The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories
Kate Chopin · 0
Chopin’s 1899 novel argues that self-ownership is lethal for women in patriarchal society—and shows it through Edna Pontellier’s physical, irreversible awakening and drowning. The selected stories reinforce this with figures who cross thresholds (La Folle), cling to ruins (Ma’ame Pélagie), or lose identity to war (Edmond). Skip the editor’s introduction. Read the novel straight through, then 'La Folle' and 'The Locket'.