The Awakening –
Chapter Prompts
Chapter I:
How in this opening chapter does Kate Chopin convey an air of comfortableness and
complacency?
Chapter II:
Do any of the details in this chapter seem as if they may become significant later in the story?
Why?
Chapter III:
What are the apparent shortcomings of the Pontelliers’ marriage relationship? Does Kate Chopin
view either Mr. or Mrs. Pontellier with more sympathy?
Chapter IV:
In what ways is Mrs. Pontellier isolated?
Chapter V:
How does Madame Ratignolle exercise power over both Robert and Mrs. Pontellier? How does
Mrs. Pontellier, in comparison, seems to lack presence?
Chapter VI:
How does this short chapter describe ‘the beginning of…a world’?
Chapter VII:
What differences, including physical differences and differences of dress, does Kate Chopin
point up in the two women? Do those differences make Mrs. Pontellier’s openness in speaking to
Madame Ratignolle more, or less, surprising?
Chapter VIII:
In this chapter Kate Chopin gives Madame Ratignolle a ‘voice’ for the first time. What kind of
voice is it? What detail later in the chapter suggests that Robert has not altogether accepted what
she has said?
Chapter IX:
How, once more, is Mrs. Pontellier seen to be different from those around her? What evidence is
there, also, that she herself is changing?
Chapter X:
What does Mrs. Pontellier’s swimming out to sea symbolize? How is that symbolism made clear
in the remainder of the chapter?
Chapter XI:
What battle is fought here? Who wins?
Chapter XII:
What sense are we given here of things happening automatically? Against that background, how
do we feel a movement later in the chapter towards freer, less regularized behavior?
Chapter XIII:
How in this chapter does Kate Chopin suggest that Mrs. Pontellier has stepped into a new world?
Chapter XIV:
Why, perhaps, do both Robert and Mrs. Pontellier choose to be alone, having been together for
the whole day? What effect does that decision have on the pace of the narrative?
Chapter XV:
What theatrical elements are present in the first part of the chapter (to Edna’s departure from the
table)? How does Kate Chopin reveal more about her characters through the different ways in
which they react to the news of Robert’s departure?
Chapter XVI:
In the previous chapter there is mention of Edna’s ‘infatuation’. What signs are there of that
infatuation, in this chapter? What connection is there between it and her new-found sense of
‘herself’?
Chapter XVII:
What contrasts does Kate Chopin establish between the house interior and the night-time garden?
How does that contrast find a parallel in the conflict between external routine and triviality on
the one hand and disruptive inner forces on the other?
Chapter XVIII:
What might surprise us in Edna’s view of Madame Ratignolle, as expressed in this chapter?
Chapter XIX:
Identify the contrasts, contradictions and conflicts in this chapter. What explanation for them
does Kate Chopin suggest?
Chapter XX:
Does this chapter take the story forward at all?
Chapter XXI:
What role in the story does Mademoiselle Reisz now take on?
Chapter XXII:
Does Kate Chopin want us to regard Dr. Mandelet’s advice as sound?
Chapter XXIII:
What is Edna’s state of mind in this chapter? Why might we feel anxious for her?
Chapter XXIV:
‘The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things
new.’ (William Makepeace Thackeray). How in this chapter does Kate Chopin take one of her
characters, rather than her readers, through a similar experience?
Chapter XXV:
What indications are there that an element of wildness has entered into Edna’s behavior? How
aware is she of it?
Chapter XXVI:
How in this chapter does Edna show herself to be both clear-headed and in turmoil?
Chapter XXVII:
What might surprise us in Edna’s behavior here?
Chapter XXVIII:
What is it that Edna has discovered about ‘the significance of life’ – and about herself?
Chapter XXIX:
Comment on the pace and the mood of this chapter.
Chapter XXX:
How does the satire in the early part of this chapter prepare us for Edna’s ‘ennui’ in the middle
of the chapter, and for her behavior later in it?
Chapter XXXI:
How does Kate Chopin suggest that Arobin is behaving with intent?
Chapter XXXII:
Why do you think Edna’s visit with the children has such a powerful effect on her?
Chapter XXXIII:
Explore the drama of the meeting between Edna and Robert. Pay attention both to the shifts in
the dialogue and to the movement and behavior of the two characters.
Chapter XXXIV:
What is the significance of the chapter’s final sentence?
Chapter XXXV:
How does Kate Chopin convey a sense of Edna’s increasing vulnerability?
Chapter XXXVI:
How convincing are the explanations and outpourings in this chapter?
Chapter XXVII:
What effect is produced by the practical and rational attitude of both the nurse and Dr. Mandelet?
Chapter XXXVIII:
What sense are we given here of an opportunity missed?
Chapter XXXIX:
How are pathos and horror intermingled in this final chapter?