Assignment from Mrs. Green 

Identify the themes significant to the novel.  In chart form, cite 
evidence of the development of each theme.  Include plot action and 
significant quotes.  In a paper, typed, trace the development of one
major theme and discuss its relevance today.
Themes Chart 

1.  Love
	"I love you, only you, no one but you."
	Robert's constant devotion to Edna
	Leonce loved Edna, Edna doesn't love him.
	Robert loves Edna, Edna doesn't realize that she loves him until he leaves for Mexico.
	She had never sent for him before.  She had never asked for him.  She had never seemed to want him before.

2.  Loneliness
	The song that Mme. Ratignolloe played for Edna, Edna called solitude.
	The sea was a being of solitude.

3.  Independence
	Edna wanted to get away form her husband and children.
	She wanted to be independent of them, wanted to be independent of society's obligations.

4.  Life and death
	Her relationships with Alcee and Robert were like a life cycle.
	Her own life was full, once she awakened to Robert's love and the lure of the sea, she needn't live any longer.
Just a Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down 

	Love.  The sweetness and tenderness.  The things that seem so 
apparent aere clouded through the rose-colored glasses.  This was just
what happened in The Awakening between Edna and Robert.
	Their relationship was clouded form the beginning.  Robert always
wanted more, but since Edna was married, it was unacceptable.  Edna
didn't realize her feelings for Robert until late into the book, after 
Robert left for Mexico.
	Love is the most often used theme in novels and stories today.
Whether it is its mystical lure, or rather it is simply something that 
everyone experiences, love is a universal theme.  It captures audiences
throughout the world, in plays, novels, and poetry .
	Edgar Allen Poe once said, "For the death of love, invokes the love
of death."  This was true not only for Poe, but also for Edna.  For once 
she lost Robert and his love, to her, it seemed that she had lost everything.

Jennifer Robitaille

jenny8726@hotmail.com


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