The Awakening Study Guide – Flashcards
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Edna Pontellier
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main protagonist who, while in a passionless marriage to Leonce, falls in love with Robert Lebrun and has a brief affair with Alcee Arobin. A member of New Orleans upper class and has artistic leanings. *drowns in the end
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Leonce Pontellier
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Edna's husband, a successful and materialistic businessman. *business blinds him
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Robert Lebrun
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charismatic young man you falls in love with Edna during her summer on Grand Isle. He has a history of maintaining mock romances with unattainable women *fear of true involvement, lack of maturity for a real relationship.
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Alcee Arobin
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accomplished ladies man who pursues an affair with Edna
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Madamoiselle Reisz
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virtuoso pianist whom Edna meets on Grand Isle. Upon returning to New Orleans, Edna visits her to hear her play piano and read letters that Robert had written to her.
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Madame Adele Ratignolle
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"mother-woman" a devoted wife and mother Edna befriends on Grand Isle, friendship continues in New Orleans.
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Madame Lebrun
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owner and hostess of the Grand Isle boarding house, mother of Victor and Robert.
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Victor Lebrun
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temperamental, strong willed, and spoiled, but very good looking.
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Mariequita
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flirtatious Spanish girl who has a crush on Victor and possibly Robert.
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Etienne and Raoul Pontellier
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Edna and Leonce's young sons
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Dr. Madelet
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old family friend and physician to the Pontellier's, whom Leonce consults about Edna's weird behavior. He knows Edna is in with another man but does not tell Leonce.
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The colonel
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Edna's father, a retired colonel in the Confederate army
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Farival twins
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monsieur Farivals grand daughters who repeatedly practice a duet on piano from the opera Zampa
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Madame Antoine
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a friendly inhabitant of the island Cheniere Caminada, tells Edna and Robert stories of her life
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"...the artist must possess the courageous soul. The soul that dares and defies." pg. 106
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Madame Reisz to Edna
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"...sometimes I feel this summer as if I were walking through the green meadow again, idly, aimlessly, unthinking, and unguided." pg. 30
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Edna to Adele Ratignolle
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"Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman." pg. 16
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Narrator
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"I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's posessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, "..., take her and be happy, she is yours, I should laugh at you both." pg. 178
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Edna to Robert
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"Think of the children..., oh think of the children! Remember them!" pg. 182
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Ratignolle to Edna
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"A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above , reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water."pg. 189
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Narrator *allusion to Icarus
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"I would give up the essential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself." pg. 80
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Edna to Ratignolle
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"The bird that would soar above the plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings." pg. 133
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Edna to Arobin
