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The Awakening Summary 43412 Views
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Description:
This novel is all about finding yourself, which hopefully you can accomplish before you find yourself smack dab in the middle of an ocean without a paddle. Or a boat, for that matter.
Transcript
- 00:05
The Awakening, a la Shmoop. I love being a wife and mother. Mostly. Kind
- 00:12
of. A bit.
- 00:13
It's great, really, but when you're wiping noses and planning dinners and getting bossed
- 00:16
around by your husband, you kind of lose track of your inner self. …
- 00:20
That's why I really enjoyed my trip to Grand Isle. Lots of down time with my friend Adele,
Full Transcript
- 00:26
Madame Reisz <Rice>, and that hunky Robert. I know, I'm married, but a girl can dream,
- 00:31
can't she? Robert and I went for lots of long, platonic
- 00:34
walks on the beach. And long swims, too. I swam a little too far one night, it was touch
- 00:40
and go for a minute there…
- 00:40
…but I made it back. Thank goodness. I was so wired that I defied my bossy husband by
- 00:42
staying up past bedtime.
- 00:43
I think he was worried that this would send me down a path of vice and crime. …
- 00:49
It didn't…at least, not the crime part. But I was changing into a new, improved version
- 00:57
of myself. Now I was “Take Charge Edna,” …
- 01:01
… a sassy gal who marched to the beat of her own drummer. …
- 01:06
In another dramatic development, I was really starting to crush on Robert. Unfortunately,
- 01:12
I didn't realize this until he decided to leave for Mexico. ..
- 01:17
Even worse, vacation was over and I had to go home. …
- 01:20
But once I got back, I wasn't really interested in being the perfect wife anymore. So I stopped
- 01:26
trying, and started… painting. My husband was a bit upset about my new life direction.
- 01:32
Rebellion was liberating, but something was still missing. I decided that I had to get
- 01:33
my own place, with my own money.
- 01:34
So I got a little house where I could be independent and artistic, and… maybe hook up every now
- 01:40
and then. Mademoiselle Reisz really wanted me to become
- 01:45
“the hero of my own life,” as Dickens would put it, and she showed me letters from
- 01:52
Robert, saying that he loved me.
- 01:56
I was at a bit of a crossroads in my life, but Take Charge Edna knew exactly which way
- 02:02
to go!
- 02:03
While I was expanding my mental horizons, I had a fling with the local heartbreaker,
- 02:08
Alcée Arobin <All-SAY Air-oh-BAN>. I didn't love him the way I loved Robert, but in my
- 02:14
defense… he was really cute.
- 02:17
I was pretty sure that I should hate myself for moving out and cheating on my husband...but
- 02:21
I had a hard time seeing all this happiness as a bad thing.
- 02:26
Stuff got weird when I heard that Robert was coming back from Mexico. Imagine my surprise
- 02:31
when I ran into him at Mademoiselle Reisz’ house.
- 02:35
That deadbeat had been in town for almost two days, and his fingers must have been broken,
- 02:41
because I didn’t get a letter or a phone call!
- 02:44
Also, he had a little pouch that he got from some hussy in Mexico. Not that I was jealous
- 02:50
or anything.
- 02:51
And if you think that situation was awkward, Alcée then showed up, and Robert vamoosed.
- 02:58
I sent Alcée away, too…I just wasn’t in the mood for love anymore. I’m so fickle.
- 03:04
It was another few days before I ran into Robert again, and things went a little better
- 03:08
this time. I took him back to my new house for smoochies, and we took the next relationship
- 03:13
step! The L-word!
- 03:16
Naturally, this was when I heard that my friend Adele was in labor, and I had to go be her
- 03:21
birth coach. It was kind of well-timed, though, because Robert was getting all moony-eyed
- 03:25
about marriage. Just when I was starting to enjoy life as an eligible bachelorette.
- 03:26
I made Robert promise to stay right where he was, but when I got back from Adele’s,
- 03:29
he was gone. He only left a note, saying, “Goodbye, because I love you.” Come on,
- 03:34
Rob, lighten up…not every woman needs a ring on it!
- 03:37
I was in a pretty dark emotional place after that. …
- 03:41
I went back to our vacation spot at Grand Isle, but that was even more depressing. I
- 03:46
thought maybe a nice skinny dip would cheer me up. It was kind of a bust, though, because
- 03:50
I ended up drowning.
- 03:52
Do yourself a favor…if you ever have a mid-life crisis, just buy
- 04:19
a convertible!
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