What happens when the white sunshade enters into Léonce’s view?

The Awakening by Kate Chopin. We will be reading The Awakening over the course of the next two weeks. It is a short book; however, this is a reading assignment that doesn’t allow for skipping or skimming. Be sure to give adequate time to read through Kate Chopin’s work with as much due diligence as shorter works we’ve read so you can fully engage in this week’s Discussion and create a powerful Presentation about it next week. This well-known novel represents the developing character of a woman who “wakes up” several years into her marriage to discover how much sensual experience her conventional life as wife and mother has denied her. Thus the story offers an extended look at the effects of marriage, traditionally understood, on the awakening consciousness of an individual woman. In this way, it is the after story of the conventional romance, presenting what happens after the wedding. It is worth noting that this is not the story of the author’s life—even though she uses inspiration from it as per Local Color custom—although many people may be tempted to read it as such. Chopin, the mother of five children, was by most accounts happily married; she did not begin writing until after her husband’s death. Edna Pontellier is an original and bold character who dares to defy her culture’s expectations in order to explore her own desires. Keep in mind that a naive reader identifies with the characters as if they were real, while a sophisticated reader understands that characters are constructs of language, conventions, history, and more. Especially as the topic of suicide becomes part of our conversation, I urge everyone to focus on the literary elements and their reflection of history. I promise you’ll find more value from the text approaching from this direction! Overall, this cleanly written prose narrative lends itself well to close reading, and the opening passages of the novel introduce important elements of theme, character, conflict, and, most interestingly, perspective. It begins in the husband’s point of view, and the details tell us much about his attitudes toward life, possessions, and his wife. As we start class by reading the opening passages, identify whose perspective the story initially presents. What happens when the white sunshade enters into Léonce’s view?