Published in April 1899, Kate Chopin’s

met with a barrage of negative reviews. Chopin was typically castigated by the

newspaper for “totally unjustifiable conduct”. The central character of the novel, Edna Pontellier, was vilified for infidelity and for selfishly neglecting her husband and children. Moral condemnation, with some slippage from character to author, was a common critical response. A positive review by Charles Deyo in the

interpreted the novel as a critique of a husband who treats his wife as a possession, thus driving her to seek some kind of self-expression. He also praised Chopin’s “delicious English, quick with life, never a word too much”. This prescient review anticipates recent critical…

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Citation: Scullion, Val. "The Awakening". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 November 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1536, accessed 26 November 2024.]