The Awakening (adapted), Kate Chopin
The Awakening (adapted)
Kate Chopin
Category: Novels
Genres: Psychological fiction,Romance,Tragedy
Level 3.441:33 h45.1 mb
Edna Pontellier seems to have everything: a husband, children, and a fine home. But one summer by the sea, she begins to feel a new desire for freedom, art, and love. Society wants her to be a good wife and mother, but her heart wants something more... This is an adapted version of the novel, shortened and simplified to A2 ESL level.

The Awakening

[adapted]

by
Kate Chopin

The Awakening (adapted)

Chapter 1

A green and yellow parrot hung in a cage outside the door. It cried again and again, “Go away! Go away! Good heavens! That is all right!”

A mockingbird hung nearby and whistled in the warm wind. The noise disturbed Mr. Pontellier. He could not read his old newspaper in peace, so he left the main house and walked to his own cottage.

It was Sunday at Grand Isle. The Sunday papers had not yet arrived from New Orleans. Mr. Pontellier already knew most of the news, so he looked around with little interest. Madame Lebrun moved in and out of the house, giving loud orders. The Farival twins played the piano. Some guests had gone by boat to Cheniere Caminada for mass. Young people played croquet under the oak trees. Mr. Pontellier’s two small sons played there too, while their mixed-race nurse followed them quietly.

Mr. Pontellier lit a cigar. Soon he saw a white sunshade coming slowly from the beach. Under it were his wife, Mrs. Pontellier, and young Robert Lebrun. They came to the cottage and sat on the porch steps, tired from the water.

“What foolishness, to bathe at this hour in this heat!” Mr. Pontellier said. Then he looked at his wife and added, “You are burned so much I almost do not know you.”

He spoke as if she were something valuable that had been damaged. Edna looked at her hands. Then she remembered her rings, which she had given to him before going to the beach. She held out her hand. He understood and dropped the rings into her palm.

She put them on. Then she looked at Robert and laughed. Robert laughed too. They tried to tell Mr. Pontellier about something funny that had happened in the water, but it was not very funny when they said it aloud.

Mr. Pontellier yawned and stood up. He said he might go to Klein’s hotel to play billiards. He asked Robert to come, but Robert said he preferred to stay and talk with Mrs. Pontellier.

“Well, send him away when he bores you, Edna,” her husband said.

Edna gave him the sunshade. As he walked away, she asked if he would come back for dinner. He was not sure. It depended on the men at Klein’s and on the game. He did not say this, but she understood. The children wanted to follow him. He kissed them and promised to bring them sweets and peanuts.

Chapter 2

Mrs. Pontellier had quick, bright eyes, yellow-brown like her hair. She often looked at something suddenly and then held her eyes there, as if she were lost in thought. Her face was open and interesting, and her manner was warm.

Robert rolled a cigarette. He said he smoked cigarettes because he could not afford cigars, though he had one cigar from Mr. Pontellier in his pocket. He was saving it for after dinner.

Edna fanned herself with a palm-leaf fan. Robert smoked beside her. They talked easily about the beach, the wind, the trees, the people at Cheniere Caminada, the children under the oaks, and the Farival twins at the piano. Their little adventure in the water seemed funny again.

Robert talked a great deal about himself. He was young and careless. Edna also spoke a little about herself. Each listened with real interest.

Robert said he planned to go to Mexico in the autumn and find success there. He often said this, but he never went. For now, he worked in a business office in New Orleans. He knew English, French, and Spanish, so he was useful there.

He always spent the summer with his mother, Madame Lebrun, at Grand Isle. The main house and the cottages gave her a comfortable life. Visitors from the French Quarter came every summer.

Edna spoke of her father’s plantation in Mississippi and her girlhood home in Kentucky. She read Robert a letter from her sister, who was in the East and was going to marry. Robert wanted to know about her sisters, her father, and her dead mother.

When Edna folded the letter, it was time to dress for dinner. “I see Leonce is not coming back,” she said, looking toward the place where her husband had gone.

Robert thought she was right. Many New Orleans men were at Klein’s.

Edna went inside. Robert walked over to the croquet players and spent the time before dinner with the little Pontellier boys. They liked him very much.

Chapter 3

At eleven that night, Mr. Pontellier came back from Klein’s hotel. He was cheerful and full of talk. His wife was asleep, but he woke her and told her news and gossip while he undressed. Edna was too sleepy to listen. This disappointed him. He thought she should care more about his words. He had forgotten the sweets and peanuts for the boys. Still, he went to look at them. He decided that Raoul had a fever and told Edna to care for him.

Edna was sure the child was well. But Mr. Pontellier blamed her. He said she did not watch the children as a mother should. He had to work in the city, so he could not also guard them at home. Edna went to the children’s room. Then she came back and sat silently on the bed. Her husband soon fell asleep.

Now Edna was fully awake. She began to cry. She went out to the porch and sat in the rocking chair. It was past midnight. The cottages were dark. The sea sounded low and sad. Edna cried harder. She could not say why. Such moments had happened before in her marriage, but now a strange heavy feeling filled her. It was like a shadow over her spirit. She did not blame Leonce. She only cried alone until mosquitoes drove her inside.

The next morning, Mr. Pontellier left for New Orleans. He would return the next Saturday. Before he went, he gave Edna some money, and she was pleased. She said it would buy a wedding gift for Sister Janet.

A few days later, a box came from him. It held fruit, rich food, sweets, syrups, and bottles from New Orleans. Edna shared everything with the others. The ladies said Mr. Pontellier was the best husband in the world. Edna had to admit that she knew no better one.

Chapter 4

Mr. Pontellier could not clearly say how Edna failed as a mother. He felt it more than he saw it. When he said it aloud, he often felt sorry afterward and tried to make peace.

The little Pontellier boys did not run to their mother every time they fell. They usually stood up, wiped away the sand or water, and went on playing. They were small, but they were strong and bold. Their nurse seemed useful only for clothes, hair, and other daily needs. In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman.

There were many mother-women that summer at Grand Isle. They moved around their children like birds with wide wings. They gave themselves completely to their children and husbands. They seemed happy to lose their own separate lives and become caring angels.

One of these women was Adele Ratignolle. She was full of beauty and grace. Her golden hair was soft and free. Her blue eyes were bright. Her lips were red and full. She was a little stout, but every movement was still graceful. Her hands were beautiful, especially when she sewed small clothes for her children.

Madame Ratignolle liked Edna very much. She often brought her sewing and sat with her in the afternoon. She was there on the day the box came from New Orleans. She sat in the rocking chair and sewed a tiny pair of night clothes.

She had brought the pattern for Edna to copy. The clothes were for winter, to protect a baby from cold air. Edna did not see why she should think about winter clothes during the summer. Her own children had what they needed. But she did not want to seem unfriendly, so she spread newspapers on the porch floor and cut the pattern as Madame Ratignolle directed.

Robert was there too. Edna sat on the upper step, leaning against the post. A box of sweets was beside her, and she offered it now and then to Madame Ratignolle.

Madame Ratignolle chose a piece of nougat. She wondered if it was too rich for her. She had been married seven years and had three children. Now she was beginning to think of a fourth. She often spoke about her condition. Robert started to make a playful remark, but he saw Edna blush and stopped himself.

Edna had married a Creole man, but she did not fully understand Creole society. That summer at Lebrun’s, almost everyone was Creole. They knew one another well and spoke freely, like one large family.

Their open speech surprised Edna. At first, she did not understand it. Creole women could speak of private things without shame, yet they still seemed pure and proper. Edna once heard Madame Ratignolle tell old Monsieur Farival every detail about the birth of one of her children. Edna was shocked. She was slowly becoming used to such talk, but she still blushed.

A book had also passed from person to person at the house. When Edna read it, she was deeply surprised. She wanted to read it alone and hide it when someone came near. But the others discussed it openly at the table. Edna stopped being surprised and felt that strange things would never end.

Chapter 5

That summer afternoon, Madame Ratignolle sewed while Edna and Robert sat near her. Robert and Edna spoke little, but their looks and smiles showed a growing closeness. Robert had spent the last month beside Edna. This did not surprise anyone. Each summer at Grand Isle, he chose one woman and gave her his full attention.

He joked that he had once loved Madame Ratignolle in the same way. She laughed and called him foolish. Edna listened, unsure how much was play and how much was real. She was glad Robert did not speak to her like that.

Edna began to draw Madame Ratignolle. Drawing gave her quiet pleasure. Robert sat close and watched. Once he rested his head against Edna’s arm. She moved him away. When he did it again, she pushed him away more firmly. The picture did not please Edna. She marked it across and crushed the paper.

The Pontellier boys came for sweets and quickly ran away. Soon Madame Ratignolle said she felt faint. Edna brought perfume water, and Robert fanned her. Madame Ratignolle soon recovered and went back to her children.

Then Robert asked Edna if she was going to bathe.
“I am tired,” she said. “I think not.”
But she looked toward the Gulf. The sea called to her.
“Oh, come,” Robert said. “The water will be lovely.”
He put her straw hat on her head. Then they walked together toward the beach.

Chapter 6

Edna could not have said why she first refused to go to the beach with Robert, though she wanted to go. She also could not say why she then followed him. Two different wishes were moving inside her.

A small light was beginning to rise in her mind. It showed her a way, but it also warned her. At first, this only confused her. It brought dreams, deep thoughts, and the same strange pain she had felt that night when she cried alone.

Edna was beginning to understand herself as a person. She was beginning to see her own place in the world, not only as a wife or mother, but as herself.