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The Awakening: A Political Romance

Lawrence Thornton

Open publisher page 18 citations

Abstract

T IS OBVIOUS by now that The Awakening echoes characters and events in Madame Bovary, but even though she is deeply indebted to Flaubert, Chopin goes beyond merely imitating Emma and the problems Flaubert imagined for his heroine. While Edna Pontellier and Emma are both narcissists, Edna becomes aware of political crises related to her position within Creole society that sharply distinguish her from Emma, who responds to French provincial society only as a mirror of her romantic fantasies. These differences become immediately apparent through a comparison of two important passages. Twelve pages into The Awakening we encounter the well-known evocation of the sea that becomes a central motif in the novel:

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What this paper is about

T IS OBVIOUS by now that The Awakening echoes characters and events in Madame Bovary, but even though she is deeply indebted to Flaubert, Chopin goes beyond merely imitating Emma and the problems Flaubert imagined for his heroine. While Edna Pontellier and Emma are both narcissists, Edna becomes aware of political crises related to her position within Creole society that sharply distinguish her from Emma, who responds to French provincial society only as a mirror of her romantic fantasies. These differences become immediately apparent through a comparison of two important passages. Twelve pages into The Awakening we encounter the well-known evocation of the sea that becomes a central motif in the novel:

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OpenAlex reports 18 citations for this work. Citation counts describe recorded attention and do not establish research quality.

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Available abstract

T IS OBVIOUS by now that The Awakening echoes characters and events in Madame Bovary, but even though she is deeply indebted to Flaubert, Chopin goes beyond merely imitating Emma and the problems Flaubert imagined for his heroine. While Edna Pontellier and Emma are both narcissists, Edna becomes aware of political crises related to her position within Creole society that sharply distinguish her from Emma, who responds to French provincial society only as a mirror of her romantic fantasies. These differences become immediately apparent through a comparison of two important passages. Twelve pages into The Awakening we encounter the well-known evocation of the sea that becomes a central motif in the novel:

Key concepts: Evocation, Romance, Politics, Literature, History, Motif (music), Art, Aesthetics

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