The Awakening Quotes Analysis

Freedom:

“She was flushed and felt intoxicated with the sound of her own voice and the unaccustomed taste of candor. It muddled her like wine, or like a first breath of freedom.” (Chopin)
This quote is when Edna first starts to realize the sense of freedom she is feeling. She is noticing herself more and more. It made her feel intoxicated, like she was drinking, when really it was her first feeling of freedom.
“There was something in her attitude, in her whole appearance when she leaned her head against the high-backed chair and spread her arms, which suggested the regal woman, the one who rules, who looks on, who stands alone.”(Chopin)
In this quote, it shows Edna as a free independent women, which is who she is becoming. This is developing
the theme of freedom in the novella.
“There was with her a feeling of having descended in the social scale, with a corresponding sense of having risen in the spiritual.
Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual. She began to look with her own eyes; to see and to apprehend the deeper undercurrents of life. No longer was she content to “feed upon opinion” when her own soul had invited her."(Chopin)
This quote just goes to show that Edna is finding her independence. She was "relieving herself from her obligations", as stated. This is just meaning she is becoming free.

Sexism:
“You are burnt beyond recognition," he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage." (Chopin
When Mr. Pontelier says this, it shows the way he really views his wife. As stated, he sees her as just a piece of property or something he owns. This shows the sexism of the age they were in as well as the way society views women in this period, which develops the theme of sexism.
" They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands..." (Chopin)
This quote shows the societal expectations that women are seen to do. They are supposed to worship their husbands and their kids. This shows sexism as a
theme.
Search for Self:
“She was seeking herself and finding herself in just such sweet, half-darkness which met her moods. But the voices were not soothing that came to her from the darkness and the sky above and the stars. They jeered and sounded mournful notes without promise, devoid even of hope.”(Chopin)
This quote is just an example of Edna's search for herself. She is looking for who she really is and the quote even says that she was working on finding who she really is.
“One of these days,” she said, “I’m going to pull myself together for a while and think—try to determine what character of a woman I am; for, candidly, I don’t know. By all the codes which I am acquainted with, I am a devilishly wicked specimen of the sex.” (Chopin)
This quote explains Edna's want and need to find who she really is. She says she wants to pull herself together do determine her character, which is just another way of stating that she wants to find herself.
"In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her."(Chopin)
This quote is an explanation and example of the free feeling that Edna begins to embody. She is finding herself, as well as her freedom. This relates to both searching for herslef as well as the theme of freedom
Public V Private Life
"The picture of the tragedian stood enframed upon her desk.
Any one may possess the portrait of a tragedian without exciting suspicion or comment. In the presence of others she expressed admiration for his exalted gifts, as she handed the photograph around and dwelt upon the fidelity of the likeness. When was alone she sometimes picked it up and kissed the cold glass passionately." (Chopin)
This quote shows how different she was in public versus when she was alone. In public she showed no passion. She was a normal woman. In private she was full of passion and expressed her feelings in a way that would be seen as wrong if publicly known. This shows the theme of Public versus private life in the novella.
"Or else she stayed in and nursed a mood with which she was becoming too familiar for her own comfort and peace of mind. It was not despair; but it seemed to her as if life were passing by, leaving its promise broken and unfulfilled," (Chopin)
The quote explains that she feels as if she is living the life she shows to the public so much that she is becoming that person. She feels as if the way she is living in public is leading her to feel like life is just passing her by, which adds to the theme of public vs private
life.

Personal reflection focus - could this have ended any other way for Edna Pontellier? Consider your posts throughout the novel on this blog where you discussed characterization, setting, historical context, and society. Use evidence from the text to support your answer. I believe this could have ended differently for Edna. While she had the inner feeling that she was causing issues within her family as well as friends, she could have turned it around. It is even stated at one point “I [Edna] would give up the unessential; I would give up my money, I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself. I can't make it more clear; it's only something I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me," (Chopin)”. This is her saying she would give up anything but herself. But in the end she gives up everything, including herself. She did not have to kill herself, even though she felt helpless. During this time period and in the setting she is in, Edna was not supposed to have any form of opinion or importance in anything other than the interests of her husband and children. But Edna was different. She was very opinionated and felt deeper than most women were seen to, which was most likely what led her to suicide, but it also was what could have pulled her out of the thought.