In Chapter 2 of The Awakening, Edna Pontellier and Robert Lebrun have a conversation about their plans. He talks about going to Mexico and she talks about her sister’s upcoming wedding. In chapter 5, we find out that Robert acts as an attendant to one woman each summer, pampering them but lacking in romantic intent (Chopin, pg. 25). The women who he has attended to in the past have played along with his flirtations, knowing they are innocent, but Edna is drawn in by his attention. She feels like the love and excitement of her marriage with Leonce has gone and she sees Robert as a way to regain those feelings. Despite doing this every summer, it is said that his behavior is different with Edna and that we he speaks of love around her he doesn’t
…show more content…
Despite Robert leaving being the catalyst for her return to Grand Isles, I think that her suicide had more to due with her belief that this was the only way to escape the bonds placed onto her by society than being caused by him leaving. I think this because when she is walking to the ocean and when she is swimming, she thinks not only about having “no human being whom she wants near her except Robert,” but also about viewing symbols of her place in society as a woman, like her children, as “antagonists who have overcome her… and sought to drag her into the soul’s slavery for the rest of her days” (Chopin, pg. 300). She committed suicide in defiance of the idea that Leonce and her children could “possess her, body and soul” (Chopin, pg. 302).
In conclusion, despite Robert being absent for a large portion in the middle of the book, his and Edna’s relationship is very important. It is the feelings of love and excitement that Edna feels when she is around Robert that are among the major catalysts for her awakening. It is also his refusal to escape with her from the rules and expectations of society that eventually leads her to come to the conclusion that her place in society is unchangeable and the only way to escape is to
Despite Robert leaving being the catalyst for her return to Grand Isles, I think that her suicide had more to due with her belief that this was the only way to escape the bonds placed onto her by society than being caused by him leaving. I think this because when she is walking to the ocean and when she is swimming, she thinks not only about having “no human being whom she wants near her except Robert,” but also about viewing symbols of her place in society as a woman, like her children, as “antagonists who have overcome her… and sought to drag her into the soul’s slavery for the rest of her days” (Chopin, pg. 300). She committed suicide in defiance of the idea that Leonce and her children could “possess her, body and soul” (Chopin, pg. 302).
In conclusion, despite Robert being absent for a large portion in the middle of the book, his and Edna’s relationship is very important. It is the feelings of love and excitement that Edna feels when she is around Robert that are among the major catalysts for her awakening. It is also his refusal to escape with her from the rules and expectations of society that eventually leads her to come to the conclusion that her place in society is unchangeable and the only way to escape is to