Scribd
Upload
440 views3 pages

The Awakening

The Awakening documents Edna Pontellier's journey to finding her independence and identity as a woman. Edna begins as a quiet, unhappy wife but during a summer vacation she starts to break free from social expectations. She develops romantic feelings for Robert Lebrun and realizes her marriage does not fulfill her. Back home, Edna rejects her role as housewife and mother, prioritizing her own desires instead. While her independence allows Edna to explore art and her feelings, it also leads to selfishness and isolation from her family and society. In the end, Edna's solitary nature and inability to continue her independent life result in her suicide.

Uploaded by

Dylan Lowe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
440 views3 pages

The Awakening

The Awakening documents Edna Pontellier's journey to finding her independence and identity as a woman. Edna begins as a quiet, unhappy wife but during a summer vacation she starts to break free from social expectations. She develops romantic feelings for Robert Lebrun and realizes her marriage does not fulfill her. Back home, Edna rejects her role as housewife and mother, prioritizing her own desires instead. While her independence allows Edna to explore art and her feelings, it also leads to selfishness and isolation from her family and society. In the end, Edna's solitary nature and inability to continue her independent life result in her suicide.

Uploaded by

Dylan Lowe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

The Awakening

The Awakening shows us Edna`s path to finding herself as a woman.


Edna begins as a quiet woman who was not entirely happy with her life.
Through many influences she becomes free and independent.
Ednas vacation at Grand Isle is the location of where she first starts to
find herself. That summer at Grand Isle she began to loosen a little the
mantle of reserve that had always enveloped her (Chopin 14). Her talk with
Adele Ratignolle shows the true feelings Edna had for her family. Edna had a
desire for love that her husband did not give her. Edna had developed a
romantic attraction for Robert Lebrun, who also developed a romantic
attraction for Edna, at Grand Isle. When Robert goes to Mexico, Edna always
has him on her mind.
When Edna returns home to New Orleans, she is more defiant and
rebellious. She cares more about herself than the people around her. She
rejects societys view of what women are supposed to do and starts to act
upon her desires. She made no ineffectual efforts to conduct her household
en bonne mengere (like a good housewife), going and coming as it suited her
fancy, and, so far as she was able, lending herself to any passing caprice
(Chopin 57). Mr. Pontellier goes to Doctor Mandelet to see if he could have a
solution to help his wife. Mandelet suspected another man but tells Mr.
Pontellier to let Edna alone and not bother her.

Ednas desires lead her to make decisions without thinking about what
consequences may follow. She decides to move out of the house because
she feels as if the house is not hers. She did not think about what the move
could to do Mr. Pontelliers work and he had to cover her mistake. She also
did not think about the consequences if she tried to marry Robert. She did
not question what her husband would think or what society would think.
Even though Robert had the same passionate love for Edna as she had for
him, he would not take her from Mr. Pontellier. Robert said, Oh! I was
demented dreaming of wild, impossible things, recalling men who had set
their wives free, we have heard of such things (Chopin 108). Edna mocked
Robert for his carefulness saying that she is not a possession of Mr. Pontellier.
Ednas independence often leads to selfishness.
Art is important to Ednas development in the novel. Mademoiselle
Reiszs piano performances were an emotional awakening to Edna. She
waited for the material pictures which she thought would gather and blaze
before her imagination. She waited in vain. She saw no pictures of solitude,
of hope, of longing, or of despair. But the very passions themselves were
aroused within her soul, swaying it, lashing it, as the waves daily beat upon
her splendid body (Chopin 26). When Edna realizes that emotion can be
expressed through music, she starts painting as a way to express her
emotions, not to pass time.
Solitude is the consequence and choice of Edna becoming
independent. Edna becomes distant with her family. Mr. Pontellier wants

Edna to be a mother-woman, but Edna defies him. She also distances herself
from Mr. Pontellier by not going to New York with him. She separates from
her children by letting them stay with their grandma. Robert left Edna
realizing that a relationship with her would bring lots of consequences. At
the end of the novel solitude is one of the reasons Edna kills herself.

You might also like