Edna Symbolism In The Awakening

Edna beings her story as an obedient, quiet, and tame wife and mother. She has never thought twice about the way that her husband, Mr. Pontellier, speaks to her and treats her. This holds true until one late night when Mr. Pontellier accuses her of being a bad mother; after this occurs, she is left wondering how she has never felt oppressed by her husband before and why his actions effect her in a new way this night. Though Edna is literally surrounded by darkness, she is just starting to see the light. As a rosy-red color starts to fill Edna’s cheeks while she is listening to Robert Lebrun jokes about nougats with Madame Ratignolle, the passion that she has been hiding since she was younger starts to fill her heart. The “outward existence which conforms” started to give way to “the inward life which questions” (Chapter 7, page 13, paragraph 1). We see the true Edna come out as she reveals personal thoughts to Madame Ratignolle as the sit together on the beach. Enda admits that she does not expect passion out of marriage, she views it more as an institution. She confesses her thoughts on marriage after recalling two times she has actually felt something with a man – once when she was infatuated with a …show more content…
Her defiance against her husband helped her realize how much she loved having her own voice, her love with Robert showed her she deserved more but also showed her that his love was one she can never fully have, and her lustful relationship with Arobin let her experience a sexual being that was constantly put down in the 19th century. Although Edna, in a way, got what she wanted, her independence did not go as planned. She was still limited by society, could never go back in time to have the man she wanted and the youth she wanted, and had nothing to look forward to. The last thing that she had control over was her existence, and in a final act of independence, she let herself be