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. She had all her life long
been accustomed to harbor thoughts and emotions which never voiced themselves.
They had never taken the form of struggles. (The Awakening, Ch. XVI)
Chapter XV begins with Edna entering the dining room “out of
habit.” Her neatly habitualized world, however, is suddenly dismantled when she
hears that Robert, her close friend and confidant, is departing to Mexico
immediately. She begs Robert for an explanation, entreating, “I’ve grown used
to seeing you.” Nevertheless, he sets off, coldly withholding his reason for
doing so from Edna. And as soon as he departs, Edna realizes that she has been
faced with her greatest fear: She nearly surrendered herself to an object of
her infatuation and, on the cusp of revealing her emotions, he left her high
and dry. This marks a turning point in Edna’s “awakening.”
The Pontellier family eventually returns to New Orleans. At
home, Edna begins to express her defiance more openly, deliberately neglecting
her wifely duties—les convenances. Tormented
by Robert’s leaving, she has another “fit” (if I should call it that) at the
end of chapter XVII, striving to crush her wedding ring with a boot heel and
shattering a vase. This, coupled with her outburst of tears earlier in the
novella, expresses Edna’s inner anguish. She has repressed some part of herself
that yearns to emerge from within her – to “awaken” – but, although she has had
momentary realizations, she has not yet fully come to terms with this “other
self.”
Edna’s behavior in this section certainly indicates that her
“awakened self” is slowly coming to light. She no longer heeds any of Léonce’s
censures; she unearths a few sketches in chapter XVIII and reveals them to
Madame Ratignolle; she is, as Mr. Pontellier observes, “not plainly herself”
(XIX). Edna is not of the “old Creole race” that Léonce proudly boasts he is a
part of (XXII); she is an outsider. Robert’s departure not only causes her to
experience one of her greatest fears, but also intensifies her detachment, a
disinterest meant to initiate a withdrawal from the manufactured Creole society
into her “self.”
So, with that being said, here are a few discussion
questions:
1) What do you guys make of Edna’s behavior? Is she acting
inappropriately or is society’s decorum superfluous? (I know, Daisy
Miller-esque)
2) What do you make of Léonce seeking medical attention for
Edna? What does it say about him and his understanding of his wife?
3) How is her life on Grande Terre different from her life
in New Orleans? What were the more salient changes or transitions that struck
you?
-- J.C.
No comments:
Post a Comment