Awakening By Edna Pontellier Essay Research Paper

Awakening By Edna Pontellier Essay, Research Paper

There are many important paths that we must follow on our journey through life.

We follow the path without questioning its intent. The path informs us when we

should learn to talk, to walk, to marry, and to have children. We are told that

we should never stray from it, because if we do, society will make it certain

that we are bound for damnation. In the novel The Awakening the main character,

Edna Pontellier, has followed this path without so much as a fuss. All that

changes when Edna is awakened from a life long slumber.a slumber, which she

found repetitious, monotonous, and futile. She discovers that she is incomplete

being just a wife and a mother. She needs to fill the void that has been empty

for so long. She finds herself looking aimlessly beyond the path toward a

destination of new feelings, adventures, and awakenings her quest for true love.

Edna stands under this symbol of love, she is faced with a dilemma. Should she

kiss, (or in this case, marry), whether or not it is love. Or should she pass by

the opportunity and prepare herself for the hurricane winds of a disappointed

and disapproving society. Edna chose to do what society wanted her to do.she

got married and left her fantasies and dreams in the depths of the shadows.

"The acme of bliss, which would have been a marriage with the tragedian,

was not for her in this world. As the devoted wife of a man who worshiped her,

she felt she would take her place with a certain dignity in the world of

reality, closing the portals forever behind her upon the realm of romance and

dreams." (P. 24) After marriage, hidden around the curvatures of the path,

were the expectations of motherhood and being a devoted mother, after all

"if it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was

it." (P. 7) The appearance of Edna’s life looked perfect.she was the envy

of many women who declared, "Mr. Pontellier was the best husband in the

world. Mrs. Pontellier was forced to admit she knew of none better." (P. 9)

The cover of her life had that of a fairy tale, but inside, the pages were

filled with the emptiness and the loneliness she was feeling. During that summer

at Grand Isle, the pages were finally read, and slowly Edna became less and less

concerned for the welfare of her family. "He [Mr. Pontellier] thought it

very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence

evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little

his conversation." (P. 6) In Mr. Pontellier’s eyes his wife was not a

mother-woman, because "it was easy to know them, fluttering about with

extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their

precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their

husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals

and grow wings as ministering angels." (P. 10) His wife seemed more

interested in using her "protective" wings to fly about in search of

the independent soul she once threw away at the altar. In the meantime, "if

one of the little Pontellier boys took a tumble whilst at play, he was not apt

to rush crying to his mother’s arms for comfort; he would more likely pick

himself up, wipe the water out of his eyes, and the sand out of his mouth, and

go on playing." (P. 9) The love between Edna and her children existed, but

it resembled more of the love between the members of an extended family in the

1990s. "Sometimes [she'd] gather them passionately in her heart; she would

sometimes forget them, and their absence was a sort of relief." (P. 24)

Around her, Edna could see the devoted Creole mothers flocking about their

precious children. These women frowned upon Edna’s laissez faire attitude toward

her children. None of the other women could relate to Edna’s declaration,

"I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my

life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself." (P. 25) Edna made the

decision to have a family when she was young, naive, and unaware of what she

truly wanted. That summer, she awakened from her slumber and frantically began

to search for the gateway to her dreams. As for her children, "they need

not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul." (P. 152)

Raising a family prevailed in the nineteenth century and women who tried to

pursue a career or a hobby were shunned by society. Edna throughout her life

listened to everyone else but herself. She accepted her assigned role in society

and stashed away her passions, dreams, and desires to the deepest part of her

soul. For many years she lived hidden beneath a facade, but the Edna who craved

independence and romance began to emerge that summer. "In short,

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