Chap 26
How complicit is Edna in letting Arobin into her life?
Edna is at a very difficult time when she is considering to bring Arobin to her life. We can see how this has a big affect on her because she is torn between choosing Robert or Arobin. During this time women are expected to be faithful to their husbands and marriage is never associated with love. “ He sometimes talked in a way that astonished her and ===a frst and brought the crimson into her face; … in a way that pleased her last, appealing to the animalism that stirred impatiently inside her.” It is from this quote that can be inferred that the feelings that Edna has for Arobin are of lust and not love the way she perceives it to be. It is very realistic how she mystifies her
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What is your opinion of what Edna is doing? Is this a controlled escape or a mad break?
This is the final act form Ednar which really portrays the full extent of her animalistic desires and the things that she would do. After all the seductive ploys that Arobin has tried i believe what sparked this was her confession to Madame Reisz of her love for Robert.
This is very mordant of Edna as she is cheating on her husband with another man and she has confessed her love for Robert. From the text “it was the first kiss of her life to which her nature had really responded..it was a flaming torch that kindled desire” The character of Edna has developed greatly to a point of animated liberation of all her emotions where she uses her confession as a jumping point to strength her manner to pursue love.
Chap 28
“She felt as if a mist had been lifted from her eyes, enabling her to look upon and comprehend”. What has happened to Edna?
Ans: From the quote “She felt as if a mist had been lifted from her eyes, enabling her to look upon and comprehend” it can be inferred about how the character of Edna has reached her climax to the point where she has realised her own feelings, but feels no shame or remorse due to the unacceptable nature of the situation. Edna’s love for Robert is getting “fiercer, quicker, and more overpowering her” This connects to the theme of self realisation in this story and really portrays how she has at last perceived the world around
Edna reassesses her spirit more and more as the novel proceeds, with her finally reaching the maxim when committing suicide. At the beginning of the novel she is completely
Another reason Mademoiselle Reisz is significant to Edna is because she is the only one who knows about and Robert and Edna’s love. Mademoiselle explains Robert’s love for Edna, “ It is because he loves you, poor fool, and is trying to forget you, since you are not free to listen to him or belong to him ” (95). Edna’s love for Robert is the reason why she quickly becomes uninvolved with her family and the life she is socially supposed to have. She does what she wants with disregard to anything her husband has to say.
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
Later in the story, Madame Ratignolle visited Edna to address her recent associations with Alcee Arobin. She continues to express her concern for Edna’s reputation explaining, “…some one was talking of Alcee Arobin visitng you. Of course, it wouldn’t matter if Mr. Arobin had not such a dreadful reputation…his attentions alone are considered enough to ruin a woman’s name.” Adele places more value on Edna’s image and the potential harm to her family name, instead of inquiring on Edna’s well being. She notices Edna’s change in behavior and is more concerned with the way
“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
This is the point in the story where Edna starts listening to her voices inside her gives into her inner desires. She continues to struggle with the fact that she married out of convenience and she has two sons that she really does not want to mother as well as the fact that she loves being an artist. In chapter x, Edna goes to the sea only to realize that all her swimming lesson had finally paid off that summer and she was swimming. Chopin describes this even like a baby finally getting enough confidence to walk and the baby walks realizing its own strength and power. While swimming, she soon gets tired and has quick feeling overcome her of the possibility of drowning but quickly swims back to shore. She has conquered her greatest fear and now feels like a new woman that is no longer afraid of her true feelings. Edna’s affair with Robert continues and he eventually leaves Grand Isle and her and her family returns home.
Although Robert left to get away from Edna, he might have actually made things worse. He promised to write to her, but never did. By Robert not writing to her, it left Edna in agony. She longed for him even more when she did not hear from him. Not knowing that Edna would eventually read the letters, he wrote to Mademoiselle Reisz unintentionally professing his love for Mrs. Pontellier. After reading the letters, Edna realized that the feelings were mutual. Edna came to the conclusion that she wanted to get away from her house, husband, and anything that reminded her of the such so she decided to move into a small apartment around the corner.
Edna gains metaphorical wings in the form of self-actualization and newfound freedom. However, she strays too close to the harmful and unobtainable thing that is a relationship outside of marriage with someone she actually loves, Robert. In doing so, she brings about her own downfall.
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:
She is moved by music. During that summer Edna sketches to find an artistic side to herself. She needs an outlet to express who she is. Edna feels that art is important and adds meaning to her life. After the summer is over and they are back to the city and Edna is a changed woman. She makes many steps towards independence. She stops holding "Tuesday socials", she sends her children to live in the country with their grandparents, she refuses to travel abroad with her husband, she moves out of the Lebrun house on Esplanade Street, and to earn money, she starts selling her sketches and betting the horses. She also starts a relationship with another man Alcee Arobin. He meant nothing to her emotionally but she used him for sexual pleasure. Edna evolved above her peers she did not believe that sexuality and motherhood had to be linked. The last step of her "awakening" is the realization that she can not fulfill her life in a society that will not allow her to be a person and a mother. Edna commits suicide in the ocean at Grand Isle.
Robert leaves Edna behind because Edna does not give a clear answer to his marriage
Lastly, Edna explores self-expression in her own physical passion. Her romantic relationships with Alcee and, most importantly, Robert, give her the means to express love and passion she had preciously repressed. When Edna first explores these sexual feelings she, as Davis states, "succumbs to the seductions of a roué, Alcee Arobin, without
Everyone expected her not to take him seriously, since no one ever has. Madame Ratignolle, one of Edna’s friends and one of Robert’s past interests, realized that Edna had a weak spot and warned Robert that he should take heed to what she is telling him. “She is not like one of us; she is not like us. She might make the unfortunate blunder of taking you seriously.” (Chopin 19) Others even realized that Edna was not the typical women and could not be committed to her husband and family.
Edna’s discoveries throughout the novel are things she wants from life, not things she wants in death. She cannot love when she’s dead. Though looking for a partner was no easy task, she was making forward progress when she was alive. Despite becoming aware of life’s multidimensionality, she maintains views of romance that are flat. She believes she cannot live alone like Mademoiselle Reisz, but views this as the only alternative to a picturesque romance. Though none of the other characters can own her while she is dead, she cannot really own herself while she’s dead either. The only thing she can control is her death, but that ignores the many things she can still control in her life that are far better alternatives for Edna than
From even the first few chapters of the novel it is evident that Edna is becoming aware of her concealed wants and desires as she begins to distance herself from the society that she considers herself to be an outsider in. While walking in town Edna