Mr. Pontellier seems to have appropriate affection for his wife although their relationship seems shallow. He sends her gifts when they are apart and kisses her when he leaves her side. He values her enough to care whether she is sunburned and has children with her that he is genuinely concerned about. The distance between them is evident when she walks up with Robert and the only greeting he gives is "you are burnt beyond recognition"(2). Robert seems to me to be a flirtatious young man who enjoys Edna's company but feels no real connection to her. He speaks mostly of himself but a few other topics that are such as Edna can respond. Her husband speaks only of what interests him, and that to which Edna cannot relate. Robert does on occasion show inappropriate attention to Edna, such as when he leaned his head upon her arm but she knows her own boundaries well enough to not accept his advancements, no matter how harmless they may seem. He also shows plenty of attention to other women, demonstrating that their relationship is about as shallow and unfounded as the one between Edna and her husband, despite the more friendly outward appearance. -Dana Stein
Mr. Pontellier and Edna have what seems to be a really complicated relationship. As back in those times, I'm sure whatever marital and (or) familial issues they are having are kept quiet, so as not to represent themselves poorly to society. So we may not know for certain what causes the tension between them that we're seeing somewhat in chapters one through five. I get the impression that there is some tension - or at least frustration with Pontellier on Edna's part - especially during chapter three; the scene involving Pontellier coming home late at night and disturbing Edna's sleep. Pontellier came home late from what seems to be a good time with friends at a hotel, and woke up his sleeping wife to relate how much fun he had. I feel like... he has her best interest at heart, but as Dana put it, he talks about what interests him, but these things aren't always particularly interesting to Edna, and he doesn't seem to realize it. So he makes an honest effort, I have to admit, to communicate with his wife, try to keep her happy, I suppose, but she's just dissatisfied with their relationship. He doesn't realize that his efforts aren't making much of an impression on her, and I think she's not yet "had it" enough to tell him her frustrations (if they exist, as I think they do). Like, when Pontellier voiced his concerns for her parenting through alerting her to one of their kids' "fevers", she went to check on the child but there apparently was no fever. She seemed upset at this - especially since she was now wide awake at eleven o' clock at night - but didn't think it important enough, or maybe wise enough to tell him so. I'm not saying Edna should have confronted him and argued with him, but she could have mentioned his mistake.
So, I'm thinking that Pontellier has no idea of Edna's dissatisfaction with him and their relationship, but Edna doesn't feel ready to talk to him. For whatever reason there's little -decent- communication between the two, but Pontellier seems to be trying to be there for his wife, and doesn't realize what's going on with her because -she's- not making an effort to talk to him, confide in him, relate her interests to him, and most importantly, try to solve whatever issues she has with him. But the both appear to be, on their own, trying to keep their relationship looking ship-shape to the rest of the community, society, for their own reasons.
Mr. Pontellier: I agree with Allie, Edna and Mr. Pontellier’s relationship is very complicated. After Edna went swimming for the first time, she sat outside until Mr. Pontellier came home. “Edna, dear, are you not coming in soon?”(36). Mr. Pontellier asks Edna to come inside, first by saying it’s cold out, then by telling her the mosquitoes were going to devour her, and finally by demanding she get inside. At first it may seem like Mr. Pontellier is a harsh husband, who is demanding, and overprotective, but when you really look at him, you see that he is acting like a man from his time, and Edna is the one who is trying to live in the future (which isn’t a bad thing). Mr. Pontellier doesn’t like to be left alone, which is very similar to other men in the story, like Mr. Ratignolle, he likes to have company to share stories with, and have conversations with. Mr. Pontellier cares about Edna, “Leonce had been very uneasy at first… [he] had wanted to start at once for the Cheniere” (46). He worries about her, and tries his best to make her happy by sending the bonbons and pates when he is on trips, he does everything a typical man is supposed to do during the 1890’s. In 2009 his action may seem demanding and overpowering, but he acts like everyone expects him to. He may be affecting Edna in a negative way, by acting like a cage around her, always watching her, but I feel that his actions will push Edna to break free, and fully awaken.
Robert: At the end of Ch 11-15, Robert decides to leave to Mexico to make a living. When I first read the chapters I was angry at Robert for leaving Edna at a time that she needed him, but the more I think about it the more I understand why he is leaving and think that it is a good idea. Robert knows that Edna won’t leave her husband for him because it is not socially acceptable, he understands that he can do all the flirting he wants during the summer at the cottage, but when it’s time for everyone to leave he will still be alone: no wife, no family, and no life. He understands that he needs to start a new life, in a place that no one knows him, a place where people actually take him seriously. Robert leaves for Mexico because he understands that he will never get Edna and he doesn’t want to live as Edna’s secret lover. “‘Don’t part from me in an ill-humor. I never knew you to be out of patience with me before’”(52). Robert doesn’t want to leave his friends, the children, Edna, but he has to, he needs to start his own life, and do something with himself. He might find something in Mexico that will make him happy, enjoy life, and maybe change him for the better.
Robert: In these chapters we can see that Robert has an affection for Edna that transcends his normal, habitual summer attachments to women on the island. He coerces her into going swimming and follows her home when she leaves, ignoring Ratignolle's warnings that Edna may take his attentions seriously and begin to return them. Together, at the house, they sit in a companionable silence. "No multitude of words could have been more significant than those moments of silence, or more pregnant with the first-felt throbbings of desire," (35). Edna and Robert are beginning to fall for one another, despite his claims that it will never happen.
Mr. Pontellier: We learn through Edna's conversation with Ratignolle that Mr. Pontellier was head-over-heels for Edna when they first got married, but she did it because it made her family unhappy. Essentially, Edna married to rebel and then found herself trapped in an unsatisfying role - that of a wife and mother. Mr. Pontellier has no idea that she feels this way. He is the ideal husband and absolutely adores her; in his mind, there is no chance that she could not be as happy as he is. He is present in her day-to-day life and she is present in his. However, they do not impact each other's lives except when they interact in daily routines.
"Every one seemed to take for granted that she missed him." (55)
Mr. Ponetellier: Even he has noticed that Edna missed Robert. When he mentions that he'd seen Robert in town Edna drills him with all sorts of questions and it never occurred to her that she shouldn't be talking about Robert with her husband. The following quote, "The sentiment which she entertained for Robert in no way resembled that which she felt for her husband, or had ever felt, or ever expected to feel" (55), points out the huge difference the two men have on Edna--one that I think both men and everyone else notices/knows.
When they return back to their home Mr. Ponetellier slowly notices that "she was not looking well and must take care of herself. She was unusually pale and very quiet" (63) But other than that he is growing more and more irritated with her behavior. This quote sums up their relationship rather nicely: "Mr. Pontellier had been a rather courteous husband so long as he met a certain tacit submissiveness in his wife. But her new and unexpected line of conduct completely bewildered him. It shocked him. Then her absolute disregard for her duties as a wife angered him." (67) But at the same time he also thinks his wife is "growing a little unbalanced mentally."
Robert: Edna has missed Robert horribly ever since he went randomly went of to Mexico. And even feels that 'Robert's going had some way taken the brightness, the color, the meaning out of everything' (54) He's almost all that she talks about, even going so far as to talk to Mme. Lebrun about Robert. Edna is even jealous when Robert writes to his mother instead of her.
When she and Mr. Pontellier return to their home Edna realizes "she [is] still under the spell of her infatuation. She had tried to forget him, realizing the inutility of remembering. But the thought of him was like an obsession, ever pressing itself upon her." (63-64)
Edna is reinvigorated by Robert's return. At the same time, she seems a bit less independent than she did previously. She wakes up after Alcee leaves her house with one thought on her mind - "'He loves you, poor fool,'" (122). She daydreams about Robert coming back to the Pigeon House and simply sitting with her.
When the maid brings Edna her letters, she "answered her husband with friendly evasiveness," and "To Arobin's note she made no reply," (123). While Robert was away Edna was able to push him out of her mind somewhat, but now that he is back the other men in her life are revealed for what they truly are: placeholders. Robert does not come by that day, or the next, or the next. Edna is "keenly dissapointed" (123) by this and avoids any instance where she may run into him. She wants him to seek her out.
Alcee has dinner with Edna and appears to become more interested in her. "He had detected the latent sensuality," (124). Why does Edna allow Alcee to come by when she is so wrapped up in Robert? Does she just need someone? In that case, does she really love Robert at all?
While Edna made motions before to 'throw off' the chains of her commitment and marriage to Mr. Pontellier, it is in this chapter that she finally and explicitly does so. "'I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not,'" she says (128). She disavows her husband and in doing so makes her love acceptable to Robert, who is afraid to flaunt his breaking of societal boundaries.
As for Robert himself, both he and Edna finally acknowledge their love. "'I love you,' she whispered, 'only you; no one but you. It was you who awoke me last summer out of a life-long, stupid dream,'" (128). Edna considers Robert the catalyst for her awakening, the thing that broke her of her mindless habits. Maybe this is so - she did not love Mr. Pontellier, she has not been moved to feel passionate about anything in a long time.
Edna's denial of Mr. Pontellier takes a new step and becomes public. Her incoherent statement to the doctor's question - "'And are you going abroad'" (132) reveals that even though in the presence of those who will support her she will disavow him, in the glaring public eye she still feels uneasy doing so.
Mme. Ratignolle's final statement to Edna before she leaves her bedside, "'Think of the children'" (131) succinctly summarizes the entire conflict of The Awakening, and Edna's own internal conflict: in liberating herself, she is neglecting those who rely on her.
Robert's farewell note to her is another strike against her children, however. She can no longer think of anything or anyone but him. He has left because he knows their relationship is doomed.
Edna has realized, finally, that without Robert being willing to transcend the boundaries of society with her, she is utterly alone. He cannot break his mind out of the social paradigm of the time - that men own women. Earlier, when she scoffs at being given as a gift from Mr. Pontellier to Robert, she does not realize that this is exactly how Robert wants it to be. He simply can't see their love in any other way.
In this way, Edna is still constricted by society. She cannot break free. If she is the only one doing it, she's crazy - not free. Thus, we learn what she meant to Mme. Ratignolle when she said that she would not give up herself for her children, who represent the way she is tied down by society (as a mother).
Edna thinks, "'To-day it is Arobin; to-morrow it will be some one else. It makes no difference to me, it doesn't matter about Leonce Pontellier - but Raole and Etienne!'" (136). All of these men in her life constrict her.
She cannot be free in the way that she wishes and be with Robert. "He would never understand," (137) she thinks. Robert can never know what it is like to feel like a woman in that society, to feel coddled and constricted. He can never become free in the same way that Edna, because he already thinks he is free. In much the same way, Mr. Pontellier, the perfect husband, will never understand. Edna sees no way else to escape this than the one she has chosen.
chapters 11-15: Pontillier: These chapters show a distinct change in Edna's and Mr. Pontillier's relationship. Chapter 11 starts with a very good example of this. Mr. Pontillier has obviously lost some power in the relationship. He demands that Edna come in form the hammock and she doesn't. She no longer submits to his wishes. There is a distinct shift of power. Mr. Pontillier leaves the house and stays outside with Edna. He only goes in once she goes in.
Robert:In these chapters we see Robert's and edna's growing affection for each other. Robert seems to be in love with Edna but he suddenly up and leaves for Mexico. Reading this I asked myself "why would he do that?" I believe the answer lies in what is socially acceptable at the time. It was not acceptable for a woman to leave her husband or for another man to pursue a married woman. He leaves because he believes he does not have a chance to be with Edna. Their awkward farewell shows this. Robert almost says something in the end of this farewell, I think he was going to say "perhaps thats the problem" referring their wishes to see each other.
Alcee: Alcee's relationship with Edna is certainly not one that has pretty much anything to do with words. I don't really get the feeling that Alcee really understands her or what's happening to her, but is attracted to her physically. In the same way, Edna sort of flows along with what he's saying and doing and doesn't fully let him in to her head. He thinks more domestic things are bothering her, saying "'the dinner was the last straw; you might have dispensed with it... it has worn you out'" (109), when, more accurately, it was the bustle of so many people and Victor's reference to Robert that had distressed her. When she's with Robert and Alcee shows up, Alcee seems to jar Robert loose. Edna mentions his relationships with other women casually, which isn't the case with Robert, so she's really not as attached to Alcee.
Robert: it's obvious that she still misses him, because when Victor starts singing the song ('ah, si tu savais), she is so distressed that she breaks her glass and resorts to holding her hand over her mouth to get him to stop. Victor is a pleasant reminder of Robert when he doesn't allude to it directly, but as soon as Victor brings it up and forces Edna to realize her own pining, it becomes too much for her. When he surprises her with his appearance at Mlle. Reisz's house, they don't fall back into their old way of talking like Edna had envisioned. Whether consciously or not, she harbors a bit of chilly resentment from him, and he is holding in a lot of his feelings for her out of habit, so they are really floundering to connect again. I'm confused wondering if he left when Alcee arrived because Alcee made him uncomfortable, or it offered him an escape route. Meeting unexpectedly certainly took him and Edna out of their comfort zones, but if they hadn't met, who knows how long it would have taken Robert to gain the courage to come see her? She is so jealous of the girls that Robert met in Mexico, which is vastly different from her casual mention to Alcee's other relationships, because her feelings for Robert still run deep.
Mr. Pontellier: Edna is removing Mr. P from her mind and her life more and more each day. Or, more accurately, she is making herself independent of his authority. She wrote to inform him that she was moving, not to ask his permission. When he reprehended her, and scrambled to save appearances, she views it in a detached, amused sort of way.
So in the beginning of this section, at Chapter 11, it is a very important part of the story where Mr. Pontellier asks Edna to go in and she refuses. She is suddenly very aware of all the times she's consented to things without even considering her opinion, "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 did, then" (Chopin 36). What's interesting here is the way Mr. Pontellier reacts when Edna doesn't come in. It seems at first like he is just trying to reestablish his authority with her, but when she is stubborn, he just acts like he needs her. He acts like he just can't be wihtout her that night, he needs to not be alone. It's sort of pathetic. He also has bad communication skills with her by my standards... like, why can't he just tell her he'd be lonely, and let her deal with that how she will? Clearly this is a loveless relationship with bad communication. I think this is the general consensus among relationships at this time...
What happens later in this section with Robert is interesting. I think it's the beginning of the signs that Edna is in love with Robert, because she gets jealous around Mariquetta. But I also think it may be a sign of Edna's extremely dependent nature -- she seems pretty ticked off that Robert isn't paying attention to her. It's worked into her culture that she needs to depend on a man, think of the way all women walk at this time... they lean on a man, regardless of if it's their husband or not. I don't really fully understand the scenes with Mariquetta but it is beginning to come across to me that while Edna tries to stand up for herself with Mr. Pontellier, she just goes and depends on Robert next.
Chapters 31-34 In these few chapters Mr. Pontellier and Alcee are hardly mentioned and their relationship with Edna changes very little except for the fact that as soon as Robert returned, Edna began ignoring Alcee. She is truely reunited with Robert and they confess their love for each other. They kiss and hold each other but she leaves suddenly to help her friend who is ill. Upon returning, where she expected to find Robert, there was only a note which read, "I love you. Good-bye-- because I love you". We never truly find out what this means, but in her mind, as she plunges into the sea to die, Edna sadly thinks to herself, "he just doesn't understand".
Mr. Pontellier seems to have appropriate affection for his wife although their relationship seems shallow. He sends her gifts when they are apart and kisses her when he leaves her side. He values her enough to care whether she is sunburned and has children with her that he is genuinely concerned about. The distance between them is evident when she walks up with Robert and the only greeting he gives is "you are burnt beyond recognition"(2).
ReplyDeleteRobert seems to me to be a flirtatious young man who enjoys Edna's company but feels no real connection to her. He speaks mostly of himself but a few other topics that are such as Edna can respond. Her husband speaks only of what interests him, and that to which Edna cannot relate. Robert does on occasion show inappropriate attention to Edna, such as when he leaned his head upon her arm but she knows her own boundaries well enough to not accept his advancements, no matter how harmless they may seem. He also shows plenty of attention to other women, demonstrating that their relationship is about as shallow and unfounded as the one between Edna and her husband, despite the more friendly outward appearance.
-Dana Stein
Mr. Pontellier and Edna have what seems to be a really complicated relationship. As back in those times, I'm sure whatever marital and (or) familial issues they are having are kept quiet, so as not to represent themselves poorly to society. So we may not know for certain what causes the tension between them that we're seeing somewhat in chapters one through five. I get the impression that there is some tension - or at least frustration with Pontellier on Edna's part - especially during chapter three; the scene involving Pontellier coming home late at night and disturbing Edna's sleep. Pontellier came home late from what seems to be a good time with friends at a hotel, and woke up his sleeping wife to relate how much fun he had. I feel like... he has her best interest at heart, but as Dana put it, he talks about what interests him, but these things aren't always particularly interesting to Edna, and he doesn't seem to realize it. So he makes an honest effort, I have to admit, to communicate with his wife, try to keep her happy, I suppose, but she's just dissatisfied with their relationship. He doesn't realize that his efforts aren't making much of an impression on her, and I think she's not yet "had it" enough to tell him her frustrations (if they exist, as I think they do). Like, when Pontellier voiced his concerns for her parenting through alerting her to one of their kids' "fevers", she went to check on the child but there apparently was no fever. She seemed upset at this - especially since she was now wide awake at eleven o' clock at night - but didn't think it important enough, or maybe wise enough to tell him so. I'm not saying Edna should have confronted him and argued with him, but she could have mentioned his mistake.
ReplyDeleteSo, I'm thinking that Pontellier has no idea of Edna's dissatisfaction with him and their relationship, but Edna doesn't feel ready to talk to him. For whatever reason there's little -decent- communication between the two, but Pontellier seems to be trying to be there for his wife, and doesn't realize what's going on with her because -she's- not making an effort to talk to him, confide in him, relate her interests to him, and most importantly, try to solve whatever issues she has with him. But the both appear to be, on their own, trying to keep their relationship looking ship-shape to the rest of the community, society, for their own reasons.
Chapter 11-15
ReplyDeleteMr. Pontellier:
I agree with Allie, Edna and Mr. Pontellier’s relationship is very complicated. After Edna went swimming for the first time, she sat outside until Mr. Pontellier came home. “Edna, dear, are you not coming in soon?”(36). Mr. Pontellier asks Edna to come inside, first by saying it’s cold out, then by telling her the mosquitoes were going to devour her, and finally by demanding she get inside. At first it may seem like Mr. Pontellier is a harsh husband, who is demanding, and overprotective, but when you really look at him, you see that he is acting like a man from his time, and Edna is the one who is trying to live in the future (which isn’t a bad thing). Mr. Pontellier doesn’t like to be left alone, which is very similar to other men in the story, like Mr. Ratignolle, he likes to have company to share stories with, and have conversations with. Mr. Pontellier cares about Edna, “Leonce had been very uneasy at first… [he] had wanted to start at once for the Cheniere” (46). He worries about her, and tries his best to make her happy by sending the bonbons and pates when he is on trips, he does everything a typical man is supposed to do during the 1890’s. In 2009 his action may seem demanding and overpowering, but he acts like everyone expects him to. He may be affecting Edna in a negative way, by acting like a cage around her, always watching her, but I feel that his actions will push Edna to break free, and fully awaken.
Robert:
At the end of Ch 11-15, Robert decides to leave to Mexico to make a living. When I first read the chapters I was angry at Robert for leaving Edna at a time that she needed him, but the more I think about it the more I understand why he is leaving and think that it is a good idea. Robert knows that Edna won’t leave her husband for him because it is not socially acceptable, he understands that he can do all the flirting he wants during the summer at the cottage, but when it’s time for everyone to leave he will still be alone: no wife, no family, and no life. He understands that he needs to start a new life, in a place that no one knows him, a place where people actually take him seriously. Robert leaves for Mexico because he understands that he will never get Edna and he doesn’t want to live as Edna’s secret lover. “‘Don’t part from me in an ill-humor. I never knew you to be out of patience with me before’”(52). Robert doesn’t want to leave his friends, the children, Edna, but he has to, he needs to start his own life, and do something with himself. He might find something in Mexico that will make him happy, enjoy life, and maybe change him for the better.
~Tesnime Selmane
Chapters 6-10
ReplyDeleteRobert: In these chapters we can see that Robert has an affection for Edna that transcends his normal, habitual summer attachments to women on the island. He coerces her into going swimming and follows her home when she leaves, ignoring Ratignolle's warnings that Edna may take his attentions seriously and begin to return them. Together, at the house, they sit in a companionable silence. "No multitude of words could have been more significant than those moments of silence, or more pregnant with the first-felt throbbings of desire," (35). Edna and Robert are beginning to fall for one another, despite his claims that it will never happen.
Mr. Pontellier: We learn through Edna's conversation with Ratignolle that Mr. Pontellier was head-over-heels for Edna when they first got married, but she did it because it made her family unhappy. Essentially, Edna married to rebel and then found herself trapped in an unsatisfying role - that of a wife and mother. Mr. Pontellier has no idea that she feels this way. He is the ideal husband and absolutely adores her; in his mind, there is no chance that she could not be as happy as he is. He is present in her day-to-day life and she is present in his. However, they do not impact each other's lives except when they interact in daily routines.
Ch. 16-20
ReplyDelete"Every one seemed to take for granted that she missed him." (55)
Mr. Ponetellier: Even he has noticed that Edna missed Robert. When he mentions that he'd seen Robert in town Edna drills him with all sorts of questions and it never occurred to her that she shouldn't be talking about Robert with her husband. The following quote, "The sentiment which she entertained for Robert in no way resembled that which she felt for her husband, or had ever felt, or ever expected to feel" (55), points out the huge difference the two men have on Edna--one that I think both men and everyone else notices/knows.
When they return back to their home Mr. Ponetellier slowly notices that "she was not looking well and must take care of herself. She was unusually pale and very quiet" (63) But other than that he is growing more and more irritated with her behavior. This quote sums up their relationship rather nicely:
"Mr. Pontellier had been a rather courteous husband so long as he met a certain tacit submissiveness in his wife. But her new and unexpected line of conduct completely bewildered him. It shocked him. Then her absolute disregard for her duties as a wife angered him." (67)
But at the same time he also thinks his wife is "growing a little unbalanced mentally."
Robert: Edna has missed Robert horribly ever since he went randomly went of to Mexico. And even feels that 'Robert's going had some way taken the brightness, the color, the meaning out of everything' (54) He's almost all that she talks about, even going so far as to talk to Mme. Lebrun about Robert. Edna is even jealous when Robert writes to his mother instead of her.
When she and Mr. Pontellier return to their home Edna realizes "she [is] still under the spell of her infatuation. She had tried to forget him, realizing the inutility of remembering. But the thought of him was like an obsession, ever pressing itself upon her." (63-64)
Chapter 35
ReplyDeleteEdna is reinvigorated by Robert's return. At the same time, she seems a bit less independent than she did previously. She wakes up after Alcee leaves her house with one thought on her mind - "'He loves you, poor fool,'" (122). She daydreams about Robert coming back to the Pigeon House and simply sitting with her.
When the maid brings Edna her letters, she "answered her husband with friendly evasiveness," and "To Arobin's note she made no reply," (123). While Robert was away Edna was able to push him out of her mind somewhat, but now that he is back the other men in her life are revealed for what they truly are: placeholders. Robert does not come by that day, or the next, or the next. Edna is "keenly dissapointed" (123) by this and avoids any instance where she may run into him. She wants him to seek her out.
Alcee has dinner with Edna and appears to become more interested in her. "He had detected the latent sensuality," (124). Why does Edna allow Alcee to come by when she is so wrapped up in Robert? Does she just need someone? In that case, does she really love Robert at all?
Chapter 36
ReplyDeleteWhile Edna made motions before to 'throw off' the chains of her commitment and marriage to Mr. Pontellier, it is in this chapter that she finally and explicitly does so. "'I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not,'" she says (128). She disavows her husband and in doing so makes her love acceptable to Robert, who is afraid to flaunt his breaking of societal boundaries.
As for Robert himself, both he and Edna finally acknowledge their love. "'I love you,' she whispered, 'only you; no one but you. It was you who awoke me last summer out of a life-long, stupid dream,'" (128). Edna considers Robert the catalyst for her awakening, the thing that broke her of her mindless habits. Maybe this is so - she did not love Mr. Pontellier, she has not been moved to feel passionate about anything in a long time.
Chapters 37-38
ReplyDeleteEdna's denial of Mr. Pontellier takes a new step and becomes public. Her incoherent statement to the doctor's question - "'And are you going abroad'" (132) reveals that even though in the presence of those who will support her she will disavow him, in the glaring public eye she still feels uneasy doing so.
Mme. Ratignolle's final statement to Edna before she leaves her bedside, "'Think of the children'" (131) succinctly summarizes the entire conflict of The Awakening, and Edna's own internal conflict: in liberating herself, she is neglecting those who rely on her.
Robert's farewell note to her is another strike against her children, however. She can no longer think of anything or anyone but him. He has left because he knows their relationship is doomed.
Chapter 39
ReplyDeleteEdna has realized, finally, that without Robert being willing to transcend the boundaries of society with her, she is utterly alone. He cannot break his mind out of the social paradigm of the time - that men own women. Earlier, when she scoffs at being given as a gift from Mr. Pontellier to Robert, she does not realize that this is exactly how Robert wants it to be. He simply can't see their love in any other way.
In this way, Edna is still constricted by society. She cannot break free. If she is the only one doing it, she's crazy - not free. Thus, we learn what she meant to Mme. Ratignolle when she said that she would not give up herself for her children, who represent the way she is tied down by society (as a mother).
Edna thinks, "'To-day it is Arobin; to-morrow it will be some one else. It makes no difference to me, it doesn't matter about Leonce Pontellier - but Raole and Etienne!'" (136). All of these men in her life constrict her.
She cannot be free in the way that she wishes and be with Robert. "He would never understand," (137) she thinks. Robert can never know what it is like to feel like a woman in that society, to feel coddled and constricted. He can never become free in the same way that Edna, because he already thinks he is free. In much the same way, Mr. Pontellier, the perfect husband, will never understand. Edna sees no way else to escape this than the one she has chosen.
chapters 11-15:
ReplyDeletePontillier: These chapters show a distinct change in Edna's and Mr. Pontillier's relationship. Chapter 11 starts with a very good example of this. Mr. Pontillier has obviously lost some power in the relationship. He demands that Edna come in form the hammock and she doesn't. She no longer submits to his wishes. There is a distinct shift of power. Mr. Pontillier leaves the house and stays outside with Edna. He only goes in once she goes in.
Robert:In these chapters we see Robert's and edna's growing affection for each other. Robert seems to be in love with Edna but he suddenly up and leaves for Mexico. Reading this I asked myself "why would he do that?" I believe the answer lies in what is socially acceptable at the time. It was not acceptable for a woman to leave her husband or for another man to pursue a married woman. He leaves because he believes he does not have a chance to be with Edna. Their awkward farewell shows this. Robert almost says something in the end of this farewell, I think he was going to say "perhaps thats the problem" referring their wishes to see each other.
Chapters 30-34
ReplyDeleteAlcee: Alcee's relationship with Edna is certainly not one that has pretty much anything to do with words. I don't really get the feeling that Alcee really understands her or what's happening to her, but is attracted to her physically. In the same way, Edna sort of flows along with what he's saying and doing and doesn't fully let him in to her head. He thinks more domestic things are bothering her, saying "'the dinner was the last straw; you might have dispensed with it... it has worn you out'" (109), when, more accurately, it was the bustle of so many people and Victor's reference to Robert that had distressed her. When she's with Robert and Alcee shows up, Alcee seems to jar Robert loose. Edna mentions his relationships with other women casually, which isn't the case with Robert, so she's really not as attached to Alcee.
Robert: it's obvious that she still misses him, because when Victor starts singing the song ('ah, si tu savais), she is so distressed that she breaks her glass and resorts to holding her hand over her mouth to get him to stop. Victor is a pleasant reminder of Robert when he doesn't allude to it directly, but as soon as Victor brings it up and forces Edna to realize her own pining, it becomes too much for her.
When he surprises her with his appearance at Mlle. Reisz's house, they don't fall back into their old way of talking like Edna had envisioned. Whether consciously or not, she harbors a bit of chilly resentment from him, and he is holding in a lot of his feelings for her out of habit, so they are really floundering to connect again. I'm confused wondering if he left when Alcee arrived because Alcee made him uncomfortable, or it offered him an escape route. Meeting unexpectedly certainly took him and Edna out of their comfort zones, but if they hadn't met, who knows how long it would have taken Robert to gain the courage to come see her? She is so jealous of the girls that Robert met in Mexico, which is vastly different from her casual mention to Alcee's other relationships, because her feelings for Robert still run deep.
Mr. Pontellier: Edna is removing Mr. P from her mind and her life more and more each day. Or, more accurately, she is making herself independent of his authority. She wrote to inform him that she was moving, not to ask his permission. When he reprehended her, and scrambled to save appearances, she views it in a detached, amused sort of way.
Chapters 11-15
ReplyDeleteSo in the beginning of this section, at Chapter 11, it is a very important part of the story where Mr. Pontellier asks Edna to go in and she refuses. She is suddenly very aware of all the times she's consented to things without even considering her opinion, "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 did, then" (Chopin 36). What's interesting here is the way Mr. Pontellier reacts when Edna doesn't come in. It seems at first like he is just trying to reestablish his authority with her, but when she is stubborn, he just acts like he needs her. He acts like he just can't be wihtout her that night, he needs to not be alone. It's sort of pathetic. He also has bad communication skills with her by my standards... like, why can't he just tell her he'd be lonely, and let her deal with that how she will? Clearly this is a loveless relationship with bad communication. I think this is the general consensus among relationships at this time...
What happens later in this section with Robert is interesting. I think it's the beginning of the signs that Edna is in love with Robert, because she gets jealous around Mariquetta. But I also think it may be a sign of Edna's extremely dependent nature -- she seems pretty ticked off that Robert isn't paying attention to her. It's worked into her culture that she needs to depend on a man, think of the way all women walk at this time... they lean on a man, regardless of if it's their husband or not. I don't really fully understand the scenes with Mariquetta but it is beginning to come across to me that while Edna tries to stand up for herself with Mr. Pontellier, she just goes and depends on Robert next.
Chapters 31-34
ReplyDeleteIn these few chapters Mr. Pontellier and Alcee are hardly mentioned and their relationship with Edna changes very little except for the fact that as soon as Robert returned, Edna began ignoring Alcee. She is truely reunited with Robert and they confess their love for each other. They kiss and hold each other but she leaves suddenly to help her friend who is ill. Upon returning, where she expected to find Robert, there was only a note which read, "I love you. Good-bye-- because I love you". We never truly find out what this means, but in her mind, as she plunges into the sea to die, Edna sadly thinks to herself, "he just doesn't understand".