{"product_id":"the-awakening-and-selected-short-stories-legend-classics-9781915054968","title":"The Awakening and Selected Short Stories (Legend Classics)","description":"\u003cb\u003ePart of the \u003ci\u003eLegend Classics \u003c\/i\u003eseries, an American feminist classic\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth.\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Awakening\u003c\/i\u003e follows Edna Pontellier, a resident of coastal Grand Isle of Louisiana in her late twenties, who has a quintessential set-up for a content housewife. Indeed, her husband makes good money on Wall Street speculations and her daily routine should gleefully hinge on the two children. But Edna is neither a self-sacrificing mother, nor a devoted wife. Instead, she is gradually awoken to rebel against the imposed societal expectations outside her family and the lack of understanding within. Edna is desperate to find her place being surrounded by the two extremes. On the one hand, she finds selfless Madame Ratignolle, who is a model wife. On the other, there is dejected Mademoiselle Reisz, who pursues her artistic aspiration in solitude. Edna realizes that she is not a possession and has to take charge of her life. She rejects the money of her husband and being suffocated in their big house decides to rent a flat to escape the status of mere possession. She explores her sexuality with a womanizer Alcee and seems to find real intimate understanding with a young man Robert Lebrun. Will this awakening predetermine her ultimate happiness or signpost personal tragedy? Will the duality of the 'outward existence' and 'inward life' be reconciled for Edna to signify her emancipation?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis short novel is widely acknowledged as such that encapsulates the features of fin de siècle realism in its linear narrative but also anticipates literary modernism of the early twentieth century. Edna's defiance of the American alternative of Victorian 'Angel in the House' is reminiscent of such classics as Anna Brontë's \u003ci\u003eTenant of the Wildfell Hall\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eThe Awakening\u003c\/i\u003e also precurses modernist works where the heroines look for the self - namely, \u003ci\u003eMrs Dalloway\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTheir Eyes Were Watching God\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Bell Jar\u003c\/i\u003e. The condensed and intense prose style gives the novel a cryptic charm in line with Fitzgerald's classic \u003ci\u003eThe Great Gatsby\u003c\/i\u003e. Besides, vivid natural symbolism of water, birds and the moon is the calling card of the novel that enhances its level of ambiguity and multivalence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eLegend Classics\u003c\/i\u003e series: \u003cbr\u003e Around the World in Eighty Days \u003cbr\u003e The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn \u003cbr\u003e The Importance of Being Earnest \u003cbr\u003e Alice's Adventures in Wonderland \u003cbr\u003e The Metamorphosis \u003cbr\u003e The Railway Children \u003cbr\u003e The Hound of the Baskervilles \u003cbr\u003e Frankenstein \u003cbr\u003e Wuthering Heights \u003cbr\u003e Three Men in a Boat \u003cbr\u003e The Time Machine \u003cbr\u003e Little Women \u003cbr\u003e Anne of Green Gables \u003cbr\u003e The Jungle Book \u003cbr\u003e The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories \u003cbr\u003e Dracula \u003cbr\u003e A Study in Scarlet \u003cbr\u003e Leaves of Grass \u003cbr\u003e The Secret Garden \u003cbr\u003e The War of the Worlds \u003cbr\u003e A Christmas Carol \u003cbr\u003e Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde \u003cbr\u003e Heart of Darkness \u003cbr\u003e The Scarlet Letter \u003cbr\u003e This Side of Paradise \u003cbr\u003e Oliver Twist \u003cbr\u003e The Picture of Dorian Gray \u003cbr\u003e Treasure Island \u003cbr\u003e The Turn of the Screw \u003cbr\u003e The Adventures of Tom Sawyer \u003cbr\u003e Emma \u003cbr\u003e The Trial \u003cbr\u003e A Selection of Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe \u003cbr\u003e Grimm Fairy Tales \u003cbr\u003e The Awakening \u003cbr\u003e Mrs Dalloway \u003cbr\u003e Gulliver's Travels \u003cbr\u003e The Castle of Otranto \u003cbr\u003e Silas Marner \u003cbr\u003e Hard Times\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Legends Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/20\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781915054968\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 200\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAccelerated Reader Quiz #\/Name: \u003c\/b\u003e15836 \/ Awakening\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReading Level:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.5 \/ \u003cb\u003eInterest Level:\u003c\/b\u003e Upper Grade \/ \u003cb\u003ePoint Value:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Kate Chopin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42389497413813,"sku":"9781915054968","price":13.56,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_d44771b5-f166-49f6-aeaf-2d2ced4fa6fd.jpg?v=1663681441","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-awakening-and-selected-short-stories-legend-classics-9781915054968","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}