This essay will compare the relations of friendship presented in books, The Great Gatsby and The motorcycle Diaries. To make a comparison between the two texts we must establish a correlation between them, friendship as a common theme in both books between the main characters of the novel.
I'm not great at going in depth about books, so I'll just say a few things and then hopefully some other people can chime in with their thoughts.
I loved this classic. It's short but says so much in so few pages. It's about a woman in 1892 (or at least around then) who just isn't a stay at home mother and wife. Within the first few chapters the main character is described by her husband as just not a "mother woman". She ends up falling for someone she's not supposed to, but I enjoyed that it wasn't about the man she fell for. He was barely in the story. Instead it was just about this woman finding her like for freedom and self-sufficiency, and exploring what it's like to belong to yourself.
I've seen some polarizing reviews online, and I think a lot of the negative reviews kinda miss the point. It's totally understandable if a book isn't your cup of tea, but I found it ironic that these reviewers were so turned off by her abandoning her children, and claiming this book was supposed to make you root for a "terrible person". For starters, this book doesn't try to make you root for anyone. It just lays out the main characters journey. And secondly, nobody seems to have as much of a problem when it's the man going off and deciding they're not fit to be fathers... so don't these reviewers kinda prove Kate Chopin's entire point?
Anyways, anyone else have thoughts on this book?
TW: mentions of sucide
I started reading this last year and put it off because it felt like a chore. I picked it up again a few days ago and went through it pretty quickly. Im so glad I did, I wouldn't have appreciated this in 2020 as much as I do now.
I only have good words for this book. And I honestly never thought I would be able to relate to Edna, bec at first glance, we're the opposite (Im a young, poor, single woman of color with little advantages in life). And yet, I was able to relate to her, which I think says something about the sufferings of women in general, and Chopin's writing.
But I've noticed that there seems to be a lack of discussion on her mental health. Is it just me, or did Edna have bipolar disorder? At least I interpreted her highs and lows as bipolar episodes. And I think that's a direction worth exploring, esp given her ending. Not to discount her troubles at all, bec they're very real even to this day. But i think it makes it easier to understand things and see them from a new perspective if we factor that in.
As someone with mdd, I can completely see why Edna did what she did. When she said “To-day it is Arobin; to-morrow it will be some one else. It makes no difference to me, it doesn’t matter..." I felt that. She knew that she was always going to feel that way. She would have moments in high spirits, and then be despondent later for long periods of time. And it would go on and on.
She was aware, but she didn't have a vocabulary for it. She didn't think it could be a medical condition instead of a, idk, flaw of her character. And even if she did, I doubt suicide would be out of question (based from experience). Which is why I never saw her as ungrateful or selfish for leaving her children.
How about you, what do you think?
Hey everyone i've been attempting to do the 52 book challenge this year and with 2 months to go i'm 10 books behind schedule and deep in a slump. I've been searching for short books that will motivate me to keep reading.
One of my favourite reads this year that I keep thinking back to was The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I found the story and characters really interesting, loved the writing and it was also short enough that I read it within a day or two while on holiday.
Does anyone have any recommendations for similar cult classic books that are on the shorter side? (Like 250 pages or less) thank you in advance!
So I happened to find this guy on youtube by the name of Michael Fagin who did a video about what the bird was saying and he made the connection to Kate Chopin's book The Awakening, which has to do with both water and suicide! I investigated a little further and found the perfect video from 60 second recap. ITS THE SAME GREEN AND YELLOW BIRD!!!! Also listen to the way the woman in the video says the phrase itself, it sounds just like the bird from the movie! Under the Silver Lake has heavy themes of death and water, Sam goes to the graveyard, the purgatory party and there is the theme of homelessness and ghosts.
Here are the links to everything, I put together a short clip showing both the bird from the movie and the 60 second recap explanation.
Michael Fagin's Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU4eCuCjdSg&list=PLV_Vu_RRXnSIS14JeEBvfg-O_H8SkzwJ-&index=37
60 Second Recap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0fWzPeaQk4
Comparison
*There are spoilers in this post.*
I was a very precocious reader as a kid, for which I'm grateful, but the downside is that I read a lot of books way before I had the life experience or knowledge to truly appreciate or comprehend them. Crime in Punishment by Dostoevsky, for example, I read far too early, at 14, and all I got out of it was that I liked the story, and I identified with Raskolnikov's brooding moodiness/depression. *huge eyeroll* The Awakening by Chopin was another such book. As I've been on a feminist kick lately (I had just finished Wide Sargasso Sea by Rhys) I decided to revisit Kate Chopin.
I found Chopin's writing to be fine - it was good enough that it didn't distract me, but not so remarkable that I noticed it, either. If that makes any sense. But what I wanted to post about was my thought by the last page that perhaps this isn't a pro-feminist book at all. I was so disgusted by/with Edna by the end that I gave serious consideration to the notion that The Awakening might be a comment on the folly of feminism, as Chopin may have considered it. Sort of an epic, OG trolling, maybe.
Before I continue, let me add the caveats that a) I haven't read any of Chopin's other work, so have nothing to compare to The Awakening and no way to actually know what Chopin's actual opinions may have been; b) I am aware of her contemporary era and that things were very different; and c) I don't take my trolling theory very seriously, I just found it interesting to ponder.
Having been in an unhappy marriage myself, I strongly identified with Edna as she was falling in love with Robert. I understood her desire to be desired, to have some romance in her life, and to connect with someone on a deeper level than was available to her with her stolid, conventional, and somewhat controlling husband. I saw Edna's decision to sleep with Alcee as a way to make her break with her old adherence to expectations and "duty," and I get that, too! (Unfortunately, my "Alcee" turned into a 4-year relationship that wasn't much better than my marriage. I don't learn a lesson until I get beaten into submission by it!) This may be over-sharing, but I've been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and so I can relate to her obsession with Robert, her intense fantasy life regarding him, and her single-minded focus on what she expected of him on his return from Mexico. I have totally experienced that feeling of believing you would be completely sati
... keep reading on reddit ➡Hey, I’ve seen some posts mentioning people who would like to read more limerence books and I believe The Awakening fits into this narrative. The story follows Edna Pontellier, a woman who experienced limerence in childhood, but married a man whom she does not love for the sake of societal expectations. She feels limerence for another man and the book follows her journey and its consequences. Let me know if you choose to give it a read or have read it and what you think.
Spoilers and trigger warnings follow.
Trigger warnings: suicide scene which follows a character going into the water to her death, a scene where a woman gives birth
Spoilers: This book is honestly heartbreaking. The more Edna becomes herself, the more she realizes society will never accept her lifestyle and feelings, which drives her to suicide.
I did not expect to connect with the book as well as I did. It resonated with me as a woman, as a wife, and though I do not have children yet, it still resonated with me as a (future) mother.
I started it a few months ago at the beginning of quarantine in my renewed quest to begin reading again. I left it alone in favor of finding other books to read, depending on my mood. Yesterday my husband and I made a quick day trip to Grand Isle. Being from that area of Louisiana, I’ve grown up going to the island every summer, and it felt right to pick the book up again while there. I finally finished it this morning and am left with a sense of both freedom and weight.
It’s the eternal choice between what is wanted and what is expected. The right choice. The easy choice. The hard, but worth it choice. What will they say? How will I cope? Am I enough? We never know the outcomes until after the decision is made. Edna chose neither, instead ending it on her own terms. But does that make her selfish or selfless? Or was the pain too much to bear that it didn’t matter?
It’s been awhile since a book has had such an impact on me, and it threw me quite off guard this morning with such a slow, but quick build of emotion to the end, which shook me to the core due to the overwhelming sense familiarity I feel with Edna and the novel as a whole.
The one thing that irks me however is the e-reader version I purchased goes straight into her short stories right after the end of the novel. I read an entire short story thinking it was a continuation of the novel before I realized it wasn’t. It really added to the emotional jumble, and what otherwise would have been a wonderful ending for a moment of reflection.
Oddly enough, I look forward to reading it again.
Edit: a couple of words.
Hey all you fine folks here at r/actuallesbians! I'm a 22 year old slightly bisexual guy who just so happens to be writing an essay on Kate Chopin's classic work, 'Lilacs.' While I could rant all day about the pure emotion within the story, I come to you beautiful creatures as a way to free my mind. What do y'all think of 18th and 19th century lesbianism and romantic friendship? I'm trying to broaden my perspective from merely Lilacs and perhaps one other source. Much love and support to you all!
I have a picture of the page, but I don’t think images are allowed
This morning I finished reading “The Awakening”, by Kate Chopin. I had started reading it last night as I am currently engaged in a race to the finish line towards my ambitious reading challenge for Goodreads. “The Awakening”, isn’t a book that was featured on my reading list. It was coughed up from the depths of the internet as I struggled to find a book under 300 pages. My mind was blessedly unbiased about the book as I had resolved to not even determine its genre before beginning to read it.
As I accompanied Edna through the salty sea air of the Grand Isle to her garish dwelling in New Orleans, I commiserated with her loneliness and hopelessness. She was in a love-less marriage, motherhood didn’t have any appeal for her and she had a brief affair with a modern day equivalent of a fuckboy. Throughout the novel, I saw her struggle with the fact that her life was immeasurably unsatisfying and would remain so. It is a universal and timeless tale of a woman with a sheltered upbringing, brought up in privilege and destined to lead a life of domestic conformity.
But I have failed to understand the vitriol which was directed towards her character in the comments section in Goodreads. People think she’s irredeemable and thoughtless. I simply believe that she (Edna) had virtually no support from society or family to bring any radical changes to her life. She wasn’t equipped to deal with her circumstances and had no way of getting what she wanted. And this realization caused her undoing, because it isn’t possible for anyone to deal with this unpalatable truth. Just my two cents.
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