Edna And Her Husband In Chopin's The Awakening

But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul" (504).  Although Edna did perform her duties as a wife for some time, she is not the typical housewife.  She does not worship her husband or idolize her children, which makes both Edna and Leonce begin to sense that Edna is different from the other mother-women (Lin 1).  Edna never realized the reasons she neglected her duties as a wife until she fell in love with Robert and acknowledged that her desires and needs exist outside of her marriage.  Thus, after her experiences with Robert, Edna is ready to neglect her husband even more, because she now realizes that her husband is holding her back from her needs.  When Leonce tries to make Edna act like the other women that obey their husbands, his attempts to control Edna further instigate Edna's desire for independence from him.  For example, the scene when Edna is lying in the hammock, Leonce says: "I can't permit you to stay out there all night.  You must come in the house instantly," Edna replies: "I mean to stay out here.  I don't wish to go in, and I don't intend to.  Don't speak to me like that again; I shall not answer you" (492).  Edna is carefree and spirited, and she refuses to conform to her husband because she does not want to lose herself.  Becoming the perfect, obedient wife would mean losing her individuality, and Edna realizes she can gain no fulfillment

Edna’s suicide was victory of self-expression. Edna undergoes a gradual awakening process in which portrays not to only her newly established independence from the constraints of her husband, but also her ability to go against the social norms of society in order to individually express herself. Her suicide encompases the question and critique of living life through the perspective of society such as being responsible for taking care of the kids, cleaning the house, and entertaining any guests that the husband may have over anytime. In the first couple of capters, the novel is quick to emphasize the gerneralized roles kthat are placed onto females, making it apparent that fe,ales are expected to successfully fulfil these roles. For example, Leonce enters home after being out and stated one of the kids had a fever. Edna was certain the child had no fever but Leonce belittles her capability as a mother for indifference with him. “If it was not a mother’s place to look after the children, whose on earth was it?” (27capac).

Edna weds Leonce Pontellier, a Creole, to retaliate against her father and sister. In defiance, Edna marries, not for love, but to punish her family for their disapproval. Edna’s first marriage is her initial attempt towards self-determination. Janie, on the other hand, in her initial attempt towards self-determination, rejects the idea of marriage, but is forced into a loveless union to Logan Killicks because of her grandmother’s persistence. Janie had always believed in marrying for love, not security—a virtue her grandmother adamantly preached. Ironically, these oppressive marriages make these women stronger. Initially, these women are looked upon as possessions, and, thus, their identities are degraded. Leonce treats Edna as a belonging and looks upon her “as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage” (Chopin 7). Janie is regarded in the same way by Logan, who “refuses to accept essential parts of her heritage, personality, and experience” (Kubitschek 23).

She married Leonce not because she loved him but because she could not refuse his admiration and persistence. This marriage thrusts Edna into a foreign culture. She questions her role as a mother because she is different from the typical Creole "mother-woman." Edna defies the central perception that women are mothers first

Throughout “The Awakening”, Edna is immersed in a constant clash with society over the significance of the difference between her life and her self. To Edna, the question of whether or not she would die for her children is somewhat simple. Edna attempts to explain this concept to her good friend, Adele Ratignolle, but to no avail, “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself” (Chopin 62). Not only does Edna consider her life unessential, she categorizes it as equal with material objects such as money. The idea of self, on the other hand, lies on a completely different level in Edna’s mind. The most important goal to Edna in her life is the journey to discover her true character. The idea that her inner self is more essential than life or even her children causes Edna to stray farther from the social constraints of the typical domestic woman. Kathleen M. Streater weighs in on Edna’s situation and placement in

The final reason for Edna’s escape from her troublesome life is the failure of her relationship with Robert. Edna was able to find some form of escape through her desire and hope of being with Robert, but when those plans fell through Edna feels as if she has nothing to look forward to, nothing to live for in life. Robert realizes that he and Edna will never be able to have a true

In the movie, we are left wondering how this man came to be in Edna's world. The movie does not show the development of the relationship at all. It does not speak of the pain that both Edna and Robert have to endure. In the novel, Robert loves Edna deeply, but he tries to deny his love because she is a married woman. It is what drives him to Mexico and back again. He says, "I couldn't help loving you if you were ten times his wife; but so long as I . . . kept away I could help telling you so." (Chopin 142) The movie does not address the pain and indecision that paralyze Robert and Edna. It treats their relationship as a lack of self-control based on lust and the heat of the moment.

When Edna returns home later that day, she finds out that Robert is leaving for Mexico. She is rather upset with this news and afterwards leaves to go home. "She went directly to her room. The little cottage was close and stuffy after leaving the outer air. But she did not mind; there appeared to be a hundred different things demanding her attention indoors." (42) She tries to ignore that his leaving and not telling her affects her so much. Yet she declines an invitation from Madame Lebrun to go and sit with them until Robert leaves. When Edna sees him leave it tears her up inside that her companion, the one person that she felt understood her, is leaving: "Edna bit her handkerchief convulsively, striving to hold back and to hide, even from herself as she would have hidden from another, the emotion which was troubling - tearing- her. Her eyes were brimming with tears." (44) Edna's life is not complete when Robert leaves:

Due to the restrictions put on Edna not only by her husband’s dedication to appearance, but by the society that encourages women to be viewed almost as property in a marriage instead of an equal participant in the relationship, Edna grows increasingly dissatisfied with her lifestyle, and feels as if she has been living two separate lives. The reader can sense this duality within Edna, even before she meets Robert leading the reader to believe that while the affair was the lynchpin for her awakening, there was always some dissatisfaction with her role in society. Chopin illustrates this when she describes Edna’s duality, stating: “Even as a child, she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended

Edna's awakening begins with her vacation to the beach. There, she meets Robert Lebrun and develops an intense infatuation for him, an infatuation similar to those which she

She leaves the care of her children to her grandmother, abandoning them and her husband when she leaves to live in the pigeon-house. To her, leaving her old home with Léonce is very important to her freedom. Almost everything in their house belonged to him, so even if he were to leave, she would still feel surrounded by his possessions. She never fully becomes free of him until she physically leaves the house. That way, Edna has no ties whatsoever to that man. Furthermore, Edna indulges in more humanistic things such as art and music. She listens to Mademoiselle Reisz’s playing of the piano and feels the music resonate throughout her body and soul, and uses it as a form of escapism from the world. Based on these instances, Edna acts almost like a very young child, completely disregarding consequences and thinking only about what they want to do experience most at that moment. However, to the reader this does not necessarily appear “bad”, but rather it is seen from the perspective of a person who has been controlled by others their entire life and wishes to break free from their grasp. In a way, she is enacting a childlike and subconscious form of revenge by disobeying all known social constructs of how a woman should talk, walk, act, and interact with others.

“There was not one but ready to follow when he lead the way.” Even though Robert is not around most of the time, he influences Edna more than he realizes. “Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her place her position in the world as a human being.” He essentially makes Edna second guess her marriage and the possibility of leaving her children behind. Robert brings Edna out of her shell and makes her more comfortable around others particularly standing up to her husband. “I don’t wish to go in, and I don’t intend to. Don’t speak to me like that again; I shall not answer you.” Robert shows Edna that he is connected to her and she falls for him almost instantly because that is what she has been missing while being married to Leonce. “We shall love each other… Nothing else in the world is of any consequence.” Despite the fact they have never been involved in any physical way, Robert knows that he feels more for Edna than any other women he has encountered. So he decides to run away from the truth and goes to Mexico to keep from having to show Edna his true love for her. Ultimately, Robert influenced Edna severely because she was second guessing her marriage, falling in love with him and even became friends with Mademoiselle Reisz through him. And she sadly even committed suicide in the end because she couldn’t deal with the hurt of being without

When Edna eats dinner with Leonce after going out on Tuesday, he exclaims, “Out!... Why, what could have taken you out on Tuesday? What did you have to do?” (Chopin 85). Leonce’s remark of disgust and anger exemplifies the harsh social structure of the Creole society. Edna wants to go out while in New Orleans, but society’s gender roles see it as inappropriate; yet, Edna still goes out and follows her heart, showing another chapter in her awakening. When Edna has her party at the pigeon house, she shows another chapter in her awakening, “this time, however, she casts herself as a queen, as opposed to the virginal Snow White she enacted at Madame Antoine's” (Euripidies). When Edna is finally in a setting where she does not have social restraints she shows her true self and comes off as a queen – something most women of this era are not capable of. This image gives Edna a sense of independence and liberty, which is yet another milestone in her awakening.

She would have wanted to live with him in an "awakened life" where she can be free and independent. For Edna it is impossible to be his wife only to cover up Roberts's weakness. It was because of Robert's cowardice that he ran off to Mexico. This point is getting confirmed with the marriage proposal. The marriage proposal shows the reader that Robert is a coward and that he has lacks of strength to fight against social prejudices and barriers. He is afraid of the consequences he would have to face given him by the society. He tries to escape with the proposal.

In Chapter 8, Madame Ratignolle pulls Robert aside and asks him to leave Edna alone. She explains that Edna,” Is not one of us; she is not like us. She might make the unfortunate blunder of taking you seriously.” Chopin’s use of repetition in Adele’s dialogue puts emphasis on Edna’s uniqueness and labels her as an outcast. Adele sees Edna drifting further and further away from the social norms of their accustomed society and wishes to stop her before its too late. Chopin also uses this scene to foreshadow Robert’s unwillingness to commit to Edna as he brushes off Madame Ratignolle’s warning, seeing his relationship with Edna as a fling rather than being the passionate lover Edna craves.