Honors 10th Literature

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening

SYMBOLS / THEMES
ART / Personal freedom
FOOD / Repressed feelings
BIRDS / The role of women
WATER / The search for self
SWIMMING / Consequences of choices
PIANO PLAYING / Alienation and loneliness
SLEEP & AWAKENING
VARIOUS COLOR SYMBOLISM

The Assignment

Identify a symbol or theme in each chapter of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and complete the following:

  • For symbolism, evaluate Chopin’s use of the chosen element by explaining its significance to the text. What is the symbol? What does the symbol mean? Why does Chopin use it? What does it add to the text? How would the plot and message of the text be altered without its use? Consider these guiding questions when evaluating.
  • For theme, discuss how the chapter creates and conveys an available theme. How does Chopin create the theme? How does she convey it – through conflicts, symbolism, plot, etc.? What is her intended message through the fiction she writes? Consider the guiding questions to help build your responses.

Complete one response per chapter. Each response should fall in the range of 8-10 sentences to complete a well-developed, insightful paragraph. You can write or type your responses. Clearly head each of your responses with the appropriate chapter number and chosen element of analysis. Consult your course calendar for chapter divisions and due dates. Bring all work with you on due dates for classwork and for grading. Use the following example as a model for your responses.

In Chapter One of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Chopin employs the use of the color blue to symbolize the distant peace and serenity that is not currently present in the Pontellier household. Mr. Pontellier’s gaze is “fixed” at the “far away, melting” water of the horizon which presents a feeling of longing and hopefulness that is out of reach and unlikely (Chopin 2). Chopin uses the word “fixed” to describe Mr. Pontellier’s eyes on the water to create a sense of power that can hold people’s attention and draw them in. Furthermore, because of the connotation of the color blue and the distance of the blue horizon, water could symbolize peace, tranquility, and idealism in the novella. If this is distant as indicated by the far away horizon, Chopin alludes to a possible unhappiness or chaotic life for the Pontellier family to begin building a plot that seems to center on a disjointed or unhappy family. Chopin could lay this foundation to build further examples to convey key themes relating to broken traditional family relationships of the turn of the 20th century. Without having Mr. Pontellier gaze out at a distant peace, readers may miss key initial comments on important moods underneath every turn of the text. Chopin includes other colors around her use of the blue water – a lady in black and a pretty woman in white, for example – to further begin building the importance of color in The Awakening.