Critique of the Awakening Reading all the different criticisms of Kate Chopin's The Awakening brought up ideas and revelations that I had never considered during my first reading of the novel. When I first read the text, I saw it as a great work of art to be revered. However, as I read through all the passages, I began to examine Chopin's work more critically and see the weaknesses and strengths of his novel. Reading others' interpretations of his novel has also surfaced new concepts to revisit. In "An American Madame Bovary", Cyrille Arnavon argues that "there seems to be insufficient justification for Edna's 'romantic' suicide, and this is the main cause." weakness of this beautiful novel” (185). Throughout the book, Edna is portrayed as a strong woman who emerges from sleep and makes her mark on the world. She starts earning her own money and leaves her husband's house to move into a house of her own. She shows an inner desire to be her independent self. In "The End of the Novel", George Spangler suggests that a first...