Saturday, March 10, 2012

Really Edna?

So, The Awakening is my favorite read this semester and I really enjoyed it, but not for the characters.  I liked all of the drama and the ending was unexpected.  I'm really upset with the character of Edna.  Edna is a very selfish women who tries to make you think that she cares about her husband and kids but she just doesn't.  We talked in class about the fact that Mr. Pontillier and the children are probably better off with Edna dead, but if I had the choice of my parents being separated or one of them dead; I'd rather have them separated.  The children don't really seem to care that their mother has other people taking care of them and that she doesn't fawn all over them.  The children just want sweets and to play, so if Edna left and only came by every so often they would probably be perfectly fine with that.  Mr. Pontillier on the other hand would probably be very upset and his "perfect" image would be ruined.  Would people blame him for his wife leaving? or would they blame Edna?
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4 comments:

  1. brittany cMarch 11, 2012 at 6:25 AM

    I would think they would probably blame Edna. If anything, people would probably feel bad for Mr. Pontillier and empathize for him. I agree that if given a choice, the children would be better off with them separated but I can see why Chopin wrote the ending the way she did; it expressed Edna's final awakening and being one with herself if that makes sense..

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  2. AshleyMarch 11, 2012 at 9:25 AM

    Yes, I agree with you. It does seem like Edna took the easy way out so that her and her family's reputation wouldn't be ruined. Had Edna's death looked like suicide, the scandal would have followed Mr. Pontillier and the children forever. I keep wondering though about the similarities between Edna's fictional life and Chopin's real life. To me, Edna's death seems to foreshadow Chopin's own suicide.

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    1. Bethany KMarch 11, 2012 at 1:38 PM

      But Chopin didn't commit suicide. Her biography on KateChopin.com says, "Doctors thought that she had had a cerebral hemorrhage. She lapsed into unconsciousness the next day and died on August 22." We've talked about authors who did commit suicide, though - Hemingway, Gilman. Maybe you were thinking of Gilman ("The Yellow Wallpaper").

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  3. FordMarch 11, 2012 at 1:34 PM

    While I'm sure that the blame would mostly fall on the woman (naturally) in the separated scenario, I'm equally sure that society would have wondered what drove her to leave. What or perhaps who. The scandal would be lessened by the fact that she wasn't leaving with someone, just that she was moving down the block for some creative space.

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