The Curious Case of Edna Pontellier

829 Words4 Pages
A woman who only finds joy in freedom, Edna’s journey is one of a woman of many responsibilities who seeks to be liberated of them. To her, motherhood, marriage, and social prestige are all burdens that her peers have cast upon her in an effort to make her someone else. The Awakening of Edna is the fulfillment of the desires these peers have condemned, the desires that a woman in a position such as Edna should not have, desires that reflect Edna’s true self - the self that was not meant for the position thrust upon her and the self that craves dangerously foreboding concupiscence. Edna begins the tale young and unaware, like her early compatriot Robert. “Robert talked a good deal about himself. He was very young, and did not know any better. Mrs. Pontellier talked a little about herself for the same reason” (Chopin 4). In this small segment of the early and innocent days of Edna and Robert, both of these characters are defined as unknowing, interested in each other, and blind to themselves. It is first here where Edna is led to believe that it is Robert who is responsible for the moods of individuality that she has found herself thrown in. Impassioned by her ventures with Robert to the ocean, Edna soon establishes a strong sense of connection between the two. As Edna falls in love with the freedom and independence the sea has to offer, she comes to associate Robert with the sea, and falls in love with his free-spirited personality as well. However, unlike the sea, Robert does not offer independence. Robert is still a man of his era, and when he returns from Mexico much later in the novel, it is clear that his own journey has not aligned with Edna’s. While Edna’s journey is an awakening of the spiritual self and desire, it appears that Robert’s was merely the fulfillment of one desire in place of preventing another. Robert has not come to realize that what Edna
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