What Is Edna's Role In The Awakening

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“Think of the children, Edna.” These are the last words uttered by Adele Ratignolle to her friend Edna Pontellier, the flawed protagonist of The Awakening by Kate Chopin. On the surface Adele’s words are a harmless recommendation, but when examined in the context of the time period they take a on a more disheartening edge. Edna, as the title would suggest, awakens to the strict confines of society by coming directly into conflict with them. Adele’s command, as well as the words and actions of so many others, seek to return Edna to her rigid role as docile matron.

Edna finds her life not just uninteresting, but uniquely unfulfilling. She seems to have it all: a rich, kind husband; a large, elegant home; and two children that she loves and feels responsible for. Still, she understands none of the joy that the other “mother-women” show. Caring for and doting on her children brings her little satisfaction and her husband Leonce lacks the excitement she felt for earlier loves. She can never even feel truly close to her friends, Adele included, for they take …show more content…
The novel does not condemn her as society would, rather it objectively presents Edna’s actions, selfish and naive as they may be. There is no compromise in her new world, and no place for friends, husbands, and children to detract from her enlightenment. However, a life lived free of responsibilities is impossible. As Edna begins to realize the unsustainability of her new lifestyle Adele’s appeal to her senses catches her off guard and reminds that she can never truly be free of her old life. Happiness cannot exist without sacrifice and Edna’s dreams of consequence-free desires are unrealistic both then and today. Edna’s suicide is then one last defiance, an ultimate rebellion. She could not return to “thinking about her children” and refused to forfeit her integrity and submit to the wills of

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