The Awakening

Wake me up before you Chopin.

  • Course Length: 3 weeks
  • Course Type: Short Course
  • Category:
    • English
    • Literature
    • High School

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New Orleans. Rich people. Large bodies of water. Extra-marital affairs. French words. Music. Sounds like a good time, right?

Uh, wrong.

It's Kate Chopin's The Awakening, a text that roused and riled its readership and effectively ended its author's career. Following its publication in 1899, the novel was denounced as immoral and dangerous to everyone everywhere and to the very fabric of American society as we know it (er, knew it?). But it was also lauded for its unusually honest and progressive treatment of women's restricted roles in the late 19th-century American South.

Juicy? You bet. The Awakening thrilled and horrified contemporary readers alike, but somehow managed to sink into literary obscurity for over 50 years until its rediscovery in the latter half of the 20th century. Thanks, libraries. Now considered a staple text in the women's literary canon, a remarkably progressive feminist novel, and a shining example of regional literature, The Awakening's dust has long been brushed off.

In addition to this now-iconic book, we'll cover

  • American culture in the 1890s.
  • how Chopin was influenced by contemporary literature, both at home and abroad.
  • women in the arts.
  • gender studies—which is different from "women in the arts," you know.

Let's get our hands dirty and figure out what had its early readers clutching their pearls—and what makes the novel's popularity endure.

Before long, you'll be impressing your beau or belle—see? We're getting Southern already—with your ability to

  • analyze and critically evaluate complex literature—you know, get better at readin' stuff.
  • understand the political and social environment in which Chopin wrote and why her message made so many people have conniptions.
  • identify literary genres including Regionalism, Bildungsroman, Künstlerroman, and other big, fancy words.

Required Skills



Unit Breakdown

1 The Awakening - The Awakening

In this course about Kate Chopin's early Feminist opus, we'll be exploring the timeless struggle between an individual's needs and society's ridic demands. Not to mention the various fails more specific to Victorian society (you do you, Victorians; you do you).


Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.09: The Woman Question

A black and white photograph of a man bent over a washtub looking up at a woman wearing a hat and knickers, smoking a cigarette, with her right leg up on a chair
This is a 1901 image called "The New Woman on Wash Day," because the women's rights movement was ridiculous and the worst thing on earth would be for a man to be lowered to the status of a woman. Hey, wait… (Source)

Edna is now in her new house. She's had her last hurrah with her friends and frenemies, hosting a dinner party at which she wore some sort of elaborate diamond headdress, and sent Leonce the food bill. At the end of Chapter Thirty-One, Edna and Arobin are alone, where he continues "to caress her. He did not say good night until she had become supple to his gentle, seductive entreaties" (242).

Guess what? That's Victorian code for "they got busy."

Despite being a pretty freaky bunch and living during a time when prostitution was at its height, the Victorians were total prudes when it came to discussing those sorts of matters in public. Instead, writers subtly suggested sexual activity through codes—variations on "of a certain type" meant the individual had syphilis, which was common and incurable at the time. A "fallen" woman was one who had engaged in sexual activity prior to marriage—a code usually applied by her critics. And something like "becoming supple" to "gentle, seductive entreaties" meant that they got busy and, what's worse, they both enjoyed it.

Clutching your pearls yet?

Edna's now past the point of no return. She has moved out and is getting her groove back. She is no longer behaving like a married woman, or a "proper" lady. Which brings us to the question of what, exactly, is a lady? What are the behavioral expectations for such a creature? What if a woman wants to behave differently? Edna has shed "that outward existence which conforms," and embraced "the inward life which questions" (62).

Can someone say scandalous?


Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.09: How Do You Solve a Problem like Edna?

At the time Chopin was conceiving and writing The Awakening, society was in the grips of trying to answer what they called "The Woman Question."

The question of what women could—or should—do had attracted a lot of debate in the Victorian era. It's not that no one had ever thought, "Hey, why not teach women something more than drawing and music?" Or that no woman had ever thought, "Hmmm, wouldn't it be nice to have custody rights over the kids and maybe some control over my property when I'm married?" It was just that now—with reform in the air, and women outnumbering men—more people were asking.

And Parliament was answering. From The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act, to the Married Women's Property Acts, women were finally getting more control over their own lives.

But even with these reforms, the huge female population in Britain didn't have a ton of options. Marriage was still the default, even when there weren't enough men to actually allow everyone to pair off—all the wars hadn't done good things to the men-to-women ratio. The other options depended on your class. Working-class women could go into dressmaking or factory work. Middle-class women, however, didn't have many career paths, besides becoming a governess or author. Side note—many did choose these—to the point that George Eliot was railing against "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists," and governesses faced some stiff competition for a job.

From the many novels about governesses—like Jane Eyre, Vanity Fair, and The Turn of the Screw—to the New Woman novels at the end of the century, "The Woman Question" was being asked in a lot of different ways.

For more examples of how this played out in Victorian Literature, check out Shmoop's take on "The Woman Question" in three Victorian texts.

Now, with all this info in mind, read Chapters Thirty-Two to Thirty-Five of The Awakening. We're getting to the end now, Shmoopers. Once you've read the section for this lesson, take a gander at Shmoop's summaries.


Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.09a: Dear Diary, Everyone is the Worst

At this point, you should be pretty familiar with Kate Chopin's voice, the culture in which she was writing, and the political landscape she was surveying.

Armed with this knowledge, your challenge is to write an answer to "The Woman Question" from Kate Chopin's perspective in the form of a diary entry.

Oh c'mon now, you can totally do this.

Pretend you're Chopin. Maybe it's the end of a long day and you like to wind down with a spot o' journaling. Maybe it's the first thing you do in the morning, over coffee. Maybe you just read an article in the paper about "The Woman Question," and it either enraged you or inspired you. Whatever the circumstances, you're now Chopin, and you're writing in your diary your answer to "The Woman Question."

Try to echo Chopin's language and style as much as you can, but mostly, provide an answer to the question as you interpret it from what we've read in The Awakening. It's a diary entry, so you wouldn't be expecting it to be read. It's her own thoughts, written down. For example, we might start:


Dear Diary,

Today was a dreadful day. Summer in New Orleans can be so oppressive. I couldn't bear to sit in my house any longer so I went on my perambulations, which ended on Esplanade Street. I sat in a café to have a cold drink and read the paper. I can't believe what I saw! An article spitting vitriol at women for simply wishing for more than to be their husband's lap dogs! I am astonished at the ignorance of my fellow creatures.

And so on.

The entry should be about 300 words and don't be afraid to get creative. When you've made Kate Chopin speak through you from beyond the grave, and you've answered "The Woman Question," upload your document below. Monogrammed diary stationary is, of course, optional.


Sample Lesson - Activity

  1. When Leonce learned of his wife's departure from their house, he immediately

  2. Then, in order to cover up the fact that his wife has left him, Leonce

  3. What reason does Robert give for his return?

  4. What is Robert given by a Vera Cruz girl?

  5. Free from her husband, her house, her passion-less life, and basking in Robert's return, Edna now sees before her the promise of excessive


Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.09c: Dear Diary (Writing Activity Version)

At this point, you should be pretty familiar with Kate Chopin's voice, the culture in which she was writing, and the political landscape she was surveying.

Armed with this knowledge, your challenge is to write an answer to "The Woman Question" from Kate Chopin's perspective in the form of a diary entry.

Oh c'mon now, you can totally do this.

Pretend you're Chopin. Maybe it's the end of a long day and you like to wind down with a spot o' journaling. Maybe it's the first thing you do in the morning, over coffee. Maybe you just read an article in the paper about "The Woman Question," and it either enraged you or inspired you. Whatever the circumstances, you're now Chopin, and you're writing in your diary your answer to "The Woman Question."

Try to echo Chopin's language and style as much as you can, but mostly, provide an answer to the question as you interpret it from what we've read in The Awakening. It's a diary entry, so you wouldn't be expecting it to be read. It's her own thoughts, written down. For example, we might start:


Dear Diary,

Today was a dreadful day. Summer in New Orleans can be so oppressive. I couldn't bear to sit in my house any longer so I went on my perambulations, which ended on Esplanade Street. I sat in a café to have a cold drink and read the paper. I can't believe what I saw! An article spitting vitriol at women for simply wishing for more than to be their husband's lap dogs! I am astonished at the ignorance of my fellow creatures.

And so on.

The entry should be about 300 words and don't be afraid to get creative. When you've made Kate Chopin speak through you from beyond the grave, and you've answered "The Woman Question," upload your document below. Monogrammed diary stationary is, of course, optional.