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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Robert jokingly say happened to Mrs. Pontellier when she was in the ocean?

2. Where is Robert when Edna discovers his plan?

3. In retrospect, how does Edna feel about stomping on her wedding ring?

4. When Mr. Pontellier checks in on his sons, he thinks that Raoul has:

5. What does Edna call the piece she often hears Mademoiselle Reisz play?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do we learn is different about Mrs. Pontellier from the other wives who summer at the Grande Isle?

2. Describe Edna's feelings when she learns Robert is leaving for Mexico.

3. Why do you think Mr. Pontellier is so enraged at his wife when he thinks Raoul has a fever?

4. Why does Edna leave the Ratignolles in a depressed rather than a happy state of mind?

5. What is the first thing that Edna wonders after she wakes up at Madame Antoine's?

6. The author says that Edna's will had blazed up. However, Leonce has a strong will, too. What is going on in this chapter? How is the Pontellier marriage changing?

7. Describe Mrs. Pontellier's reaction to hearing Mademoiselle Reisz's performance.

8. Madame Ratignolle--what kind of woman is she?

9. Why does Robert want to stay and talk to Edna rather than leave?

10. Why does Edna cry so hard after her husband scolds her for being what he considers a neglectful mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Is The Awakening a critique of women's stature in the late 19th century? Was Kate Chopin taking a risk by writing this at the time she did?

Essay Topic 2

Critics call this novel a classic. Define the term classic Do you agree that The Awakening is a classic? Why or why not? Did you learn anything new from reading it?

Essay Topic 3

How does the author depict Edna's sense of being suffocated by the cultural restrictions on women in the 19th century? Do you think it is a fair assessment of how women lived during that time?

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