CliffsNotes on

The Awakening

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About the Author

About the Novel

Introduction
Literary Limitations
The Influence of Science
The Influence of Naturalism and Romanticism
A Brief Synopsis
List of Characters
Character Map

Summaries and Commentaries

Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapters VII and VIII
Chapters IX, X, and XI
Chapters XII, XIII, and XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Chapter XXV
Chapter XXVI
Chapters XXVII and XXVIII
Chapter XXIX
Chapters XXX and XXXI
Chapter XXXII
Chapters XXXIII, XXXIV, and XXXV
Chapter XXXVI
Chapter XXXVII
Chapter XXXVIII
Chapter XXXIX

Character Analyses

Edna Pontellier
Léonce Pontellier
Robert Lebrun
Mademoiselle Reisz

Critical Essays

Art in Edna Pontellier’s Life
Wing Imagery in The Awakening

Study Help

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Summaries and Commentaries

Chapters IX, X, and XI

dedicated to the Blessed Virgin    committed by their parents at birth to become nuns.

Chopin    [Frédéric] François Chopin (1810–1849); Polish composer and pianist, lived in France after 1831.

Bon Dieu    Good God.

pathos    the quality in something experienced or observed that arouses feelings of pity, sorrow, sympathy, or compassion.

repose    to lie at rest.

grotesque    ludicrously eccentric or strange; ridiculous; absurd.

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