Edna's Awakening Chapter 3 Analysis

The purpose of chapter three is to detail the relationship between a man and wife and to show what causes Edna’s “awakening”, which Chopin achieves through her stylistic techniques which include diction, rhetorical questions, and imagery.

One of the purposes of the chapter is to show the relationship between a husband and wife. In the chapter, Edna’s husband returns home one night while his family is asleep, and expects her to be interested in his day. “He was in an excellent humor, in high spirits, and very talkative.” Chopin describes Leonce this way in order to show that he expects his wife to reflect his mood when he comes home. Due to this description, the audience can assume that he intends to talk to Edna, who is awakened by his entrance

and still tired. “He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation.” Chopin's diction here reveals how Leonce and other men at this time, think of their wives as objects, as shown in the quote. The quote also shows how little he cares about what his wife thinks in that, to him, she is not concerned with him at all since she is not engaged in their conversation. Chopin does this to show how a wife is less important than her husband. Despite his initial reaction, Chopin shows that he does love his family by having him go to check on his son's, “ Notwithstanding he loved [his children] very much, and went into the adjoining room where they slept to take a look at them and make sure that they were resting comfortably.” Although this appears to be a touching moment for Leonce, he returns to his wife to tell her that she needs to look after one of their sons. “Mr. Pontellier returned to his wife with the information that Raoul had a high fever and needed looking after.” Choplin includes this interaction in order to further demonstrate the roles of man and wife in society, in this case, the wife's role is to take care of the sick, instead of the husband. “Then he lit a cigar and went and sat near the open door to smoke it.” Chopin uses this imagery of a man smoking by a window in his house at night is meant to show how a man has the power to do whatever he wants in his house, unlike the wife. “He had gone to bed perfectly well, she said, and nothing had ailed him all day. Mr. Pontellier was too well acquainted with fever symptoms to be mistaken. He assured her the child was consuming at that moment in the next room.” Chopin uses these differing views to create tension between the couple as they figure out if their son does in fact have a fever. Since Leonce wins this argument due his his experience, it shows how the husband is always right in the household, regardless of the wife’s input. “If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it?” Chopin uses this rhetorical question to establish how Leonce feels about his sick son and how well Edna is doing her job as a mother. She also uses it to show Edna’s role as a mother in the household. In the morning, Edna’s husband returns to work in the city as he leaves the family again. “He was returning to the city to his business, and they would not see him again at the Island till the coming Saturday.” Chopin includes this part because it shows that his absence is a regular part of his family’s life, meaning that it is his job as as man to go off and work while his wife stays home and tends to housework and the children. The purpose of this chapter was for Chopin to demonstrate the unbalanced relationship between husband and wife in Edna’s society, which Chopin uses for her awakening in the same chapter (Chopin 5-7).
The purpose of the chapter is to show what “awakens” Edna Pontellier, which Chopin displays in the text.

As her husband comes home from work, he see’s that one of their children is sick and blames Edna for not being able to take proper care of their family. This interaction cause Edna to get upset. “She began to cry a little, and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her peignoir.” Chopin uses these emotions that flow from the character to demonstrate the toll that society is taking on Edna as she tries to be the best wife that she is able to do. “Blowing out the candle, which her husband had left burning, she slipped her bare feet into a pair of satin mules at the foot of the bed and went out on the porch, where she sat down in the wicker chair and began to rock gently to and fro.” Edna’s action of leaving the room where her husband is sleeping represents the first step in her awakening as she leaves her husband to sleep somewhere else. Chopin uses the candle as a symbol that represents Edna’s devotion towards her husbands, and when she blows it out, it means that she wants to become independant. “It was then past midnight. The cottages were all dark. A single faint light gleamed out from the hallway of the house.” This imagery that Chopin uses is meant to show how alone Edna feels inside as she represents the light inside her house when compared to the darkness of the outside world. Chopin also shows the oppression of women in this scene as they are the light that is stuck

inside the house, and the darkness that surround them is the world's oppression. “Turning, she thrust her face, steaming and wet, into the bend of her arm, and she went on crying there, not caring any longer to dry her face, her eyes, her arms. She could not have told why she was crying.” This quote is more centralized around Edna herself as she does not attempt to keep herself from crying. Chopin does this for a reason, which is to show how Edna feels comfortable by herself, but she she only knows that something is wrong with her life, which is why she does not say why she is crying. “An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish.” Chopin describes Edna’s awakening as it being an untouched part of her consciousness to show that this is the first time that Edna has felt this way in her entire life. The oppression she describes is the way that her husband has been treating her, which Chopin describes as a shadow, “It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul’s summer day. It was strange and unfamiliar; it was a mood.” Chopin's description of Edna’s oppression is a simile because she wants to express just how much Edna is being affected by her husbands treatment of her. It’s this feeling about her life that causes Edna to become “awakened” and want to become independant. “She did not sit there inwardly upbraiding her husband, lamenting at Fate, which had directed her footsteps to the path which they had taken. She was just having a good cry all to herself.” The language Chopin uses in this quote shows that Edna is denying the fact that she despises her husband and knows that she has to become her own woman, due to the “Fate” that directed her. Chopin does this to characterize Edna and to develop the purpose of the chapter which is to show what causes Edna’s awakening (Chopin 6-7).

The purpose of the chapter is to tell about the relationship and roles of men and women and to show the event that caused Edna’s awakening and inner struggle with herself, all of which Chopin accomplishes through different viewpoints, imagery and similes to show a deeper meaning of the chapter which is that Edna awakens due to the unbalanced relationship between husband and

wife.