1. How does Edna spend most of her time in this section of the book?…
Chapter I introduces us to Edna (the protagonist) and Leonce Pontellier (her husband), the couple who live on Grand Isle (main setting) and are one of the main focuses of the book, Robert Lebrun (a young Frenchman who is attached to Edna), and some minor characters, like Madame Lebrun (Robert’s mother). Chapter II has Edna and Robert talking and expanding their character while Leonce is away at a hotel. Chapter III has Leonce returning home to Edna, criticizing her for acting unlike a common Creole mother, which leaves her crying on the porch due to feeling “oppressed” by her husband, which shows how she wants to be independent, and Leonce leaves the next day. Chapter IV expands Leonce’s character while also explaining how society thinks of regular…
On the surface Edna seems to have it all, the perfect life as it would be perceived by society. She has two children and a doctor for a husband. However, Edna doesn’t feel as if this completes her; instead, she enters a phase of self-discovery and a sense of finding passion again. Edna is trying to break traditional ties that claim that she should be a good mother-woman. This ultimately leads to her awakening or freedom from the life that she believes restricts her. Edna’s sense of awakening happens in stages with different aspects leading up to the final awakening. Her awakening is a cycle that is completed with many different events synching together to form a better understanding of Edna Pontellier.…
Edna Pontellier is a woman in control of her life. She and her husband, Léonce, have frequent power struggles due to this. When he returns from his business trip and goes to check on their sleeping children, Léonce is convinced that one of them has a fever and needs looking after, but not from him. Léonce tells Edna to go look after her kids, and when she refuses and says that she checked before and they were both fine he starts to reproach her for neglecting her family and not caring about her kids. Edna, finally, finds herself going to the kids’ room just to calm Léonce down; but she never tells him what she did or how the kids were. After this Edna feels: “An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in an unfamiliar part of her…
Edna’s independence causes familial tension. Edna’s resistance to her husband’s orders angers Leonce. For example, when Mr. Pontellier learns that Edna did not stay at home for her regular Tuesday reception, he screams and says she had to continue the…
Edna is realizing her position as a human being and recognizes her relations with others in the world. She is having an individual self-discovery or sexual desire and her intellectual pursuits.…
One of the main struggles of a woman’s role she faces is over motherhood. Edna loves her children, however, she wants to find her identity and she feels her children hold her back. Even her children do not view her as nurturing,…
At the beginning of the novel, Chopin´s main character Edna Pontellier lives the life of a typical woman in the 19th century. Society and her successful husband Léonce…
Characters: Edna Pontellier is a twenty eight year old wife of Léonce Pontellier, a businessman from New Orleans, In the middle of the book Edna finds herself dissatisfied with her marriage and her limited lifestyle, she soon falls in love with her husbands best friend Robert Lebrun which starts trouble with her relationship with her husband and her husband's relationship with Robert. I chose dissatisfied as an adjective to describe Edna because she is not that happy with her wife role and feels disappointed with herself about falling in love with Robert.…
The expectations of tradition coupled with the limitations of law gave women of the late 1800s very few opportunities for individual expression, not to mention independence. Expected to perform their domestic duties and care for the health and happiness of their families, Victorian women were prevented from seeking the satisfaction of their own wants and needs (SparkNotes Editors). This book is started as Edna, her husband, and their two small boys been in a vacation on Grand Isle, in a resort that was managed by Madame Lebrun, and her sons Robert and Victor. But basically it’s really only Edna and her two sons since her husband Leonce, which is a very successful businessman, works in the city during the week and joins them only on weekends. So Edna mostly spends much of her time with her friend, Adele, but eventually begins seeing Robert Lebrun more and more frequently. But later she founds out that his leaving for mexico the next day and he has yet not told her and she got devastated after finding out this news by herself . When Edna and her family returns to New Orleans after the summer , she begins moving more and more away from her traditional role, as she attempts to live life on her own terms.…
Between 1815 and 1860, mass revolutions in industry and religion spread throughout America, changing it politically, economically, and socially. These revolutions affected all of the country in various aspects, especially in opening new opportunities for women at this time. The Market Revolution and Second Great Awakening affected the evolution of women's role in the family, workplace, and society by expanding their roles and introducing them to reform and the strength of womanhood.…
During the 1800’s, women were viewed as weak and 2nd class citizens, however women would attempt to change the views of the era. During religion and reform movements, women were prominent leaders due to their new recognition and power. In addition, during the Second Awakening, women became more involved in religion and gained the support of Charles Grandison Finney, an influential preacher. Finney motivated women to become leading members of the church. Therefore, women gained more respect, but were still viewed as 2nd class citizens. The women’s rights movement had similarities with black slaves, since both parties were mistreated. Similar to black slaves, women could not vote and their husbands were allowed to mistreat them. Furthermore,…
In “The Awakening”, Edna Pontellier is known as Mrs. Pontellier for the first part of the book. The book is based in a time period where women had no say and were just “mother-women”, who are kind of like a nun. There were many different types of women in the victorian era but none of them had a lot of rights or not much of a say.…
Edna faces this struggle with her husband, Mr. Pontellier because she feels like he controls her. After her first awakening experience, Edna’s husband demands that she come inside and go to bed and it is noted that, “She wondered if her husband had ever spoken to her like that before, and if she had submitted to his command. Of course she had; she remembered that she had. But she could not realize why or how she should have yielded, feeling as she then did.” This realization that her husband used to control her and Edna’s refusal to continue obeying him demarks the first steps she takes toward taking control of her own life. The second prominent example of blatant disregard for her husband’s wishes is when Edna moves into her own house. No longer wishing to live in her husband’s house, she moves to her own as the narrator points out, “The pigeon-house pleased her. It at once assumed the intimate character of a home, while she herself invested it with a charm… Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual.” This validates Edna’s desire to be free from her former life and highlights the fact that she is only able to truly flourish when she is on her own. Sadly, one must be willing to give up relationships in order to fully achieve this sense of…
Edna is a married woman vacationing at her summer home with her family. Edna’s husband conforms to gender stereotypes of this time and is devoted more to his work than to his family, and believes he holds dominance over his wife solely because he is male. In the first chapter of the novel Mr. Pontellier leaves Edna for Klein’s Hotel and doesn’t return for hours. This is the first of many instanced when Edna is isolated from her husband for long periods of time. Edna quickly becomes rebellious toward her husband. In her time alone she realizes that she doesn’t need him and can be perfectly happy on her own. Edna relishes in her first experience of talking back to her husband enjoying the power she suddenly feels over…