Assignment from Mrs. Green

Identify other author techniques within the novel. These may be use of motif, extended metaphor, allusion, imagery, contrasts, color, allegory. In a typed outline, present this information.



I. Personification
	A. (X) But the night sat lightly upon the sea and the land.
	B. (XII) The sun was high up and beginning to bite.
	C. (XIII) ...and the big, four posted, snow-white (bed), invited one to repose.

II. Descriptive
	A. (I) (Mr. Pontellier to Edna)  “You are burnt beyond recognition,” he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage.  She held up her hands, strong, shapely hands, and surveyed them critically, drawing up her lawn sleeves above the wrists.
	B. (III) The mosquitoes made merry over her, biting her firm, round arms and nipping at her bare insteps.
	C. (XIII) She stretched her strong limbs that ached a little.  She ran her fingers through her loosened hair for a while.  She looked at her round arms as she held them straight up and rubbed them one after the other, observing closely, as if it were something she saw for the first time, the fine, firm quality and texture of her flesh.
	D. (XIII) She was very hungry.  Edna bit a piece from the brown loaf, tearing it with her strong, white teeth.

III. Allusions
	A. (XIII) “How many years have I slept?” she inquired....”You have slept precisely one hundred years.”
	B. Chopin (the author), frequently refers to Chopin (the composer).  She makes it obvious that only Chopin’s music can move Edna to tears.   

IV. Foreshadowing
	A. (XXXVI) “Don’t go; don’t go!  Oh!  Edna, stay with me,” he pleaded.  “Why should you go? Stay with me, stay with me.”
	B. (XIII) “How many years have I slept?” she inquired.  “...A new race of beings must have sprung up, leaving only you and me as past relics.”  “You have slept precisely one hundred years.  I was left here to guard your slumbers...”
	C. (XIV) She could only realize that herself- her present self- was in some way different from the other self.  That she was seeing with different eyes and making the acquaintance of new conditions in herself that colored and changed her environment, she did not yet suspect.  She wondered why Robert had gone away and left her....It was so much more natural to have him stay when he was not absolutely required to leave her.  
	D. (XIV) As Edna waited for her husband she sang low a little song that Robert had sung as they crossed the bay.  It began with “Ah! Si tu savais,” and every verse ended with “si tu savais.”  Robert’s voice was not pretentious.  It was musical and true.  The voice, the notes, the whole refrain haunted her memory.
	E. (XXIII) She reminded him of some beautiful, sleek animal waking up in the sun.
	F. (XXIII) Nor was the Doctor happier in his selection, when he told the old, ever new and curious story of the waning of a woman’s love, seeking strange, new channels, only to return to its legitimate source after days of fierce unrest.
	G. (II) Robert smoked cigarettes because he couldn’t afford cigars.
	H. (II) I suppose he isn’t coming back.
	I. (II) The children liked Robert.
	J. (III) The voice of the sea called to her.  
	K. (III) She was forced to admit that there was none better (husband).

V. Imagery
	A. Colors
		1. Edna’s eyes are yellowish-brown, about the same color of her hair.
		2. The parrot is described as being green and yellow.
		3. There was a field of white blossoms.
		4.  “...and the big, four posted, snow-white (bed), invited one to repose.”
		5. A lace shawl the same color of her skin.
		6. “The champagne was quaffed from huge golden goblets.”
	B. Sounds and Music
		1. The parrot at the beginning of the book screeching “Allez vous-en!  Allez vous-en!  Sapristi!”
		2. The Farival twins playing on the piano.
		3. Mme. Reisz plays Chopin for Edna.  She claims that Edna is the only one worth playing for.
		4. “...as she swam she heard the voices of her father and her sisters, the barking of a dog, the spurs of Calvary officers clanging, and the hum of bees.
		5. The sound of the Gulf.
	C. Smells
		1. “strange rare odors abroad a tangle of sea smell and of weeds and damp new plowed earth, mingled with heavy perfume of a field of white blossoms somewhere near.”
		2. “...with the heavy odor of jasmine that came through the open window.”
		3. Edna smells the musty odor of pinks.

VI. Culture
	A. Food
		1. Bon-bons and peanuts for the children
		2. Tea was served at the Tuesday gatherings.
		3. The men drank booze when they got together.
		4. Edna ate more when she was around Alcee.
	B. Languages present
		1. The parrot spoke many languages including French and Spanish.
		2. Latin
		3. Patois
		4. Foreshadowing was present within most of the phrases that were spoken in French: Allez vous-en!, Passez! Adieu!, Elle est morte.
	C. Clothing
		1. Women wore long muslin dresses, very warm
		2. Women wore many layers
		3. Men wore pants suits, complete three piece suits

VII. Similes present
	A. “...their presence lingered with her like the memory of a delicious song.”
	B. “She was blindly following whatever impulse moved her, as if she had placed herself in alien hands for direction...”
	C. “They were leaning toward each other as the weathered oaks bent from the sea.”
	D. “...upon the beach in the little foamy crests that coiled back like slow, white serpents.”

My Other Pages

My Main Page
a directory
"The Awakening" and Kate Chopin
my main page on Kate Chopin
Nathaniel Hawthorne and "The Scarlett Letter"
my main page on Nathaniel Hawthorne

Jennifer Robitaille

jenny8726@hotmail.com



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