Answer the question below and remember you must respond to another question after yours. You have until 12/2 to complete Question 1.
From what we know about Edna so far can what can we say about her parenting? Is she a good or bad mom? Who are our reference points that we can compare Edna to? Explain.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I don't think she is a bad mom. It is true that she doesn't "flutter about with extended wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened [her] precious brood"(8), but she does make sure their material needs are met and checks in on them periodically. The episode in the bedroom when she was mostly asleep and didn't want to tend to her child is, I think, charicteristic of almost any woman whose first child is more than a year old. The only real reference points we have to compare her to are the "mother-women"(8), and Madame Ratignolle who, although she sews constantly for her children, we have yet to see actually interact with any of her three offspring.
ReplyDelete-Dana Stein
I think that Edna is a mother that truly doesn’t know what she wants which could be interpreted as a bad mom, but truthfully while reading the first few chapters I didn’t think of her as a mother at all. The way she is described, the way she acts, and the way she holds herself was as a person who is living her own life without any thought of anyone else. I know that Edna gave birth to the children, but that doesn’t necessarily make her a mother. When I think mother, I think of someone who not only gave birth to a child, but also care for them, adore them, cherish them, and would give her entire life to the child. “Her [Edna] habitual neglect of the children” (6). We do not see Edna interact with any of her children as a caring mother, but more as if it were her duty and obligation. Dana already said this and it is true, the only reference point we have so far is Madame Ratignolle who is constantly described as an ideal mother.
ReplyDelete-Tesnime Selmane
I agree with Dana, I don' think Edna is a bad mom; she just doesn't fit the label as one of the "mother-women" "women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands". She admits she knows no better husband than her own and she checks on her children and takes care of their material needs: but from these chapters we don't particularly see idolizing or worshiping. I see her filling the role as a mother and wife but being disconnected almost.
ReplyDelete-Ally Pardo
I agree- I don't think she is a bad mom. She definitely didn't have the most nurturing childhood with her family, since she "was not accustomed to an outward and spoken expression of affection" (19) and she fought a lot with her sisters. Dana made a good point that any mother has times when they aren't completely enamored to care for their kids. She is an imperfect mother (aren't all mothers imperfect?), but she does care for her kids. Ally made a good point- she's a mother, just not a "mother-woman". It's not her specialty. Even Madame Ratignolle and Madame Lebrun, who are the examples of "proper" mothers for comparison aren't completely perfect.
ReplyDelete-Haley Patail
I also agree with Dana. Edna isn't a bad mom but she's also not a 'good' mom. Mr. Pontellier expects/wants her to dote upon her children, be over-bearing, and not let them spread their wings like Madame Ratignolle but he himself isn't a 'good' dad. But at the same time Haley makes a good point too. Edna didn't grow up with anywhere near a family/mother like Madame Ratingolle and it's unfair to expect her to be able to connect with her children that way. Just because she "[is] not accustomed to an outward and spoken expression of affection" (19) doesn't mean that she doesn't love her children though. She just seems more of the hands-off type of mother.
ReplyDelete-Sam Trotter
I don't think Edna see's herself as a mom, and that effects her "motherlyness". She does her part as a mom but nothing more. Maybe some less. She mothers her children based on her own common sense, rather than a motherly protectiveness. Her husband expects her to act like all other women, but with her recent stubborn decisions to not follow his immediate orders she has thoroughly confused her husband, or rather angered him. I agree that it is unfair of hm to expect her to be a certain way, does he even know what her family was like? how she grew up?
ReplyDeleteObviously, we are meant to compare Edna to Adele Ratignolle, who is depicted as an ideal mother and wife. In The Awakening and subsequently in the entirety of this late 19th century society, the roles of mother and wife are considered one and the same - a woman who is a wife is expected to evolve into a caring, devoted mother. Mothers in this time period are supposed to be absolutely selfless. They will get up in the middle of the night without complaining to care for their children, even if they are sure there is nothing wrong. They will accomodate and obey their husbands, no matter what the request is. Edna is none of these things. She baarely notices her children. When she does, it is with a detached affection similar to how her own husband treats her. Edna doesn't jump to do as her husband says - she yearns to follow her own path. She wants to put herself before the others in her life that she is expected to serve. This makes her a bad mother for the expectations of the day, but perhaps a good person.
ReplyDeleteI think that Edna could be better but she is not the worst mother in the world. Edna says that at times she forgets about them to give her full undevited attention to the sea, even forgot there very excistace. This is all menatly though not physically, she is there in the present but her mind, memories, conceance, all focused on the sea in those moments. In her mind she puts the sea before all others, but in reality she acts like its her children and family not the sea but she is actually wanting the sea. For me, my reaction was how could a mother be so selfish? I understand that women did not have a choice in the matter of marrage but you can compermise with what she has. many women wish that they had a family or a life as hers but instead of working out the kinks in the quilt she rather keep the truth in secreat and not only let the quilt suffer for what is the unknow but herself as well.
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily think that by chapter 5 we can truly say that the nature of Edna's mothering is bad nor good. I think that Edna definitely cares for her children but I don't think that she cares for the responsibility that comes with them. She's seems to dump the children on the maids, which doesn't mean she doesnt love them but that she may have not been ready for children. I think that at this point in the book we can see that Edna is trying to find herself and is somewhat lost in the life that she has paved for herself (possibly because she is not the one paving it?). However she is compared to Madame Ratignolle who is considered the perfect wife and mother, which most women were thought to be this "perfect" woman at the time and that is truly unfair.
ReplyDelete