12) Drawing was one of the many acceptable hobbies for a women to have during the period when the novel was written. Art, music, and sowing were often undertake by ladies of the house in their free time. Music evokes a very strong reaction from Edna. During an evening in which the children have an impromptu recital, Mademoiselle Reisz plays a song on the piano for Edna. The narrator states that “the very first chords which Mademoiselle Reisz struck upon the piano sent a keen tremor down Mrs. Pontellier’s spinal column.”(p. 26) The music adheres to and stirs the feeling of an awakening that Edna had recently discovered. Although Edna had listened to music before, she muses that “perhaps it was the first time she was ready, perhaps the first time her being was tempered to take an impression of the abiding truth.”(p. 26) Through music, Edna is able to feel things that she doesn’t feel in her normal life. The passionate music ignites the awakening desire in Edna to explore her own passions. Chopin uses the different forms of socially acceptable leisure activities to persuade Edna to indulge in her own wants and
12) Drawing was one of the many acceptable hobbies for a women to have during the period when the novel was written. Art, music, and sowing were often undertake by ladies of the house in their free time. Music evokes a very strong reaction from Edna. During an evening in which the children have an impromptu recital, Mademoiselle Reisz plays a song on the piano for Edna. The narrator states that “the very first chords which Mademoiselle Reisz struck upon the piano sent a keen tremor down Mrs. Pontellier’s spinal column.”(p. 26) The music adheres to and stirs the feeling of an awakening that Edna had recently discovered. Although Edna had listened to music before, she muses that “perhaps it was the first time she was ready, perhaps the first time her being was tempered to take an impression of the abiding truth.”(p. 26) Through music, Edna is able to feel things that she doesn’t feel in her normal life. The passionate music ignites the awakening desire in Edna to explore her own passions. Chopin uses the different forms of socially acceptable leisure activities to persuade Edna to indulge in her own wants and