The awakening Flashcards
(39 cards)
Chapter II
Edna and Robert Lebrun, a son of the guesthouse’s owner, talk about his plans to seek fortune in Mexico, her childhood in Kentucky, and her sister Janet’s upcoming wedding.
Chapter I
On Grand Isle, a summer retreat for wealthy French Creoles from New Orleans, Léonce Pontellier, a forty-year-old businessman, tries to read the newspaper despite the noise around him, scolds his wife, Edna, for going to the beach during the hottest hours, and then leaves to play billiards.
Chapter III
Léonce returns late that night, wakes Edna to talk, checks on their sons, and asks her to check one of them, who seems feverish. Edna, wide awake and unhappy, weeps on the porch. The next morning, Léonce goes back to New Orleans for business and sends Edna bonbons from there.
Chapter IV
Léonce thinks about his dissatisfaction with Edna’s treatment of him and their sons, as she doesn’t idolize or worship them. .
Chapter V
Robert tells Edna about his plans to be her attendant this summer, as he was of Adèle in the past. After Adèle experiences a fainting spell and retires to her cottage, Robert convinces Edna to go for a swim.
Chapter VI
Edna feels seduced by the sea and begins to realize her relations to the world within and around her.
Chapter VII
Edna becomes less reserved with Adèle and tells her that that she had married Léonce to end her unrealistic love fantasies; and that she doesn’t feel fit for motherhood responsibilities.
Chapter VIII
Concerned that Edna will take Robert’s attentions seriously and ruin her reputation, Adèle warns him to let Edna alone.
Chapter IX
At a Saturday-night celebration a few weeks later, when Mademoiselle Reisz plays the piano, Edna is overtaken by emotions. Robert suggests everyone goes for a nighttime swim.
Chapter X
After the party, Edna swims into the sea alone for the first time and feels emotional about it. Robert follows her home, tells her a story to show he understands her feelings, and stays with her on the porch until Léonce returns.
Chapter XI
After Edna, who has collapsed in the porch hammock, refuses to go to bed, Léonce stays with her outside until dawn.
Chapter XII
Next morning, Edna and Robert go across the bay for Sunday mass. On the boat, Robert talks to a flirtatious Spanish girl, Mariequita. Then he proposes exploring other places with Edna in the next days, and she entertains the idea of being alone on the islands with him.
Chapter XIII
During mass, Edna feels oppressed and drowsy, so Robert takes her to rest at a cottage. When she awakens, she joins Robert at the garden, jokes they are the only remaining members of their race, and then spends the afternoon there with him and later with the cottage’s owner.
Chapter XIV
When they return home, Robert and Edna put her son Etienne to bed, then he leaves, and she waits for Léonce, who had gone to the club for business after hearing Edna was fine.
Chapter XV
One day at dinner, Edna is shocked to hear that Robert is leaving for Mexico that evening. When he comes to say goodbye, she recognizes her infatuation for him.
Chapter XVI
Missing Robert, Edna visits Madame Lebrun to see his pictures and read his letters, questions Léonce after he sees Robert in New Orleans, and talks about him with Mademoiselle Reisz, who gives Edna her address in New Orleans and urges her to visit.
Chapter XVII
Back in New Orleans, Léonce, worried about his business relations, scolds Edna one evening for not staying home to receive visitors, as she usually does on Tuesdays. He complains about the meal and leaves to the club for dinner. Edna, after trying to crush her wedding ring unsuccessfully, shatters a vase.
Chapter XVIII
The next morning, Edna declines Léonce’s request to meet him in town and, instead, visits Adèle, staying for dinner and then pitying the Ratignolles’ domestic harmony.
Chapter XIX
Displeased by Edna’s refusal to submit to his demands and her dedication to painting, Léonce scolds her for neglecting their family, urges her to follow Adèle’s example, and speculates if she suffers from mental problems, as her mood fluctuates wildly.
Chapter XX
Edna visits Madame Lebrun to ask for Mademoiselle Reisz’s new address and hears the contents of Robert’s letters from Victor, who later comments to her mother that Edna doesn’t seem like the same woman.
Chapter XXI
Edna visits Mademoiselle Reisz, who tells her an artist must have a courageous soul, hands her a letter from Robert mostly about her, and plays her a Chopin Impromptu, per Robert’s request.
Chapter XXII
Léonce expresses his concerns about Edna to Doctor Mandelet, his friend and family physician, who advises him to let her do as she likes and promises to come for dinner to check on Edna, who he suspects might have another man.
Chapter XXIII
Edna’s father, a former Confederate colonel, comes to New Orleans to go shopping for her sister’s wedding. Edna sketches her father and takes him to the racetrack and to Adèle’s soirée musicale. Doctor Mandelet comes to dinner and tells a story about a female patient who pursued stray affections. Edna responds with a story of a woman who disappears with her lover, and the doctor confirms his suspicions about her.
Chapter XXIV
Edna argues with her father over her refusal to attend Janet’s wedding, so Léonce decides to attend it alone on his way to New York for a long business trip. Their children also leave for her mother-in-law’s country home. Once alone, Edna is overtaken with a radiant peace.
