Edna Pontellier's Role In The Awakening

Role of Women Edna Pontellier lives in a world where women are supposed to act, think and live a certain way because it was expected of them. In the first couple chapters of the book we see Edna slowly retreating back from what is expected from her. Edna during that duration was trying to find herself and her identity instead of looking at what was expected from her. At the beginning she was more willing to accept her husband wishes but near the end she completely removes herself from the family she once known and cared much for. The characters that Chopin creates play a role in Edna’s non-conforming ideology. Chopin has a balance of characters where some influence her to become independent while others influence her to be “normal”. In The

Pontellier was not a mother woman” (Chopin 10). Many people realized that Edna was not a very motherly figure. She loves her children but she would not lose herself in them. Her husband, Mr. Pontellier, also notices that Edna does not really care about her kids that much. “It would have been a difficult matter for Mr. Pontellier to define to his own satisfaction or anyone else's wherein his wife failed in her duty toward their children. It was something which he felt rather than perceived, and he never voiced the feeling without subsequent regret and ample atonement” (Chopin 10). Children were not something she thought about before getting married to her husband. She wanted to be a musician or an artist instead of a mother. In her point of view once she gave birth to her two children she realized that those dreams she had were now crushed. In the middle of The Awakening, Edna meets Mademoiselle Reisz. Mademoiselle Reisz helps and coaches Edna to become both an artist and a musician. Edna idolizes Reisz because she helped Edna find that peace in her. With that Edna finally became what she wanted to

Robert Lebrun was Edna’s lover. He was the one who played the most crucial role in having Edna realize that she in fact did not love her husband and she was willing to do anything and everything to be with Robert. Robert pursued to be with anyone before Edna. He was emotionally mature and childish though charming and caring. Edna did admit that she loved Robert but she was not allowed to do anything about it besides have an affair. During the early 1900s there was no such thing as a divorce meaning the affairs in that time period occurred frequently and happened often. Not being able to divorce Mr. Pontellier did not matter to her because she did have an affair with Robert, both emotionally and sexually. Robert leaves for Mexico because he understands that he does love Edna but there is nothing he can do about it. People in their society resented the idea of divorcing someone and marrying someone else. Once Robert left for Mexico and her husband was in New York, Edna met Arobin who opened up and let Edna develop sexual needs and lust. Women were talked about if they were not loyal to their husbands but men always had the excuse that they had needs therefore it was okay for them to cheat and have affairs. These sections of The Awakening made Edna the character that despises the role of women. She deemed it unfair. Chopin does this to explain to her readers that these