Edna Pontellier's Role In The Awakening

“Critics called it morbid, vulgar, and disagreeable” a quote from Katechopin.org. about Kate Chopin’s book “The Awakening”. Not everyone was please with how Kate Chopin had her readers view the character Edna Pontellier in her book “The Awakening”. In the book Edna Pontellier was viewed as a lonely housewife who didn’t want to abide by the ways of the 1890s. She felt trapped in her marriage and didn’t want to be a mother to her children. Edna’s husband was oblivious to the fact that his wife felt this way he believed everything was good in his household. Edna Pontellier started to see multiple men throughout the book and the public started to talk. Soon Edna started spending all of her time with Robert, and she soon fell in love with him. Edna didn’t notice how people begin to illustrate her was a whore. In Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” the character Edna Pontellier gives the reader insight on how society viewed women in the 1890s.

In the book Edna was the type of woman you envy.

Edna live in an upscale house, had a rich husband, she threw the best parties. She had the best of everything but still wasn’t happy with her life. She felt has if she was trapped in this way of life with no way out. In Melissa Garcia’s essay “Selfish Unsatisfied Edna” she uses the text "her marriage to Léonce Pontellier was purely an accident... He fell in love...and pressed his suit with an earnestness and an ardor which left nothing to be desired. He pleased her; his absolute devotion flattered her". The texts are lines from the book that explains to the reader that Edna married her husband for selfish reasons. She married her husband [Leonce] because she knew he would secure her, she knew if she married well that she would be protected by his wealth status. She had maids to care for her children and do all the other things that normally housewives would

do.
She [Edna] wanted to be free and live her life how she saw fit. She didn’t want to listen to her husband or anyone when they tried to correct her to do what is right. “No: I am going to stay out here”, said Edna when her husband Leonce asked her to come in the house. (Chopin 53) Her husband asks her to retreat back into the house because it was dark and mosquitoes would bite her. But she refuses to listen and stays outside; going against what her husband is telling her. Throughout the book Edna started a relationship with Robert Lebrun. Edna goes against what Adèle and Mademoiselle Reiz tells her about seeing Robert and she falls in love with him.“…Are you in love with Robert?” asked Mademoiselle Reiz to Edna, she simply replies, “Yes.” (Chopin 135) Edna doesn’t want to listen to the people who are trying to help her keep a good reputation. In my opinion I don’t think Edna felt it was wrong to love another man that’s not your husband.
“It is the wife's responsibility to provide her husband "a happy home... the single spot of rest which a man has upon this earth for the cultivation of his noblest sensibilities.", states a Kate Chopin website that explains what a 1890 marriage should be like. Kate Chopin portrays Edna as the total opposite that pharse. Edna doesn’t try to give Leonce a happy life. Instead she cheats on him, doesn’t listen to what he says, and doesn’t care for her home and children as a wife should. In 1890 the man was suppose to believe his wife would take care of their home and care for the children. In the beginning he [Leonce] thought their marriage was perfect but he soon discovered the truth about his wife.
A good woman should want to get married and have children. Edna wasn’t the kind of mother that adored her children. In the book Kate Chopin doesn’t elaborate on the time Edna spent with her children. Kate Chopin doesn’t explain to the reader what was Edna’s reason for not spending time with her children. Her friend Adèle tries throughout the book to help Edna feel the love that she have for her own children. Adèle wanted Edna to be a great mother to her children; she wanted Edna to love her children unconditionally. Adèle knew Edna loved her children but not as much as she should. “Think of the children, Edna…” Adèle says to Edna will giving birth. (Chopin 182) The reader could interpret this quote in two ways. One reader could think that Adèle is telling Edna to think about the children because they would hear the stories about the way their mother behaved in her marriage. Back in the 1890s children were viewed by their parents public status. Adèle didn’t want the children to be viewed as the product of a whore. The reader could have also thought that Adèle was telling Edna the saying because should she be a better mother to her children. Any good mother loves her children no matter how bad her life is. A good mother would never purposely leave their children alone in a world without guidance from them.
Image was everything back in the 1890s from the way you dressed, the way you walk, talk and look. I husband is the man focus of this time. He is expected to always succeed because “men are not permitted to fail at anything they try because failure in any domain implies failure in one’s manhood” (Tyson 86). When Edna’s husband started to realize his wife acting strange and doing things he didn’t approve of he started to make excuses for her. “…Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier were contemplating a summer sojourn abroad, and that their handsome residence on Esplanade Street was undergoing sumptuous alterations,...” (Chopin 156), Leonce placed this ad in the daily papers once Edan told him that she was moving into the pigeon house. He placed it because he didn’t want the town to think that they had fallen on bad times and couldn’t afford their house. He wanted his image in the town to stay a good one so he covered for why his wife moved out of their home.
Leonce treated Edna like a queen anything she desired she could have. Within the letter Edna wrote to her husband telling him she was moving into the Pigeon house , she told him she was going to throw a party. He did not tell her no, but instead Edna threw the party of the century. “…flowers were in tubs… champagne was quaffed from huge golden goblets.” (Chopin 186), details that were said about the party Edna threw. Even after his wife had just told him she was moving out of their house he spends money to throw this huge party. Leonce cares to much about his image to give his wife anything bout the best.
“The word patriarchy literally means “rule of the father” (Tierney 1048) and in patriarchal society men control women.” (Kampenberg) Husbands also love and cared for their wife and children. The husbands worked all day and the wife stays home to care for the children. Any wife back in this time knew that her husband was the head of the household. She simply had to keep the house cleaned and cook the food for her husband. Edna had maids to do all those things for her; she didn’t know how to take care of someone. Leonce can sometimes make it hard for Edna when she did care for her children. Leonce told Edna that one of their sons had a high fever, but Edna knew the child didn’t because she had just put them to bed. But her husband insists that the child has a fever. Leonce didn’t realize how his doubt about Edna caring for their children really hurt her.
Even though she tried Edna wasn’t good at hiding her feelings from the public. Mademoiselle Reiz was the first to know that Edna had fallen in love with Robert. Edna felt that it was her life so she didn’t have to entitle her personal life to anyone, not even her husband. She wanted to hide her feelings from people but when her body language gave her away she couldn’t hide it anymore. When Edna found out Robert was leaving for Mexico she was shocked by the fact. “Edna’s face was a blank picture of bewilderment, which she never thought of disguising ”(Chopin 69) Women should always be loyal and true to her husband but Edna could not hide the fact that she was in love with Robert.
While Robert was gone away from Edna she started to see this other man named Alcee Arobin. He was the kind of man that any respectable woman should stay away from. Edna and Leonce hold a great amount of privilege in the society so Edna has a role to play. “… someone was talking of Alcee Arobin visiting you…his attentions alone are considered enough to ruin a woman’s name.” When Edna found out this information she acted so nonchalant to the fact. Edna is supposed to be a woman with dignity and class. She was supposed to care about her reputation but she didn’t.
Robert loved Edna but he knew it was wrong to do so. I believe Robert left for Mexico to think about his feelings for Edna and think about what he should do about them. Hold the other hand Alcee Arobin knew what he was doing and didn’t care who he hurt in the process. He knew the outcome of what would happen if he got involved with a woman like Edna. Arobin knew Edna was lonely and seeking attention and love, all he had to do was pretend he cared about her and she would fell too his feet. Women shouldn’t feel or act that way about any man that’s not her husband, she should only feel that way about her husband.
“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 80) Edna feels as if her state of being is more important to her than anything. She feels herself is more important for her to have than to give away. At the end of the book Edna takes her own life because she couldn’t have the man she wanted. Robert left Edna a note saying, “I love you. Good-by-because I love you.”(Chopin 185) Edna was so hurt by the fact that she felt as if she couldn’t live without him. Edna didn’t think about her children when she could have. She should have thought about what her children life’s would be like without their mother. A women back in that time would want to live for their children, their children would be their strength to make it through hard times. Edna was judge and talked about throughout the whole. None of what people said bothered her, she didn’t care about her reputation or her life.