Where is edna pontellier from

She does not have much interaction with the society as she devotes her time to her passion: music. In the beginning of the novel, Edna is a character who fits in with the society, but is unhappy with it. Her unhappiness and influence from Mademoiselle Reisz is what eventually leads her to become independent. She is unhappy with her marriage and does not do much with her kids. In fact, when she decides to break away from what the society expects of her and becomes independent, she sends her kids to live with their grandmother while she has an affair and lives for herself.

As she begins to act in accordance with her own desires rather than with upper-class society's expectations, her illustrations and paintings "grow in force and individuality. Throughout the novel, Edna never looks ahead to the consequences of her actions for herself or anyone else or how the situations she creates will resolve themselves.

Conditions would some way adjust themselves. Overall, Edna's spirit is strong enough to begin a rebellion but too weak to maintain it, although some readers have interpreted her suicide as a triumphant escape from those personal and social forces that she perceived as enslaving her. Previous Chapter Removing book from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title.

Pontellier was forced to admit that she knew of none better. His social status as patriarch is established at the very beginning, "Mr.

Pontellier had the privilege of quitting their society [the birds of Madame Lebrun] when they ceased to be entertaining" Chopin 1. In the progression of the novel it becomes clear that neither wife nor husband loves the other. He does not, for instance, play with his sons, Etienne and Raoul. As patriarch he repeatedly reminds Edna of her social duties and her responsibility to her children. And therein lies one of the most easily misunderstood problems of the novel.

Reception day was a social ritual - women visited each other and left their card behind. The following week, the other woman had to attend their reception day. After six years of marriage, Edna breaks with the convention.

She is not at home on reception day. Back then middle-class women, who did not represent the image of the obedient and faithful wife, were considered to suffer from hysteria. Moreover, there is a hint of the abscence of sexual intercourse between the married couple. In the s there were massive expansions of educational opportunites available to women. As a result the male-dominated society feared that the ideal of family and traditional values would be undermined. Put your food down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife.

The Colonel is a very old-fashioned man who would never allow a woman to forget about her social status and her duty to represent him in society. He is the voice of a conservative society, ridiculed ironically by Kate Chopin. Since divorce was impossible for Roman Catholics, Edna could only escape her unsatisfying marriage abandoning her family and being an outsider to society. Kate Chopin wrote the novel At Fault about this problem.

Pontellier' " Showalter, Edna had attempted all summer to learn to swim. She had received instructions from both the men and women; in some instances from the children. Robert had pursued a system of lessons almost daily; and he was nearly at the point of discouragement in realizing the futility of his efforts. Here Edna is still passively receiving instructions. The swimming is a symbol for freedom, and the floating expresses independence.

Edna, in her sleeping phase, is neither free nor independent. Her inability to swim gives her no opportunity to escape this world of restrictions and social conventions.

Edna's first step from her condition of sleep to a phase of dreaming can be seen in chapter seven, when she walks to the beach with Mme. In her dreaming phase Edna realizes the freedom that can be achieved through swimming, using this metaphor to describe her childhood, before she was married and when she is still "free".

In this sequence of the story the narrator stops addressing the protagonist as Mrs. Pontellier, but rather calls her "Edna", thus giving her subjectivity. In her dreaming phase, Edna tries to gain independence in various ways. In this phase of independence, through the absence of her husband, Edna gradually realizes her individuality and her power.

When she sends her children to their grandmother, she can experience total freedom and independence. She steps out of her "expected role" of a mother, thus expressing her disapproval of the belief that women are supposed to sacrifice everything for their children.

Again, Edna's phase of dreaming is reflected by characters and symbols throughout the novel. The male character representing Edna's dreaming phase is Robert. Even though it is Robert who "awakens" sexual desires in Edna and thus is the reason for her change, he does not reflect the awakening phase.

The reader soon realizes that, if Edna's relationship with Robert had been successful, she would again have been forced into the role of a "mother-woman", restricted by social conventions. I suppose this is what you would call unwomanly; but I have got into a habit of expressing myself.

It doesn't matter to me, and you may think me unwomanly if you like. Robert's views on women do not differ from that of most men at this time. He considers wives to be the possession of their husbands.

This becomes obvious when he tells Edna, 'Oh! I was demented, dreaming of wild, impossible things, recalling men who had set their wives free, we have heard of such things' Awakening , In contrast to her sleeping phase, Edna disagrees openly with these views and expresses her disapproval:.

You have been a very, very foolish boy, wasting your time dreaming of impossible things when you speak of Mr. Pontellier setting me free! I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, "Here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours," I should laugh at both of you.

Awakening , p Robert finally refuses to wait for Edna and stay together with her, leaving a note that says 'I love you. Good-bye - because I love you'. The reader can see his dependency on social conventions; he loves Edna and therefore he has to leave her. He knows the consequences their relationship would have and prefers to go the safe way.

Edna's learning to swim is an important sign of her first awakening, that is an awakening from a sleeping to a dreaming phase. Though she has the ability to swim, she is still full of fears. First 'she did shout for joy, as with a sweeping stroke or two she lifted her body to the surface of the water' and 'grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before' Awakening , But as soon as she is in relatively far distance from the shore, she gets a feeling of panic:.

Once she turned and looked toward the shore, toward the people she had left there. She had not gone any great distance - that is, what would have been a great distance for an experienced swimmer. But to her unaccustomed vision the stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome. A quick vision of death smote her soul, and for a second of time appalled and enfeebled her senses.

Here Edna fears the unknown, and she is eager to return to the "safe shore", which at the same time is the world of restrictions and social conventions. She is not fully awakened yet. She experiences freedom and independence but she is not yet ready for it. Edna's complete awakening goes hand in hand with her suicide, yet she has experienced a gradual awakening throughout the novel.

Her dreaming phase, which is the longest of the three phases, often intermingles with the awakening phase. The reader might think several times throughout the story that Edna has awakened, only to find out that she is not yet free.

Edna herself does not even know whether she is free or not when she talks to Doctor Mandelet, saying:. Perhaps - no, I'm not going.