1. The Awakening An AP English Literature & Composition Introduction

2. Kate Chopin & The Awakening LITERARY PERSPECTIVES 19 th CENTURY REVIEWS Contemporary Reviews Our Own Awakening: Literary Criticism

3. Critical Responses Published in 1899 “Trite and sordid” “Essentially vulgar” “Unhealthily introspective and morbid in feeling” “...its disagreeable glimpses of sensuality are repellent" (from The Outlook,1899)

4. From the St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat "It is not a healthy book; if it points any particular moral or teaches any lesson, the fact is not apparent... Mrs. Pontellier does not love her husband. The poison of passion seems to have entered her system, with her mother's milk.”

5. From the The Providence Sunday Journal "The worst of such stories is that they will fall into the hands of youth, leading them to dwell on things that only matured persons can understand, and promoting unholy imaginations and unclean desires. It is nauseating to remember that those who object to the bluntness of our older writers will excuse and justify the gilded dirt of these latter days.”

6. From the The Chicago Tribune “That the book is strong and that Miss Chopin has a keen knowledge of certain phases of feminine character will not be denied. But it was not necessary for a writer of so great refinement and poetic grace to enter the overworked field of sex fiction.”

7. Kate Chopin’s Response “Having a group of people at my disposal [the characters in her novel], I thought it might be entertaining (to myself) to throw them together and see what would happen... I never dreamed of Mrs. Pontellier making such a mess of things and working out her own damnation as she did.” (Book News July 1899).

8. Kate Chopin & The Awakening LITERARY PERSPECTIVES 19 th CENTURY REVIEWS Contemporary Reviews Our Own Awakening: Literary Criticism

9. Professor Elizabeth Fox-Genovese Emory University “She’s one of those writers whose sense of craft puts her right on the edge of poetry.... The rediscovery of The Awakening came as a Godsend, the most incredible gift to the women’s movement.”

10. C.L. Deyo Reviewer “The Awakening is consummate art. The theme is difficult, but it is handled with cunning craft. The work is more than unusual. It is unique. The integrity of its art is that of well-knit individuality at one with itself, with nothing superfluous to weaken the impression of a perfect whole.”

11. Kate Chopin & The Awakening LITERARY PERSPECTIVES 19 th CENTURY REVIEWS Contemporary Reviews Our Own Awakening: Literary Criticism

12. Literary criticism involves judging the value of literature based on such things as the personal and/or cultural significance of the themes, the uses of language, the insights and impact, and the aesthetic quality of the text. Part of a critic’s job is to patrol the boundaries of good writing and determine what cultural value should be placed on a text.

13. Literary Criticism What constitutes, guides, and legitimizes interpretation? Literary theory attempts to explain what the nature of literature is, what functions it has, what the relation of text is to author, to reader, to language, to society, to history. Since literary theory provides a position through which or from which the reader/critic interacts with the text, the theoretical stance will prejudice—or at least inform—the critic’s evaluation. Source: Lye, John. “The Differences between Literary Criticism, Literary Theory, and ‘Theory Itself.’” For ENGL 4F70: Contemporary Literary Criticism. St. Catherine’s, Ontario: Brock University, 1998. 18 Mar. 2005. www.brocku.ca/english/courses/4F70/crit.vs.theory.html. www.brocku.ca/english/courses/4F70/crit.vs.theory.html

14. Theories of Literary Criticism Marxist Explores the power structures in the text’s society. (social, economical, governmental, etc.) Feminist Marxist, regarding females New Historicist Explores the biographical/historical context’s impact on the text. Archetypal/Mythic Explores the universal patterns within a text.

15. Theories of Literary Criticism Freudian Explores the sexual archetypes in the text & the unconscious mind of the characters in the text. New Criticism Explores how the text is written. Postmodernist/Deconstructionist Explores how the value of the text is relative, personal, and subjective to its readers.

16. Emerging Themes of The Awakening the dilemma of an individual’s conflicting responsibilities to others and to herself a wife’s impatience and frustration with marriage a rejection of the traditional roles of women a woman’s acknowledgement of and responses to her sexual urges the results of acting on one’s nature and impulses alienation the search for freedom the search for identity

17. Our goal in reading The Awakening We must consider this: how do Chopin’s themes fit in with the various literary aesthetics, theories, and perspectives? For your Cornell Notes for the last two sections of this novel, you will find 2 passages that provide evidence that the novel belongs to your literary school ( left hand column ); then explain what critics with your perspective might say about the novel ( right hand column ). You may vary your perspective.

18. Our schedule for reading The Awakening Reading Assignments: Chapters 1-11 DUE Wednesday, March 16th Chapters 12-25 DUE Wednesday, March 23 th Chapters 26-39 DUE Wednesday, April 6 th Marxist, Feminist, New Historicist, Archetypal/Mythic, Freudian, New Criticism, Postmodernist/Deconstructionist