A married woman on a Gulf island resort begins to want a life of her own, and the novel follows where that wanting takes her.
A short, quiet, startlingly direct novel about a woman refusing the role she was handed. The pace is slow and the ending is open, but the writing about the sea and about Edna's moods is superb. Four and a half out of five, in my view.
Every guide comes as a video and a full written article. Pick the one you need: the review is spoiler-free, the ending explained is not.
A full-spoiler summary of Kate Chopin's The Awakening, told through a name count: Robert 161 times, Alcée Arobin 70, the ring that will not dent, the swim and the ending. Counted from the Project Gutenberg text.
The Awakening ending explained: Edna's last swim, Robert's note, the bird with a broken wing and the final sounds, read line by line from the Project Gutenberg text. Full spoilers.
The Awakening characters explained: Edna, Léonce, Robert, Arobin, Adèle, Mademoiselle Reisz, and the name that changes from Mrs. Pontellier to Edna. Light spoilers, no ending. Counted from the Project Gutenberg text.
The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin about Edna Pontellier, a married mother of two who begins to feel and want things her life has no place for. We read the text of Project Gutenberg ebook 160, The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories; this page covers only the novel, which runs thirty-nine short chapters.
Below you’ll find a summary built around a name count: how often Robert and Alcée Arobin appear, chapter by chapter, and what the pattern says about where the book puts its attention. The page has full spoilers, since the whole novel, ending included, is covered.
A short, quiet, startlingly direct novel about a woman refusing the role she was handed. The pace is slow and the ending is open, but the writing about the sea and about Edna's moods is superb. Four and a half out of five, in my view. Read it if: you want a short classic that still feels bold; you like character studies more than plot twists; you are studying it for class and need the plot and the ending; you enjoy setting-heavy books about the sea and the gulf coast. Skip it if: you need a tidy, resolved ending; you dislike slow, mood-driven stories; you have already read it and only need a plot refresher.
Our ending explained covers the final chapters in full, with spoilers. The Awakening ending explained: Edna's last swim, Robert's note, the bird with a broken wing and the final sounds, read line by line from the Project Gutenberg text. Full spoilers. The Awakening Ending Explained →
A full-spoiler summary of Kate Chopin's The Awakening, told through a name count: Robert 161 times, Alcée Arobin 70, the ring that will not dent, the swim and the ending. Counted from the Project Gutenberg text. The Awakening Summary: Whose Name Fills the Pages →
A novel by Kate Chopin. Edna Pontellier, twenty-eight and married with two sons, spends a summer on Grand Isle and begins to want a life of her own. She falls for Robert Lebrun, learns to swim, moves into a small house of her own in New Orleans, and ends the book swimming out into the Gulf.
Edna returns alone to Grand Isle and walks into the Gulf to swim. She swims farther than ever, tired, thinking of her husband, children and Robert, and the text ends on her memories without stating what follows. In our reading she drowns.
Robert Lebrun is the landlady's son who attends Edna on Grand Isle, then leaves for Mexico. Alcée Arobin is a fashionable man about town who becomes Edna's lover in New Orleans. By our count Robert's name appears 161 times in the novel and Arobin's 70.
