- personal propertyphraseChapter 1 →
A legal term for things a person owns, like objects or goods. Here it is used to show that Léonce thinks of his wife as a possession he owns rather than as a person.
“He looked at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage.”
- abyssesnounChapter 1 →
Bottomless depths or vast, dark empty spaces. Here it suggests a feeling of being lost in endless, lonely silence.
“inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude.”
- solitudenounChapter 1 →
The state of being completely alone, away from other people. Here it carries a sense of peaceful but profound isolation.
“inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude.”
- devotionsnounChapter 2 →
Religious prayers or readings performed as a daily personal practice, not as part of a formal church service.
“The lady in black was reading her morning devotions on the porch of a neighboring cottage.”
- yearningsnounChapter 2 →
Deep, aching feelings of longing or desire for something or someone. Here it describes the intense romantic feelings the young lovers share.
“Two young lovers were exchanging their hearts' yearnings beneath the children's tent.”
- oppressionnounChapter 3 →
A heavy, suffocating feeling of being weighed down or trapped, here felt inwardly as a kind of emotional or psychological burden.
“An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish.”
- fictitious selfphraseChapter 3 →
A false version of oneself that a person performs for society, a constructed identity worn like a costume rather than one's true inner nature.
“she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear”
- commiserationnounChapter 4 →
A feeling of sympathy or pity for someone else's misfortune or limited situation. Here Edna pities Adèle for a life she sees as narrow and unthinking.
“She was moved by a kind of commiseration for Madame Ratignolle, — a pity for that colorless existence which never uplifted its possessor beyond the region of blind contentment.”
- pensionnounChapter 4 →
A small, modest boarding house or guesthouse, common in French-influenced cultures, where guests pay for a room and meals.
“A book had gone the rounds of the pension.”
- sensuousadjectiveChapter 5 →
Appealing richly to the physical senses — sight, touch, warmth — in a way that feels lush and pleasurable rather than spiritual or intellectual.
“seated there like some sensuous Madonna, with the gleam of the fading d…”
- blundernounChapter 5 →
A serious, embarrassing mistake made through carelessness or a failure to understand the social rules of a situation.
“She might make the unfortunate blunder of taking you seriously.”
- chaoticadjectiveChapter 6 →
Completely disordered and confused, without any clear pattern or direction. Here it describes the messy, unsettled nature of any new beginning.
“The beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing.”
- confidencesnounChapter 7 →
Private personal secrets or feelings shared in trust with another person. Here it means Edna was not the type to open up or share intimate thoughts.
“She was not a woman given to confidences, a characteristic which had hitherto deterred her neighbors from pressing their intimacy upon her.”
- hithertoadverbChapter 7 →
Up until this particular point in time; until now. It is a formal, old-fashioned word meaning 'before this moment.'
“a characteristic which had hitherto deterred her neighbors from pressing their intimacy upon her.”
- introspectionnounChapter 7 →
The act of carefully examining one's own thoughts, feelings, and inner mental life. Here Edna is unused to looking inward and finds it uncomfortable.
“Edna did not put it into words; she was not accustomed to introspection, and was not thoroughly at ease in doing so.”
- suffusedverbChapter 8 →
Gradually spread over or filled with a quality, color, or feeling, the way light or warmth slowly covers a surface.
“His face was suffused with a quiet glow when he spoke of her.”
- arousedverbChapter 9 →
Stirred up or awakened strong feelings or emotions that had been dormant. Here it means powerful inner passions were awakened and set in motion.
“The very passions themselves were aroused within her soul, swaying it, lashing it, as the waves daily beat upon her splendid body.”
- exultationnounChapter 10 →
A feeling of intense, triumphant joy and elation, especially after achieving something difficult or unexpected.
“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.”
- importnounChapter 10 →
Great importance or significance. Here 'significant import' means a power that truly matters and carries real weight.
“as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul.”
- fancynounChapter 10 →
The imagination or the mind's ability to form vivid mental images and impressions. Here it means her excited, active imagination.
“the vast expanse of water, meeting and melting with the moonlit sky, conveyed to her excited fancy.”
- grotesqueadjectiveChapter 11 →
Strangely distorted or bizarrely unreal, in a way that is both fascinating and unsettling. Here it describes the dream as beautiful but also weirdly impossible.
“She began to feel like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream.”
- infatuationnounChapter 12 →
An intense but short-lived and somewhat irrational passion for a person, stronger than ordinary affection but not considered deep or lasting love.
“She was still under the spell of her infatuation. She had tried to forget him, realizing the inutility of remembering.”
- inutilitynounChapter 12 →
The state of being useless or pointless; the quality of serving no practical purpose. Here it means there was no use in dwelling on memories of Robert.
“She had tried to forget him, realizing the inutility of remembering.”
- obliteratingverbChapter 13 →
Completely wiping out or erasing something so that nothing remains. Here it means her sleep destroyed all thought and awareness entirely.
“She slept just as she had lain down, without a thought, without a care, obliterating thought and existence.”
- relicsnounChapter 14 →
Surviving remnants left over from a past time, usually objects or people that belong to an earlier era. Here it suggests Edna and Robert are the only ones left from a world that has vanished.
“leaving only you and me as past relics.”
The AwakeningNovel by Kate Chopin