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Chopin - Kate Chopin Videos 3 videos
In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," Louise Mallard has a rather peculiar response to the news of her husband's death: instead of mourning for...
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This novel is all about finding yourself, which hopefully you can accomplish before you find yourself smack dab in the middle of an ocean without a...
The Awakening Summary 43412 Views
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Description:
This novel is all about finding yourself, which hopefully you can accomplish before you find yourself smack dab in the middle of an ocean without a paddle. Or a boat, for that matter.
Transcript
- 00:05
The Awakening, a la Shmoop. I love being a wife and mother. Mostly. Kind
- 00:12
of. A bit.
- 00:13
It's great, really, but when you're wiping noses and planning dinners and getting bossed
- 00:16
around by your husband, you kind of lose track of your inner self. …
- 00:20
That's why I really enjoyed my trip to Grand Isle. Lots of down time with my friend Adele,
Full Transcript
- 00:26
Madame Reisz <Rice>, and that hunky Robert. I know, I'm married, but a girl can dream,
- 00:31
can't she? Robert and I went for lots of long, platonic
- 00:34
walks on the beach. And long swims, too. I swam a little too far one night, it was touch
- 00:40
and go for a minute there…
- 00:40
…but I made it back. Thank goodness. I was so wired that I defied my bossy husband by
- 00:42
staying up past bedtime.
- 00:43
I think he was worried that this would send me down a path of vice and crime. …
- 00:49
It didn't…at least, not the crime part. But I was changing into a new, improved version
- 00:57
of myself. Now I was “Take Charge Edna,” …
- 01:01
… a sassy gal who marched to the beat of her own drummer. …
- 01:06
In another dramatic development, I was really starting to crush on Robert. Unfortunately,
- 01:12
I didn't realize this until he decided to leave for Mexico. ..
- 01:17
Even worse, vacation was over and I had to go home. …
- 01:20
But once I got back, I wasn't really interested in being the perfect wife anymore. So I stopped
- 01:26
trying, and started… painting. My husband was a bit upset about my new life direction.
- 01:32
Rebellion was liberating, but something was still missing. I decided that I had to get
- 01:33
my own place, with my own money.
- 01:34
So I got a little house where I could be independent and artistic, and… maybe hook up every now
- 01:40
and then. Mademoiselle Reisz really wanted me to become
- 01:45
“the hero of my own life,” as Dickens would put it, and she showed me letters from
- 01:52
Robert, saying that he loved me.
- 01:56
I was at a bit of a crossroads in my life, but Take Charge Edna knew exactly which way
- 02:02
to go!
- 02:03
While I was expanding my mental horizons, I had a fling with the local heartbreaker,
- 02:08
Alcée Arobin <All-SAY Air-oh-BAN>. I didn't love him the way I loved Robert, but in my
- 02:14
defense… he was really cute.
- 02:17
I was pretty sure that I should hate myself for moving out and cheating on my husband...but
- 02:21
I had a hard time seeing all this happiness as a bad thing.
- 02:26
Stuff got weird when I heard that Robert was coming back from Mexico. Imagine my surprise
- 02:31
when I ran into him at Mademoiselle Reisz’ house.
- 02:35
That deadbeat had been in town for almost two days, and his fingers must have been broken,
- 02:41
because I didn’t get a letter or a phone call!
- 02:44
Also, he had a little pouch that he got from some hussy in Mexico. Not that I was jealous
- 02:50
or anything.
- 02:51
And if you think that situation was awkward, Alcée then showed up, and Robert vamoosed.
- 02:58
I sent Alcée away, too…I just wasn’t in the mood for love anymore. I’m so fickle.
- 03:04
It was another few days before I ran into Robert again, and things went a little better
- 03:08
this time. I took him back to my new house for smoochies, and we took the next relationship
- 03:13
step! The L-word!
- 03:16
Naturally, this was when I heard that my friend Adele was in labor, and I had to go be her
- 03:21
birth coach. It was kind of well-timed, though, because Robert was getting all moony-eyed
- 03:25
about marriage. Just when I was starting to enjoy life as an eligible bachelorette.
- 03:26
I made Robert promise to stay right where he was, but when I got back from Adele’s,
- 03:29
he was gone. He only left a note, saying, “Goodbye, because I love you.” Come on,
- 03:34
Rob, lighten up…not every woman needs a ring on it!
- 03:37
I was in a pretty dark emotional place after that. …
- 03:41
I went back to our vacation spot at Grand Isle, but that was even more depressing. I
- 03:46
thought maybe a nice skinny dip would cheer me up. It was kind of a bust, though, because
- 03:50
I ended up drowning.
- 03:52
Do yourself a favor…if you ever have a mid-life crisis, just buy
- 04:19
a convertible!
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