The Awakening

The Awakening Style Reading Project

Activity:

Have students visit one or more of the following sites (you might break them into groups to work on different sites), which detail aspects of Realism, Local Color, and Regionalism: (These are copied below)

Students should research the attributes of realism, local color, and/or regionalism. Working in groups (group size as appropriate for class size), students should find a passage in the novel that exhibits one or more aspects of these styles. Students should list why the passage reflects realism, local color, or regionalism; they should read the passage closely, giving detailed evidence. Each group should present their passage and their findings while the instructor lists the passages and their attributes on the board. At the end of the class activity, several passages from the novel will be available for further discussion.

Teachers might want to lead the class through an example of the exercise using one passage (perhaps selected from one below). In this case, the teacher would lead a class analysis first, and then establish groups to perform the activity on their own.

Possible questions to explore as students encounter different passages may include:

• How is the setting of the novel described? What are some unique features of the setting?

• What are some attributes of Creole culture or behavior that are foreign to Edna or exclude her? What is Edna's background—how is she different?

• How did the setting and culture create the environment that allowed for Edna's "awakening" while also condemning the choices that she made? Is there evidence of contradictory beliefs in the Creole culture that Chopin described?

• What does Madame Ratignolle mean when she says to Robert of Edna: "She is not one of us; she is not like us. She might make the unfortunate blunder of taking you seriously" (beginning of Chapter VIII; page 64 Penguin Classics edition)? How is Edna different? What instances are there where Edna's...