"Mr. Pontellier followed him closely. He meant to stop at the wedding on his way to New York and endeavor by every means which money and love could devise to atone somewhat for Edna's incomprehensible action.
"You are too lenient, too lenient by far, Léonce," asserted the Colonel. "Authority, coercion are what is needed. Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife. Take my word for it."
The Colonel was perhaps unaware that he had coerced his own wife into her grave. Mr. Pontellier had a vague suspicion of it which he thought it needless to mention at that late day." (Chapter 24)
This is the narrator but I think it's Edna's thoughts. I definitely think Edna is pushing to liberate herself from the social construct that she needs to go to her sister's wedding... at this point, I think it's less about family relationships and more about what Edna SHOULD do that she doesn't want to. This whole book she seems to sort of have been fighting it, by going out on her reception days, but this is definitely the biggest step... I think the reason why it's so big is mostly because she is liberating herself both from her husband's idea of a good wife, but also from her father's idea of a good woman.
ReplyDeleteThe cycle that I think you mean is Colonel's oppression of his wife, his oppression of Edna and Mr. Pontellier's oppression as well... They're ignorant to the fact that they are being oppressive, they're just doing what they're used to. Obviously this means the next victims are the two little Pontellier boys. It was intriguing to me the whole time that Chopin gave Edna sons instead of daughters, but I think at the end it sort of became clear that this was the direction she wanted, as opposed to Edna having daughters. They will be victims in the sense that they will be unaware of the way they coerce their wives/daughters; if the cycle continues, they'll basically either be Colonels or Leonce's.
It's the Colonel--Edna's father--and Mr. Pontellier speaking to each other. But I think it's Mr. Pontellier's opinon being spoken when it says "The Colonel was perhaps unaware that he had coerced his own wife into her grave." It feels that way because Mr. Pontellier and the Colonel don't exactly get along. Mr. P is not the man he woulda have chosen for his daughter. Mr. Pontellier and the Colonel are radically different people with equally radically different backgrounds. In an earlier chapter we discussed how Edna only married Mr. Pontellier because her father didn't like him and because he was so different from her father.
ReplyDeleteAs for Edna's refusal...it seems to be a mix of things. One Edna really isn't that close to her sister (or any of her family), two she's unhappy with her own marriage. Her unhappiness with her own marriage could go two different ways--that she's jealous of her sisters happiness and that's why she doesn't wanna go to the wedding or that she's afraid the same thing will happen to her sister and is avoiding the wedding because she doesn't want to celebrate something that has the potential to end up disastrous.
I don't really see it as a liberation though. There will always be another wedding to attend. It's just Edna putting her foot down and Mr. Pontellier and her father blowing it out of proportions so that it ends up seeming like a liberation. She didn't do it to spite them or to yell 'Hey I'm not doing what you want me to!' she just didn't want to go to the wedding and nothing her father or husband said changed that.
I'm not sure what you mean by cycle though. Nor do I really understand what Allison is getting at either. I just see a parallel between the Colonels treatment of his wife vs. how Mr. Pontellier treats his wife.
The Colonel's oppression of his wife lead to her death, but Chopin gives us no more information or detail than that. And Mr. Pontellier's oppression and then lack of oppression with his 'hands-off' approach to Edna's behavior (as suggested by the Doctor) ultimately leads to Edna's suicide.
I guess if you apply that parallel to a cycle and the fact that the Pontellier's have two boys, it's setting them up for...killing their wives? Either they'll do what their grandfather did and be oppressive, or do what their father did and be oblivious to all the issues, or they'll find an in between and keep their wives until they are wrinkly old ladies.
The conversation is between the Colonel and Mr.Pontellier, and then what is in between is the narrator who is using their extended knowledge of the characters to make us see what kind of husband the Colonel was, by saying how he had driven his wife into her grave. This is also showing us the cycle of the family, therefore the next victims will be Edna's children. Which brings me to think that Edna might not agree with her sisters marriage and therefore refuses to go to it. She might possibly think that her sister too will continue this cycle of oppression that seems to be in the family by getting married. There is no proof in the book that Edna disagrees with this marriage however it could be the reason for her absence. She also could be trying to show to her father that she is trying to break the cycle of oppression by disobeying her father and husbands wishes.
ReplyDeleteThe conversation is between the Colonel and Mr. P, but i disagree with Allisons remark about the speaker being Edna's thoughts. Well for one why would she recall her self incomprehincable if that is what she wants them to understand, with out them pointing it out. It doesnt make any since. Edna refused to go to the wedding since she does not like church let alone wedding that involve the spiritual part of her past that she is trying to change now. Not only did she expereance herslef but she would have to watch her own sister go down with her. She did not go because she wanted to break the cicle her father forced apone her and the family.
ReplyDeleteIts not fully liberation because she is not completly freed from this hold of be "the woman of the world". This hold had so much other attachments to it. Like husband and wife, marrage, mother, sister, friend...ect. These terms were also effected by this" the perfect woman" phrase. This is what she was forced by, on the surface its not much but there is so much more to it, she had every corner infected by dependent apone men, family, control, but not herself. This is spreaded along by repeating the same actions that her father bistothed apone her.