Who Is Edna Pontellier's Fatal Flaw

Albert Camus once stated, “In the end, one needs more courage to live then to kill [themself].” When it comes to the act of committing suicide, more courage is needed to push past the urge and refuse defeat than simply throwing the towel in. In Kate Chopin’s scandalous novel, The Awakening, Edna Pontellier fails to muster up enough courage to prove herself victorious against her life battles, which, unfortunately, leads to her pathetic defeat. By examining Mrs. Pontellier’s epiphany regarding her “accidental” husband, her bold first swim, Madame Ratignolle’s birth scene, and how hastily she gave up on her final swim, her inferred suicide must be seen as a pathetic defeat. In addition, Edna Pontellier consistently repudiates the notion of growing

According to Rosemary Franklin, Edna possesses “infantile and regressive traits” (Franklin 510), throughout the entire novel. Despite being a married twenty-eight year old woman with two kids, she consistently embodies a retrogressing individual. After the conclusion of the novel, it is quite evident that Edna Pontellier starts off as a mature, young adult, however, as the novel progresses, one cannot help but notice how easily her maturity deteriorates. For instance, in the beginning of the novel, Edna Pontellier admits to herself “her marriage to Léonce Pontellier was purely an accident” (Chopin 39). She gave Mr. Pontellier her hand in marriage simply because of the “violent opposition of her father and her sister” (Chopin 39). This defiant action clearly resembles a feat that a rebellious teenager would happily do and not what a “mature” twenty-eight year old would do. Furthermore, when Edna Pontellier begins to learn how to swim—with the help of her new lover, Robert Lebrun—she “[grew] daring and reckless” (Chopin 49). For this Victorian time period, it is rare to see a grown woman being intrepid and reckless. Notwithstanding the blatant fact that Edna is not a strong swimmer just yet, she is “like [a] child, who a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldy and with over-confidence” (Chopin 49). Edna Pontellier pushes the trepidations

To a traditional Victorian mother, this observation can be seen as almost blasphemous. Furthermore, when Edna Pontellier’s children are not with her, she allows herself to admit “she did not miss them (...) their absence was a sort of relief” (Chopin 40). Succeeding Madame Ratignolle’s birth scene, Edna is left emotionally scarred—even though she has given birth to two children of her own—and also indifferent in some aspects, as well. Dr. Mandelet realizes the severity of the scene and convinces Edna that it was “no place for [her]” (Chopin 134).” This statement by Dr. Mandelet further proves that, despite giving birth to two children of her own, Edna is not psychologically prepared to witness such a sight. Moreover, during Edna’s conversation with Dr. Mandelet, she retorts that she “shouldn’t want to trample upon the little lives.” (Chopin 135). The specific diction that Edna uses alludes to the fact that she does not have any major opposition to “trampling the little lives”—the lives being her kids’. She chose the word “shouldn’t” over “wouldn’t,” and notwithstanding the seemingly insignificant diction, it allows the reader to believe that she understands the lack of opposition and recognizes how wrong that is for a Victorian mother to say. Therefore, she immediately ends the discussion after the slip