LRB #3- Novel Project

9. a discussion of the title’s significance

The title of the 1801 novel "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin has a in depth and more thoughtful meaning to the plot of the story to represent the overall meaning. The passage tells of a young woman named Edna who experiences life changes within herself while being on vacation with her husband and children. While on vacation, Edna meets a young man named Robert who she begins to develop feelings for. After spending acquainting time together, Robert leaves for Mexico, and Edna is too afraid to express her feelings to Robert; therefore, leaving the island where she is vacationing, and where Robert lives, to go back home with her family.
When Edna resides back at her home, that is when the true "awakening" sets in. She begins to think for herself, and fall more in love with Robert, as if abstinence makes the heart grow fonder. Edna is tired of living the slave like life by being bound to a husband that she had no connection with, and only staying with him truly because of the children. Before, Edna was an absent mother. She cared for her children, but was not a "motherly-woman" as Chopin referred to in the novel. Therefore, after her awakening of viewing life and being her true self, Edna conforms to a more caring mother. She is becoming more eccentric. 
When Robert returns, Edna truly awakens within herself because, now that Robert has confessed his love for her, she now fully refuses to conform with society and choose her own path in her life. She confesses to Robert her love for him, and how she is no longer listening to her husband or anyone, and will not do anything she wishes not to do. Edna has become independent, and that is what the story was about along. She begins to feel emotions such as confidence and love within her soul, and that is how she awakens from her robotic routine she was immune to for so long. 
Edna also expresses the significance of the title through the ending of her life; suicide. By realizing all the situations that appealed to her and her lifestyle, Edna chooses not to deal with the consequences of her awakening actions. She decides to commit suicide.