Awakening

Edna Pontellier spends the summer with her husband and children on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico at the Lebrun family's boarding house. Her acquaintance with Robert Lebrun changes something in Edna; their friendship awakens thoughts and feelings in... her that she had never experienced before, and her former passion for painting is rekindled. However, as summer comes to an end, the other boarders return home, and Robert suddenly announces that he is leaving to seek his fortune in Mexico and wants to stay there forever, which deeply saddens Edna, though she does not understand why. Upon returning to New Orleans, Edna longs for Robert, re-evaluates her family life, and decides to spend less time on her hostess duties and more on painting. She increasingly distances herself from her family and her familiar social circle, which worries her husband Léonce. The candid depiction of a woman who refuses to accept the role of wife and mother imposed on her by society and seeks to find herself as an individual shocked American society. This novel can be placed alongside "Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert and "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy.