Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Edna Pontellier

Edna Pontellier and Kate Chopin had a lot in common. Both had been born in the northern part of the U.S. but moved to New Orleans with their husbands. Both chafed against the restrictions their societies imposed upon them.

Answer: Alcee Arobin

Robert Lebrun represents the "object of desire" whom she idealizes until they actually meet again after a separation of several months. Victor is his incorrigible younger brother. Monsieur Ratigolle is completely devoted to his pliant wife. So, it is Alcee who "awakens" her to the pleasures of the flesh, but there is no feeling on her part beyond attraction.

Answer: Mother Women

Mother women were ". . .women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels." The heroine realizes with some guilt that she can never be a "mother woman" for, as she tells Adele Ratignolle, she could easily "die for her children," but she cannot live solely for them.

Answer: Receiving guests on Tuesdays

Leonce believes that entertaining is important to his business, and he is appalled when his wife no longer wants to devote her day to idle conversation and meaningless gossip with whomever happens to stop by. As for supervising the cook, she is hopeless.

It is up to Leonce to straighten her out (although he is overly particular about food). She certainly wouldn't tutor her children; she isn't sufficiently interested in them. She does paint, but Leonce regards that as only a hobby.

Answer: Grand Isle

Grand Isle is where the heroine begins to "awaken" to a sense of self outside of her roles as mother, daughter, and wife.

Answer: Chopin

Chopin's "Impromptu," of course!

Answer: To attend Madame Ratignolle's childbirth

The only mention of a sick child in the novel comes when Leonce tries to make his wife feel guilty for defying him about coming to bed by saying that their son Raoul has a fever. Her father pays a visit, but he leaves in robust health. Her sister is getting married, but the heroine has decided not to go. Leonce plans to attend to try to maintain peace in the family. Adele Ratignolle had extracted a promise that when it was time for her to deliver her child (her fourth) that the heroine, her best friend, would be there no matter what.

She is greatly conflicted about whether to keep the promise, but she does, and that may have made all the difference in her life.

Answer: The Pigeon House

Any way you look at it, all these birds are trapped, but it is the pigeon that she identifies with her tiny new abode.

Answer: In church

Was she really hot, or could she not sit through the mass, feeling as she does? The only other place that applies to this particular part of the novel is Madame Antoine's house where she is taken to rest.

Answer: Swimming

She has servants to cook, she has no interest in sewing (unlike Adele who always has some sewing with her, making garments for her children) and we learn that she is an accomplished horsewoman and has been since her childhood growing up on a horse farm in Kentucky. One evening after supper, as a number of the guests stroll down to the water for a late swim, she suddenly "gets it" and is filled with joy, so much so that she swims out so far that she nearly gets in danger.

Answer: Don't contradict her

The elderly doctor seems to be the male character in the novel who understands women best. He advises Leonce not to contradict his wife, and he says this "mood" will pass. Leonce is going to New York himself, but the doctor says to let her decide whether to accompany him. Of course, divorce is never mentioned, and the doctor doesn't pass judgment on her performance of her domestic duties.

Answer: That she is not "like them" and may misunderstand his attentions

Madame is referring to the fact that the heroine is not Creole. Their society is composed of people who are much freer than the northern "puritans." The heroine herself is shocked that Adele will tell details of her childbirths to a man, for example. Adele doesn't advise the young man to take her away from Leonce whom she likes, go to Mexico (that's his idea) or stay away from her entirely.

She just wants to make sure that the heroine understands that nothing serious is meant by his flirting and Madame Ratignolle should know--she herself was his "passion" for two earlier summers.

Answer: Two

Her little boys are four and five years old, and their names are Etienne and Raoul. They are sweet children and very little trouble to their mother, especially since they have a live-in nanny! However, she still doesn't much like having them around and is happy when their grandmother asks that they visit her for some months. With her husband out of town, she is on her own for the very first time in her life--and she likes it!

Answer: Victor Lebrun

She has returned to the summer vacation spot and Victor is there. She also sees Mariequita, one of the servants, but they don't actually talk with each other.

Answer: Suicide by drowning

Ironically, after finally learning to swim, she takes her own life by allowing the sea to take her past the point of no return. She is naked as she was at birth, and she is returning to the element from whence she arose. The reading public was outraged when "The Awakening" was published in 1899, and the book was banned from libraries and created a national scandal. Chopin was banned from the St. Louis Fine Arts Club because of the novel, and she took the rejection so hard that she stopped writing entirely.

She died suddenly in 1904 at age 53, after a long, hot day at the St. Louis World's Fair.