. Chopin  scholar Erin E. McDonald, PhD states, "Past feminist examinations of Kate Chopin's work have focused on the question of whether the heroine's suicide in The Awakening was intended to signify rebellion or defeat, most commonly reaching the conclusion that the author intended to leave this point ambiguous." Discuss the significance of Pontellier's final act.  Why was her suicide necessary, (or was it?)? Was Edna's death a suicide? Did she intend to kill herself when she set out to Grand Isle? To the beach? To the water?
11. Is Edna Pontellier an immoral character?
12. Imagine an alternative ending for The Awakening. Could the story have ended another way?

This is Fletcher talking now:  I recently read a scholar saying, "Read the ending very closely.  Can you tell whether or not Edna actually died? Or is she waking up from a dream? Has she been rescued from the water and is regaining consciousness?"  What do you think of that idea??

Don't forget to bring in passages and questions of your own!!  I want to check for these before we begin, so jot them down somewhere so I have tangible evidence of your work.