Study Guide #1 Answers

Study Guide: The Awakening
Due: October 27, 2006
Chapters I – IV - We’ll listen to Ch. 1 in class. When you are answering questions, make sure to cite quotes from the novel that support your answer.

Identify the following characters:
Edna Pontellier – protagonist, young wife and mother, in the process of self-discovery

Leonce Pontellier – Edna’s husband, staid, self-involved, expects his wife’s life to revolve around him

Etienne – the Pontellier children
Raoul – same as above

Robert Lebrun – handsome, attentive to women

Madame Lebrun – widow, owns vacation cottages on Grand Isle

Adele Ratignolle – Edna’s loyal friend, exemplifies, wife and mother of the late 1890’s


What is the initial setting of the novel and why are the characters there? Grand Isle off the coast of New Orleans; summer vacation

Describe the relationship between Leonce and Edna Pontellier. Cite specific examples from the text to support your answer.
Leonce views Edna as his personal property, wants her to fit his standards of an ideal wife and mother, and thinks she doesn’t show enough interest in things that concern him. He does love her and is generous with gifts. Edna realizes he is good to her. She tries to fill the typical role of wife and mother but is frustrated and often lonely and depressed.

What is Leonce’s opinion of his wife’s mothering skills? On what does he base this opinion? He doesn’t think she is a good mother because she doesn’t flutter about, protecting her children from harm, but expects them to be independent. If one of the boys falls, he picks himself up rather than run to Edna for comfort.

Contrast Edna Pontellier and Adele Ratignolle. Which one fits the conventional pattern of a woman in this era? Why? Edna expects her children to be self-sufficient, does not want to spend her summer sewing, and is rather disinterested in her husband’s concerns. Adele: beautiful, constantly sewing for her children, hovers over her children, and adores her husband.

Explain the relationship between Edna and Robert. What would you infer to be Robert’s expectations?
They have become good friends. Robert is attentive and considerate; Edna enjoys the attention and the rapport of their conversations.
Chapters V – VII

What is Robert Lebrun’s “role” on Grand Isle? Each summer for the past 11 years, he has devoted his attentions to a specific young girl, widow, or a married woman. Neither he nor the lady will take the relationship seriously, but both enjoy the time they spend together.

Explain the simile, “Mrs. Pontellier liked to gaze at her fair companion as she might look upon a faultless Madonna”. Edna is fascinated by Robert’s youthfulness and his handsome appearance. She views him as faultless, much as the Madonna is pure and faultless.

Explain the dual life Edna feels she has always lived. How do you think this will affect her role as wife and mother?
Even as a child, she lived a dual life of outward conformity but inward questioning. She is just beginning to discover who she really is.

Explain the effect the sea has on Edna and her childhood memory the sea triggers.

Edna is drawn to the solitude of the sea. The water reminds her of a meadow in Kentucky through which she walked as a little girl and her desire to walk in this “sea” forever.

How do Edna Pontellier and Adele Ratignolle interact? They have loving rapport in their relationship. Edna is drawn to Adele’s beauty and her openness. They share memories of their childhood, and Edna tells Adele things she tells no one else.

Why did Edna marry Leonce? Explain why you do or do not think this is a good foundation for marriage? Because he fell in love with her, he pleased her and was devoted to her, and she thought they shared the same thoughts and tastes


Why did Edna’s father and sister oppose her marriage to Leonce? Because Leonce is Catholic

How does Edna feel about Leonce and their marriage? How does she feel about her role as a mother? She is fond of Leonce but feels her marriage has no passion; she loves her children but doesn’t feel that Fate has suited her for motherhood; sometimes she expresses love for them and other times she forgets them

Prediction: Will Adele influence Edna to become a better wife and mother?

Chapters VIII – XI

Why does Adele ask Robert to leave Edna alone? What is his response? Edna is not Creole like Robert and Adele and might take Robert seriously; Robert wishes someone would take him seriously
What do you think the two lovers and the lady in black symbolize? Two lovers: carefree life before marriage; lady in black: solitude and loneliness of widows of this era


Who are the Farival twins and what is their role in the novel? 14 year old girls who were dedicated to the Virgin Mary when they were born; Their innocence, talent, and willingness to entertain others represent the accepted behavior of young girls of this era

Describe Madame Reisz. No longer young, disagreeable, quarrels with almost everyone, homely with a small wrinkled face and body and glowing eyes, wears rusty black lace with a bunch of artificial violets in her hair, excellent pianist

Explain the effects of Adele’s and Mlle. Reisz’s piano playing on Edna. Why do you think the music affects her this way?
Adele’s evokes mental images of people in various actions, gives Edna a sense of solitude. Mlle Reisz’s: sends tremors down Edna’s spine and arouses passions in her soul, causing her to tremble and weep
Why is Edna’s swim in the ocean important to her? How does it affect her? After trying but failing all summer to learn to swim, this is the first time she does so. She is delighted and wants to swim far out where no woman has ever been. She sees a vision of death when she realizes how far she has swum but is able to return to shore

Explain the “battle of wills” in which Edna and Leonce engage after her swim. She refuses to cater to Leonce’s wishes for her to come in with him, then when she is ready to go in, he refuses to do so. They reach an impasse when neither will give in to the other.

Prediction: Will Edna and Leonce be able to reconcile their differences?

Chapters XII – XIV

Why do Edna and Robert go to the island of Cheniere? Who else is on the excursion?
They plan to attend church there; the lady in black, the lovers, the Spanish girl Mariequita

Why does Robert take Edna to Madame Antoine’s? Why is this significant?
Edna becomes ill in church; Robert and Edna are alone and have more freedom to express themselves to each other; Edna sleeps soundly because she is at peace emotionally, and they return to Grand Isle after the others.

How does Leonce react when Edna and Robert fail to return from Cheniere with the others? What do you think this reveals about him?
At first he is concerned but then goes to Klein’s and doesn’t return until late.
Why do you think Robert does not stay with Edna after they return from Cheniere?
Suggestion: He is tired of her or he realizes he is falling in love with her but she is another man’s wife.
Prediction: What will develop in the relationship between Edna and Robert? The relationship between Edna and Leonce?
Chapters XV – XVI

What does Edna learn about Robert’s plans? How does he explain his decision? How does she react?
He is going to Mexico; he has said all along he was going some day; becomes irritable and restless; Edna stays nervously busy changing her clothes and rearranging her hair

What is Robert’s response when Edna tells him she had hoped to continue their friendship after they return to New Orleans? What do you think this implies about him?
“Perhaps that’s the-“; implies that he is leaving because he is falling in love with her and can’t continue to be just a friend.

What effect does Robert’s departure have on Edna? How does she deal with her emotions? Cries and feels the same kind of infatuation she felt when she was younger; feels the brightness and meaning have left her life; deals with her emotions by swimming and going to Madame Lebrun’s to look at pictures of Robert

Contrast Edna’s feelings for Leonce with her feelings for Robert. Leonce: respects and appreciates his work for the family; Robert: loves him and longs to be with him

Explain what you think Edna’s statement to Adele means: “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself.”
Edna loves her children and would give everything she has, including her life, for them but she will never sacrifice herself, i.e., her freedom and her right to live her own life, for her children