ENL 121: Introduction to Literature (Dr. Vavra)

Kate Chopin's The Awakening

Assignments are to the Norton Critical Edition, 2nd edition, 1994.


Assignment One:

    Read Chapters I - XII (pp. 3 - 34) 
    1. Why is Chapter III in the novel?
    2. Why did Edna marry Monsieur Pontellier?
    3. Characterize Edna Pontellier, Madame Ratignolle, 
         and Mademoiselle Reisz.
    4. Describe Edna's swimming.

Assignment Two:
    Read Chapters XIII - XXIII (pp. 34 - 68) 
    1. Why is Edna's stay at Madame Antoine's described in so much detail?
    2. Characterize Robert Lebrun. Why does he go to Mexico?
    3. What is the significance of the many references to food in the novel? 4. What is the significance of the references to music?
Assignment Three:
    Read Chapters XXIV - XXXIX (pp. 68 - 109)
    1. We are told that "for some reason Edna did not want" Madame Lebrun to go to the races with her and Arobin. (73) What is the reason?
    2. Edna's dinner party (Chapter XXX) is generally considered to be symbolic, but there is not agreement on what the things in it, or the dinner itself symbolize. Explain your views on its symbolism.
    3. Some critics argue that Edna should not have left Robert to go to Madame Ratignolle's (103). Are they right, or wrong?

Assignment Four: 
A. [Your Last Name begins with A-G] Reread the first chapter (pp. 3-5) and in 100 to 250 words explain how it foreshadows the novel that follows it.

B. [Your Last Name begins with M or N] In 100 to 250 words, summarize the following essay(s): "An Etiquette/Advice Book Sampler" (pp. 122 - 136) 

C. [Your Last Name begins with O-Z] In 100 to 250 words, summarize the following essay(s):

    Percival Pollard's "The Unlikely Awakening of a Married Woman" (179-181)
    Cyrille Arnavon's "An American Madame Bovary" (184 - 188) 
    Kenneth Eble's "A Forgotten Novel" (188 - 193)

Assignment Five:
A. [Your Last Name begins with A-G] In 100 to 250 words, summarize the following essay(s):
Larzer Ziff's "From The American 1890s" (196 - 198)
George Arms' "Contrasting Forces in the Novel (198 - 202)
George Spangler's "The Ending of the Novel" (208 - 211)
B. [Your Last Name begins with M or N] In 100 to 250 words, summarize the following essay(s):
John R. May's "Local Color in The Awakening" (211 - 217)
C. [Your Last Name begins with O-Z] In 100 to 250 words, summarize the following essay(s):
    Lewis Leary's "Kate Chopin and Walt Whitman" (217 - 220)
    Donald Ringe's "Romantic Imagery" (222 - 227)

Assignment Six:
A. [Your Last Name begins with A-G] In 100 to 250 words, summarize the following essay(s):
Ruth Sullivan and Stewart Smith's "Narrative Stance" (227 - 230)
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese's "Progression and Regression in Edna Pontellier" (257 - 263)
B. [Your Last Name begins with M or N] In 100 to 250 words, summarize the following essay(s):
Cynthia Wolff's "Thanatos and Eros" (231 - 241)
C. [Your Last Name begins with O-Z] In 100 to 250 words, summarize the following essay(s):
    Suzanne Wolkenfeld's "Edna's Suicide: The Problem of the One and the Many" (241 - 247)
    Margo Culley's "Edna Pontellier: 'A Solitary Soul'" (247 - 251)

Assignment Seven: 

A. [Your Last Name begins with A-G] In 100 to 250 words, summarize the following essay(s):

Sandra Gilbert's "The Second Coming of Aphrodite" (271 - 281)
B. [Your Last Name begins with M or N] In 100 to 250 words, summarize the following essay(s):
Patricia Yaeger's "Language and Female Emancipation" (285 - 291)
C. [Your Last Name begins with O-Z] In 100 to 250 words, summarize the following essay(s):
    Anna Elfenbein's "American Racial and Sexual Mythology" (292 - 299)
This border presents Edouard Manet's (1832-1883) 
 Women on the Beach
1873 Oil on canvas; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI 
 Source:  Jim's Fine Art Collection http://www2.iinet.com/art/index.html
[for educational use only]
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