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The Awakening Summary 43411 Views


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Description:

This novel is all about finding yourself, which hopefully you can accomplish before you find yourself smack dab in the middle of an ocean without a paddle. Or a boat, for that matter.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:05

The Awakening, a la Shmoop. I love being a wife and mother. Mostly. Kind

00:12

of. A bit.

00:13

It's great, really, but when you're wiping noses and planning dinners and getting bossed

00:16

around by your husband, you kind of lose track of your inner self. …

00:20

That's why I really enjoyed my trip to Grand Isle. Lots of down time with my friend Adele,

00:26

Madame Reisz <Rice>, and that hunky Robert. I know, I'm married, but a girl can dream,

00:31

can't she? Robert and I went for lots of long, platonic

00:34

walks on the beach. And long swims, too. I swam a little too far one night, it was touch

00:40

and go for a minute there…

00:40

…but I made it back. Thank goodness. I was so wired that I defied my bossy husband by

00:42

staying up past bedtime.

00:43

I think he was worried that this would send me down a path of vice and crime. …

00:49

It didn't…at least, not the crime part. But I was changing into a new, improved version

00:57

of myself. Now I was “Take Charge Edna,” …

01:01

… a sassy gal who marched to the beat of her own drummer. …

01:06

In another dramatic development, I was really starting to crush on Robert. Unfortunately,

01:12

I didn't realize this until he decided to leave for Mexico. ..

01:17

Even worse, vacation was over and I had to go home. …

01:20

But once I got back, I wasn't really interested in being the perfect wife anymore. So I stopped

01:26

trying, and started… painting. My husband was a bit upset about my new life direction.

01:32

Rebellion was liberating, but something was still missing. I decided that I had to get

01:33

my own place, with my own money.

01:34

So I got a little house where I could be independent and artistic, and… maybe hook up every now

01:40

and then. Mademoiselle Reisz really wanted me to become

01:45

“the hero of my own life,” as Dickens would put it, and she showed me letters from

01:52

Robert, saying that he loved me.

01:56

I was at a bit of a crossroads in my life, but Take Charge Edna knew exactly which way

02:02

to go!

02:03

While I was expanding my mental horizons, I had a fling with the local heartbreaker,

02:08

Alcée Arobin <All-SAY Air-oh-BAN>. I didn't love him the way I loved Robert, but in my

02:14

defense… he was really cute.

02:17

I was pretty sure that I should hate myself for moving out and cheating on my husband...but

02:21

I had a hard time seeing all this happiness as a bad thing.

02:26

Stuff got weird when I heard that Robert was coming back from Mexico. Imagine my surprise

02:31

when I ran into him at Mademoiselle Reisz’ house.

02:35

That deadbeat had been in town for almost two days, and his fingers must have been broken,

02:41

because I didn’t get a letter or a phone call!

02:44

Also, he had a little pouch that he got from some hussy in Mexico. Not that I was jealous

02:50

or anything.

02:51

And if you think that situation was awkward, Alcée then showed up, and Robert vamoosed.

02:58

I sent Alcée away, too…I just wasn’t in the mood for love anymore. I’m so fickle.

03:04

It was another few days before I ran into Robert again, and things went a little better

03:08

this time. I took him back to my new house for smoochies, and we took the next relationship

03:13

step! The L-word!

03:16

Naturally, this was when I heard that my friend Adele was in labor, and I had to go be her

03:21

birth coach. It was kind of well-timed, though, because Robert was getting all moony-eyed

03:25

about marriage. Just when I was starting to enjoy life as an eligible bachelorette.

03:26

I made Robert promise to stay right where he was, but when I got back from Adele’s,

03:29

he was gone. He only left a note, saying, “Goodbye, because I love you.” Come on,

03:34

Rob, lighten up…not every woman needs a ring on it!

03:37

I was in a pretty dark emotional place after that. …

03:41

I went back to our vacation spot at Grand Isle, but that was even more depressing. I

03:46

thought maybe a nice skinny dip would cheer me up. It was kind of a bust, though, because

03:50

I ended up drowning.

03:52

Do yourself a favor…if you ever have a mid-life crisis, just buy

04:19

a convertible!

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