So there I was, reading "The Taming of the Shrew", when I looked in the very back of the book and found a list of classic literature. It got me thinking about how few people ever read as much classic literature as they can in their lives. So I decided I would try it myself. My intention is to get through all of these classic works and report about them here. So here we go, page one...

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

"The Awakening"

Oh, Kate Chopin, how you have scorned me.  I opened The Awakening expecting to read about the interesting life of people living in New Orleans at the end of the nineteenth century.  Instead, though, I was pelted with whining, crying, and a whole lot of crap.  It was just like going to a Wiggles concert.
     In all seriousness, though, this book is just awful.  It is the story of Edna Pontellier, a wife and mother of two, who gets bored with her life.  In an attempt to spice it up a little, she has an affair with another man while her husband is away on business and her children are visiting their grandmother.  But once she has done that, she is still bored and continues to look for things that will put an end to her boredom.  At some point she moves out of her beautiful home so that she can live in some small and awful apartment in an attempt to relieve herself of her duties and responsibilities at home in order to continue to fornicate with her lover.
     I am not even going to talk about the end, but we learn that she is incredibly selfish and self-centered.  If it's not all about Edna, then Edna just ain't happy.  And if Edna isn't happy, then no once can be.  I think Grease the Musical has a better message than this.  But I will say this, Edna was most certainly the original Desperate Housewife, only more annoying. 


I give it 1 out of 5 Wildes.



2 comments:

  1. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
    Edna is a depressed housewife, unsatisfied and burdened by a life mandated by 19th century societal values and the expectations. She stands as a symbol of feminine triumph over the misogynist dictatorship that infiltrated American daily life. Her suicide is not meant to be glorified, but rather to serve as a reminder of the trials faced by women who have unwillingly sacrificed their independence and, ultimately, their femininity. Her return to the water is an extended metaphor for rebirth -re entering the birth canal in hopes of a life (or death) more suitable for free-thinking women.

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  2. Edna was far from "free-thinking", unless you mean that free-thinking is the same as being a promiscuous slut with not reverence toward the future of her children. When people become parents, they no doubt lose certain parts of their youth because now they have real adult responsibilities. Edna was no more than an older version of those teenage girls who have a baby then leave it in a dumpster because the baby really takes a hit to their social lives.

    Hahah, loves ya!

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