The Awakening: Chapters 9–15

by Kate Chopin
When Edna Pontellier meets Robert Lebrun, she begins to question her roles as wife and mother. Set in New Orleans in the late 1800s, this pioneering novel is considered to be an early feminist classic. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–8, Chapters 9–15, Chapters 16–26, Chapters 27–39
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. capricious
    changeable
    The dark green of the branches stood out and glistened against the white muslin curtains which draped the windows, and which puffed, floated, and flapped at the capricious will of a stiff breeze that swept up from the Gulf.
  2. disposition
    an attitude of mind that favors one alternative over others
    There was now an apparent disposition to relax; to widen the circle of confidences and give a more general tone to the conversation.
  3. indignant
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    Old Monsieur Farival, grandfather of the twins, grew indignant over the interruption, and insisted upon having the bird removed and consigned to regions of darkness.
  4. immutable
    not subject or susceptible to change or variation
    Victor Lebrun objected; and his decrees were as immutable as those of Fate.
  5. impetuous
    marked by violent force
    The parrot fortunately offered no further interruption to the entertainment, the whole venom of his nature apparently having been cherished up and hurled against the twins in that one impetuous outburst.
  6. effulgence
    the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light
    There was a soft effulgence in the east. The moon was coming up, and its mystic shimmer was casting a million lights across the distant, restless water.
  7. endeavor
    attempt by employing effort
    She was dragging a chair in and out of her room, and at intervals objecting to the crying of a baby, which a nurse in the adjoining cottage was endeavoring to put to sleep.
  8. imperious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    She made an awkward, imperious little bow as she went in.
  9. homely
    lacking in physical beauty or proportion
    She was a homely woman, with a small weazened face and body and eyes that glowed. She had absolutely no taste in dress, and wore a batch of rusty black lace with a bunch of artificial violets pinned to the side of her hair.
  10. plaintive
    expressing sorrow
    One piece which that lady played Edna had entitled “Solitude.” It was a short, plaintive, minor strain.
  11. desolate
    providing no shelter or sustenance
    When she heard it there came before her imagination the figure of a man standing beside a desolate rock on the seashore.
  12. mincing
    affectedly dainty or refined
    Another piece called to her mind a dainty young woman clad in an Empire gown, taking mincing dancing steps as she came down a long avenue between tall hedges.
  13. abiding
    unceasing
    It was not the first time she had heard an artist at the piano. Perhaps it was the first time she was ready, perhaps the first time her being was tempered to take an impress of the abiding truth.
  14. pretext
    a fictitious reason that conceals the real reason
    She missed him the days when some pretext served to take him away from her, just as one misses the sun on a cloudy day without having thought much about the sun when it was shining.
  15. billow
    a large sea wave
    The sea was quiet now, and swelled lazily in broad billows that melted into one another and did not break except upon the beach in little foamy crests that coiled back like slow, white serpents.
  16. exultation
    a feeling of extreme joy
    A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul.
  17. uncanny
    suggesting the operation of supernatural influences
    It is like a night in a dream. The people about me are like some uncanny, half-human beings. There must be spirits abroad to-night.
  18. flippant
    showing an inappropriate lack of seriousness
    “Don’t banter me,” she said, wounded at what appeared to be his flippancy.
  19. pathos
    a quality that arouses emotions, especially pity or sorrow
    He did not mind the entreaty, but the tone with its delicate note of pathos was like a reproach.
  20. supercilious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    She was not a supercilious or an over-dainty woman.
  21. voluptuous
    displaying luxury and furnishing gratification to the senses
    She was not much given to reclining in the hammock, and when she did so it was with no cat-like suggestion of voluptuous ease, but with a beneficent repose which seemed to invade her whole body.
  22. grotesque
    ludicrously odd
    Edna began to feel like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities pressing into her soul.
  23. exuberance
    joyful enthusiasm
    The physical need for sleep began to overtake her; the exuberance which had sustained and exalted her spirit left her helpless and yielding to the conditions which crowded her in.
  24. intangible
    hard to pin down or identify
    They were troubled and feverish hours, disturbed with dreams that were intangible, that eluded her, leaving only an impression upon her half-awakened senses of something unattainable.
  25. suffuse
    become overspread as with a fluid, a color, or light
    But his face was suffused with a quiet glow when he met her.
  26. nicety
    conformity with some standard of correctness or propriety
    There was no time to wait for any nicety of service. They stood outside the window and the cook passed them their coffee and a roll, which they drank and ate from the window-sill.
  27. piquant
    attracting or delighting
    She had a round, sly, piquant face and pretty black eyes.
  28. saucy
    alluring or suggestive in a playful or pert way
    She was saucy the next, moving her head up and down, making "eyes" at Robert and making "mouths" at Beaudelet.
  29. squander
    spend thoughtlessly; throw away
    Pirate gold isn’t a thing to be hoarded or utilized. It is something to squander and throw to the four winds, for the fun of seeing the golden specks fly.
  30. stifling
    characterized by oppressive heat and humidity
    Another time she might have made an effort to regain her composure; but her one thought was to quit the stifling atmosphere of the church and reach the open air.
  31. solicitude
    a feeling of excessive concern
    Robert was full of solicitude.
    “It was folly to have thought of going in the first place, let alone staying. Come over to Madame Antoine’s; you can rest there.”
  32. cistern
    an artificial reservoir for storing liquids
    A youth, a mild-faced Acadian, was drawing water from the cistern, which was nothing more than a rusty buoy, with an opening on one side, sunk in the ground.
  33. sundry
    consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds
    "Of course not; he knows you are with me," Robert replied, as he busied himself among sundry pans and covered dishes which had been left standing on the hearth.
  34. repast
    the food served and eaten at one time
    He served her with no mean repast, dripping the coffee anew and sharing it with her. Madame Antoine had cooked little else than the mullets, but while Edna slept Robert had foraged the island.
  35. procure
    get by special effort
    He was childishly gratified to discover her appetite, and to see the relish with which she ate the food which he had procured for her.
  36. sardonic
    disdainfully or ironically humorous
    Victor laughed sardonically as he thanked his mother for her holy wish, of which he failed to see the benefit to anybody, except that it might afford her a more ample opportunity and license to talk herself.
  37. implicitly
    without doubting or questioning
    She had known personally but one Mexican, who made and sold excellent tamales, and whom she would have trusted implicitly, so soft-spoken was he.
  38. commodious
    large and roomy
    She changed her gown for a more comfortable and commodious wrapper.
  39. incipient
    only partly in existence; imperfectly formed
    For the first time she recognized the symptoms of infatuation which she had felt incipiently as a child, as a girl in her earliest teens, and later as a young woman.
  40. poignancy
    a quality that arouses emotions, especially pity or sorrow
    The recognition did not lessen the reality, the poignancy of the revelation by any suggestion or promise of instability.
Created on Wed Feb 13 17:21:24 EST 2013 (updated Thu Jul 27 10:19:24 EDT 2023)

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