Friday, October 4, 2019
The Awakening Ch.1-11
Edna Pontellier is such a fascinating character to me. She seems so uptight and unhappy. Her marriage has no love in it as she explains that there was “no passion”. Before she married Mr. Pontellier, she had been a hopeless romantic but after many rejections from men, she kind of just settled for her current husband and gave up on romance. She also seems to be very cool toward her children. She even confesses that she sometimes forgets about them and that “Their absence was a sort of relief”(25). I think her lack of motherly kindness towards her children stems from the fact that her mother died when she was young. She never had a other take care of her so she does not know how to take care of her kids. Her coolness probably comes from being uncomfortable despite her love for her children. I noticed that at the beginning of the book, her husband comes home drunk one night and ask her to check one of the boys for a fever. She explains that there’s no need to worry yet she still gets up to check, obeying her husband. However, at the end of the chapter, Mr. Pontellier almost aggressively requests that she come to bed. Instead of simply doing as he says, she stays in the hammock outside and even tells him to never speak to her in that tone again. Here, we can see that Edna is starting to become more independent by standing up for herself. She feels this sense of freedom when she is around Robert. They spend a lot of time together in these chapters from sitting on the porch to walking from the beach. When Edna had not seen Robert she explained that she missed him “just as one misses the sun on a cloudy day without having thought much about the sun when it was shining”(36). In other words, she enjoys his company subconsciously to where she feels sad without his presence. I find it ironic that when her husband left for a business trip, she did not think twice about missing him but when she does not see Robert for one day, she immediately misses him. I wonder if Robert will ever make a move on Edna and if he did, would Edna reciprocate back or is their relationship totally platonic? I also find it funny how Edna finds such a fascination with Madame Ratignolle, who seems to be the polar opposite of herself. Madame Ratignolle seems to be more femine and loving toward her family than Edna. Once again, this could stem from Edna’s loss of her mother at a young age.
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The Awakening Chapters 12-20
ReplyDeleteIn these chapters, Edna continues to spend more and more time with Robert. She realizes how happy she feels around him and Edna willingly leaves her children behind to see him. She begins to dream about Robert and use her imagination again which she says she hasn’t done since marrying Mr. Pontellier. Unexpectedly, Robert announces that he is leaving for Mexico one night after dinner. Edna is furious that she had not heard this news from him directly and did not expect him to leave her after they had been growing closer to each other. In a conversation between them before they are leaving, she says, "I was planning to be together" which he responds by saying, "So was I... Perhaps that's the-." Even though it does not say it explicitly, this conversation shows that Robert is leaving because he knows he cannot be with Edna. Even after he leaves and she returns to New Orleans, she continues to think about him constantly when she says, “But the thought of him was like an obsession, ever pressing itself upon her.” She struggles to accept that she “had lost that which she had held, that she had been denied that which her impassioned, newly awakened being demanded.” She expresses this frustration by continuing to act out and not obey her husband’s demands. I thought it was interesting that now that she is starting to be honest with her husband about how she feels, he wonders if she is "growing a little unbalanced mentally." Edna is clearly unhappy in her marriage because she tries to destroy her wedding ring and throws a glass vase on the ground. I noticed that Edna continues to compare herself and her marriage to Madame Ratignolle who seems to have the "perfect life" in her eyes. At the end of the chapter, Edna goes to Madame Lebrun's house to read the letters they have received from Robert which makes me wonder if Robert is going to write Edna and if they will ever see each other again.