Let's pick up where we left off, shall we?
1. Summary: Chapters 11-19
Chapter 11 begins where chapter 10 leaves off. Edna is on the porch still, though Robert has gone home. Mr. Pontellier comes home and expresses some surprise that Edna is still outside; he implores her to come inside, and she refuses. She more or less argues with him on principle, because she recognizes the way he has always treated her like a child, like someone he is responsible for bossing around, as though she can't take care of herself. Instead of obeying his request, Edna stays in the hammock. After throwing a bit of a tantrum, Mr. Pontellier decides to join her on the porch and angrily smoke a handful of cigars until she finally decides to go inside (sometime around dawn.)
"You don't want to come in? Fine - two can play this game."
The next morning, Edna wakes up and decides to go to church - sort of. She invites Robert to go, they get on a little boat, and boat (what is the verb for going on a boat...floating? Voyaging? I don't know.) to the little island on which the church is located. On the boat, Robert talks to this Spanish girl named Mariequita, while Edna mostly sits there and listens, because she doesn't speak Spanish.
When the boat arrives to the island, they all go to the church service (Edna, Robert, and the other people on the boat - not sure about Mariequita, though...) During the service, Edna starts to feel dizzy and drowsy, because of her lack of sleep the night before. Robert takes her to this lady's house - a woman he knows who lives on the island. The lady lets Edna take a nap in her room; meanwhile, Robert hangs out with the woman's son outside until Edna wakes up. She finally does, and after sitting outside and watching the sun set, she and Robert go back to Grand Isle.
I mean, the book doesn't say they were touching, but they were totally touching.
Edna gets back home and discovers one of her sons was being a brat, but the kids have all gone to bed. Her husband was worried about her being gone, until one of the neighbors told him she was just "overcome with sleep and fatigue". He decides to go to his men's club for the evening. Edna waits up for him and thinks a lot about Robert.
Some evenings later, Edna comes to dinner at the main house amidst a lively conversation. It turns out that Robert announced he'll be leaving for Mexico. While everyone is arguing about it, Edna and Robert exchange some "Why are you leaving" - "I have to; I'm in love with you" - "But you suck, I love you too" - "I know, but you're married so I have to leave" vibes across the table.
Edna leaves dinner and goes to sit in reflection outside. Madame Ratignolle tries to convince her to come hang out with everyone, but Edna declines. Robert comes to talk to her, briefly, and he almost confesses his love for her, but doesn't. After he leaves, Edna finally acknowledges to herself her feelings for him.
"Don't leave. I love you, you idiot." "That's exactly why I have to."
After Robert leaves for Mexico, Edna is (obviously) very sad. She talks to Mademoiselle Reisz about it - or rather, Mademoiselle asks Edna if she's sad. Then, Edna goes to Madame Lebrun's house to look at pictures of Robert; there, she reads a letter from him to his mother, in which she is briefly mentioned. Even Mr. Pontellier asks about Edna's mood after Robert leaves.
Edna's life without Robert
Edna has a brief conversation with Mademoiselle Reisz (the scene from before, in which the Mademoiselle asks if she misses Robert, continues here) and they discuss the summer as a whole, as it is now coming to an end.
After this chapter, we see the Pontellier family back at their home in New Orleans. The summer has clearly changed Edna. Much to Mr. Pontellier's displeasure, Edna has not been meeting with visitors who leave calling cards at the house (part of her 'domestic' duties), and she can't seem to hire a cook who is any good. They have a big fight at the dinner table - a sort of escalation of the conflict that had in the first section, when Mr. Pontellier accuses Edna of being a neglectful mother - which leads to Edna's emotions finally coming to a head.
Edna: Bucket of Rage
Up in her room, Edna throws her wedding ring onto the ground and stomps on it; she throws a vase, because the ring stays intact, and "she wanted to destroy something". After calming down, Edna decides to just do whatever she wants with her life. And that something is to draw.
The next day, Edna goes to visit Madame Ratignolle, with whom she has remained friends, even after the summer. She takes some of her work over, and Madame Ratignolle raves over Edna's talent and offers to buy one. In this chapter, we see the Ratignolles' relationship and cannot help but compare it to the Pontelliers' (Chopin offers a concession with Monsieur and Madame Ratignolle - while domestic, wifely, and maternal roles are clearly not meant for Edna, that isn't to say they aren't for all women. As we saw in the first part of the book, Madame Ratignolle is a wonderful mother. She is also a wonderful wife, but she and her husband have a very different relationship than the Pontelliers. Their relationship works, because it is built on mutual love and respect; they do not step on each others' toes, and they treat each other with patience and kindness. The Pontelliers', by comparison, are always butting heads in a power struggle, because Edna does not fit neatly into the mold that Monsieur Pontellier has created for an ideal wife. He also does not fit into the mold of the man Edna wishes to be with - obviously.)
Finally, the last chapter of this section describes the change in Edna and her home life. She begins, as I said earlier, to do basically whatever she wants. Turning the household into a modeling studio, Edna spends most of her time sketching and, for the first time, feeling - really acknowledging and experiencing emotions that she previously ignored and suppressed. Of course, since she decides to eschew her 'domestic duties,' Mr. Pontellier begins to wonder if she is unwell.
"Oh, your wife doesn't want to spend all day doing pointless things, making your life perfect? Obviously she's crazy."
2. Major Characters
Edna
Edna spends this portion of the book recognizing - and subsequently wallowing in - her feelings for Robert. She begins to openly defy her husband's supposed authority over her, especially once they leave the island and return home to New Orleans. Her quest of self-discovery hits a turning point as she begins to take control of her own day-to-day actions and activities, deciding not only what she does but when, where, and with whom, and begins to recognize the humanity within herself.
Edna realizes her emotional range in this part of the book as she falls in love with Robert, pines for him, argues with and rages against her husband, remains apathetic toward her kids, finds an art she is passionate about, and enjoys the company of friends.
Robert
No cries, no cries, no cries...
Robert doesn't have it much better than Edna does. He spends time with her on the island, taking care of her while she felt faint and then watching the sun set on the beach, and realizes he loves her. This is, of course, very obviously problematic as she is MARRIED (boo - that always seems to get in the way, doesn't it?) He decides that - for both their sakes - he needs to leave. Robert decides to go on a business trip to Mexico and leave Edna behind.
Throughout the novel, notice that Robert is often connected to children and music. Hmmm...
Throughout the novel, notice that Robert is often connected to children and music. Hmmm...
Mademoiselle Reisz
Head canon: Maggie Smith, y'all
I don't remember how old Mademoiselle Reisz is supposed to be, but in my head she's Maggie Smith. So, shh. She actually becomes much more important in the third part of the book, but here, Chopin begins to establish the connection between Edna, Robert, music, and Mademoiselle Reisz - MR is really the only person to whom Edna can talk about Robert. MR comforts Edna by playing music for her (remember what I said about music and Robert?) She, unlike Edna, makes a point to avoid going in the water. Water --> sensuous --> love (for Edna, Robert)
It's also interesting to compare the genders when it comes to the question of marital obedience. In the porch scene at the beginning of this section, Leonce asks Edna to come inside (well, as much as you can consider "Come on", "Edna!", and "I can't permit you to stay out there all night. You must come in the house instantly" asking [insert air quotes here.]) When she doesn't, he gets angry, insistent, and finally sits down to smoke cigars until she decides to come inside, as though he's supervising her. When she finally does come inside - after HOURS, mind you, of sitting outside - she asks "Are you coming in, Leonce?" His answer? Because of his male/husband privilege, he says "Just as soon as I have finished my cigar."
Oh, Leonce...
Theme Two: Growing Self-Awareness and Autonomy
The main way that Edna's growing self-awareness gets expressed is, as we said above, in her growing independence and "disobedience" (I put "disobedience" in quotes, by the way, because I think the idea that a woman should be obedient to her husband is stupid.) That is a result of her realization that she is her own person; more specifically, that in the time she got married and had children, she somewhere lost her identity as a woman independent of her role as wife and mother. During this summer on Grand Isle, Edna slowly reawakens to herself. This primarily comes about through her relationship with Robert, and it is the physical longing for him that ignites her physical, emotional, moral, and spiritual awakening.
(NOTE: Though her 'physical' and sexual awakening is DEFINITELY important to the story, do not make the mistake of thinking that is the only way in which Edna realizes herself. Her relationship with Robert is the catalyst for a greater self-discovery that exceeds, but includes, a sexual longing and agency. THIS BOOK IS NOT JUST ABOUT EDNA GETTING LAID.)
Edna begins to understand herself as an independent entity in every way imaginable. In chapter 12, she examines her own body as though it were a building she'd just found on a street down which she'd walked her whole life. "She looked at her round arms as she held them straight up . . . observing closely, as if it were something she saw for the first time". She recognizes that she is somehow fundamentally different NOW than she has been her whole life: "She could only realize that she herself - her present self - was in some way different from the other self [of her past.]" Edna realizes her new self is also a lover, as well as a physical and fundamentally changed being: she feels she is an "impassioned, newly awakened being" when she thinks about Robert's leaving. Finally, as she explained to Madame Ratignolle, her self belongs to her only - it is not owned in ANY way by her husband, her children, even Robert. She belongs only to herself. She is independent.
Theme Three: Husband versus Lover
Throughout this part of the book, Leonce and Robert get compared a lot. I mean, A LOT a lot. Basically everything one of them does, the other does, but differently. Confused? OK, let me explain.
So we already talked about Leonce's impatience with Edna on the porch where he gets all "rah rah get in the house merrr" and she says no. He sits down and smokes angry cigars until she decides to go in. Conversely, when Robert and Edna travel to the Grand Isle for church and Edna starts feeling unwell, Robert patiently waits outside for her until she wakes up and feels better. Leonce waits outside WITH her, until she goes in alone. Then, Edna is alone in a (different) house while Robert waits for her outside until she joins him. Talk about symbolically leaving Leonce for Robert.
Also, despite the fact that Leonce is the father of her children, Robert always seems to exist in the same realm as the kids. When Robert comes to talk to Edna after announcing his departure, he "[sits] down upon a stool which the children had left out on the porch." The regular juxtaposition of Robert and Edna's children highlights both that Robert is still, in some ways, a child himself, and that he reminds her of the love she felt in her youth (before she met Leonce), as well as the desire - perhaps - that he had been the father of her children instead of Leonce.
Another quote is particularly interesting in this light:
As Robert lights a match (for no reason apparently, as he doesn't light a cigarette or cigar) Chopin writes "The sudden and brief flare of the match emphasized the darkness for a while." So Robert lights a match, seemingly only for the purpose of this sentence. Quite interesting if you think about Edna's relationships - Robert, the flare (the "flame" if you will,) "emphasizes" the darkness, Leonce - or, rather, Edna's marriage to Leonce. Interesting.
Finally, we learn that Robert's journey to Mexico has made Edna so sad that she's actually talking to Leonce about it. Woah. She doesn't even have qualms about it. The way she sees it: "The sentiment which she entertained for Robert in no way resembled that which she felt for her husband, or had ever felt, or ever expected to feel." Edna recognizes her feelings for Robert are more passionate and stronger than anything she's ever felt toward Leonce. I'd feel bad for him, but I don't. Edna has finally allowed herself to admit that what she feels for Robert is different than what she feels for Leonce.
Léonce (Monsieur Pontellier)
Poor Léonce~. Le Monsieur is having such a hard time with this headstrong, thinking woman of his. Monsieur is a rather particular man with very strong ideas about the duties his wife should be performing as a homemaker and mother. He begins to become increasingly frustrated with her, and as she continues to stay out at all hours of the evening and do whatever she wishes, he becomes worried for her mental health. Touching.
3. Major Themes
Theme One: Obedience --> Independence
A huge part of Edna's awakening is the realization that she is an adult human being who should (but doesn't) have complete and sole control over her own life. This realization expresses itself in her growing "disobedience" towards her husband as she moves from dependence towards independence. While this does tie into the second theme - growing self-awareness - I think it deserves its own section because it deals with her external expression of her internal change (that is, her growing self-awareness.)
We see Edna's disobedience of her husband begin on the very first page of this section. After a long night out with the neighbors, Leonce implores Edna to come inside to sleep. She realizes, then, that she doesn't want to, and that before this moment, her own will never seemed to matter. She would have done what he asked anyway. She does not yield this time, and so she stakes her first act of defiance. This sets the stage for much of the rest of this section of the book.
Still, while she is on Grand Isle, Edna is only beginning to come to terms with her own agency. By the time she and her family return home to New Orleans, she is blossoming as the arbiter of her own fate. The chapter which first takes place in New Orleans begins as the book began - with Monsieur Pontellier. We see, from his point of view, a changed Edna. She stays out at all hours of the night rather than staying home to maintain the household. Callers come to the house to find that she is not there; they leave their cards, but Edna never gets back to them. The cook is a disaster, but Edna does nothing about it. Here is an Edna that eschews her traditionally domestic duties in favor of going out (whatever that means!) and visiting friends.
After her argument with Leonce - which ends with her heatedly throwing off her wedding ring and stomping on it, smashing a vase to the ground, and taking her ring back up again - Edna decides to "do as she liked and to feel as she liked." This decision happens at the exact middle of the book - this is the direct turning point on which the story rotates. She has made the explicit change from an obedient housewife to an independent woman. Just as the first half of the book leads up to and develops this change, the second half of the book will deal with the consequences and results of this action.
A huge part of Edna's awakening is the realization that she is an adult human being who should (but doesn't) have complete and sole control over her own life. This realization expresses itself in her growing "disobedience" towards her husband as she moves from dependence towards independence. While this does tie into the second theme - growing self-awareness - I think it deserves its own section because it deals with her external expression of her internal change (that is, her growing self-awareness.)
We see Edna's disobedience of her husband begin on the very first page of this section. After a long night out with the neighbors, Leonce implores Edna to come inside to sleep. She realizes, then, that she doesn't want to, and that before this moment, her own will never seemed to matter. She would have done what he asked anyway. She does not yield this time, and so she stakes her first act of defiance. This sets the stage for much of the rest of this section of the book.
DAMN. STRAIGHT.
Still, while she is on Grand Isle, Edna is only beginning to come to terms with her own agency. By the time she and her family return home to New Orleans, she is blossoming as the arbiter of her own fate. The chapter which first takes place in New Orleans begins as the book began - with Monsieur Pontellier. We see, from his point of view, a changed Edna. She stays out at all hours of the night rather than staying home to maintain the household. Callers come to the house to find that she is not there; they leave their cards, but Edna never gets back to them. The cook is a disaster, but Edna does nothing about it. Here is an Edna that eschews her traditionally domestic duties in favor of going out (whatever that means!) and visiting friends.
After her argument with Leonce - which ends with her heatedly throwing off her wedding ring and stomping on it, smashing a vase to the ground, and taking her ring back up again - Edna decides to "do as she liked and to feel as she liked." This decision happens at the exact middle of the book - this is the direct turning point on which the story rotates. She has made the explicit change from an obedient housewife to an independent woman. Just as the first half of the book leads up to and develops this change, the second half of the book will deal with the consequences and results of this action.
Get it girl.
(Meg. Because she's perfect.)
(Meg. Because she's perfect.)
It's also interesting to compare the genders when it comes to the question of marital obedience. In the porch scene at the beginning of this section, Leonce asks Edna to come inside (well, as much as you can consider "Come on", "Edna!", and "I can't permit you to stay out there all night. You must come in the house instantly" asking [insert air quotes here.]) When she doesn't, he gets angry, insistent, and finally sits down to smoke cigars until she decides to come inside, as though he's supervising her. When she finally does come inside - after HOURS, mind you, of sitting outside - she asks "Are you coming in, Leonce?" His answer? Because of his male/husband privilege, he says "Just as soon as I have finished my cigar."
Because this deserves two gifs.
Theme Two: Growing Self-Awareness and Autonomy
The main way that Edna's growing self-awareness gets expressed is, as we said above, in her growing independence and "disobedience" (I put "disobedience" in quotes, by the way, because I think the idea that a woman should be obedient to her husband is stupid.) That is a result of her realization that she is her own person; more specifically, that in the time she got married and had children, she somewhere lost her identity as a woman independent of her role as wife and mother. During this summer on Grand Isle, Edna slowly reawakens to herself. This primarily comes about through her relationship with Robert, and it is the physical longing for him that ignites her physical, emotional, moral, and spiritual awakening.
(NOTE: Though her 'physical' and sexual awakening is DEFINITELY important to the story, do not make the mistake of thinking that is the only way in which Edna realizes herself. Her relationship with Robert is the catalyst for a greater self-discovery that exceeds, but includes, a sexual longing and agency. THIS BOOK IS NOT JUST ABOUT EDNA GETTING LAID.)
But I mean...that totally happens. Later. Spoiler, sorry.
Edna begins to understand herself as an independent entity in every way imaginable. In chapter 12, she examines her own body as though it were a building she'd just found on a street down which she'd walked her whole life. "She looked at her round arms as she held them straight up . . . observing closely, as if it were something she saw for the first time". She recognizes that she is somehow fundamentally different NOW than she has been her whole life: "She could only realize that she herself - her present self - was in some way different from the other self [of her past.]" Edna realizes her new self is also a lover, as well as a physical and fundamentally changed being: she feels she is an "impassioned, newly awakened being" when she thinks about Robert's leaving. Finally, as she explained to Madame Ratignolle, her self belongs to her only - it is not owned in ANY way by her husband, her children, even Robert. She belongs only to herself. She is independent.
Domesticity = that glove. Get rid of that nonsense, girl; it's holding you back.
Theme Three: Husband versus Lover
Throughout this part of the book, Leonce and Robert get compared a lot. I mean, A LOT a lot. Basically everything one of them does, the other does, but differently. Confused? OK, let me explain.
So we already talked about Leonce's impatience with Edna on the porch where he gets all "rah rah get in the house merrr" and she says no. He sits down and smokes angry cigars until she decides to go in. Conversely, when Robert and Edna travel to the Grand Isle for church and Edna starts feeling unwell, Robert patiently waits outside for her until she wakes up and feels better. Leonce waits outside WITH her, until she goes in alone. Then, Edna is alone in a (different) house while Robert waits for her outside until she joins him. Talk about symbolically leaving Leonce for Robert.
Also, despite the fact that Leonce is the father of her children, Robert always seems to exist in the same realm as the kids. When Robert comes to talk to Edna after announcing his departure, he "[sits] down upon a stool which the children had left out on the porch." The regular juxtaposition of Robert and Edna's children highlights both that Robert is still, in some ways, a child himself, and that he reminds her of the love she felt in her youth (before she met Leonce), as well as the desire - perhaps - that he had been the father of her children instead of Leonce.
Dean - I mean...Robert is ok with that.
Another quote is particularly interesting in this light:
As Robert lights a match (for no reason apparently, as he doesn't light a cigarette or cigar) Chopin writes "The sudden and brief flare of the match emphasized the darkness for a while." So Robert lights a match, seemingly only for the purpose of this sentence. Quite interesting if you think about Edna's relationships - Robert, the flare (the "flame" if you will,) "emphasizes" the darkness, Leonce - or, rather, Edna's marriage to Leonce. Interesting.
Finally, we learn that Robert's journey to Mexico has made Edna so sad that she's actually talking to Leonce about it. Woah. She doesn't even have qualms about it. The way she sees it: "The sentiment which she entertained for Robert in no way resembled that which she felt for her husband, or had ever felt, or ever expected to feel." Edna recognizes her feelings for Robert are more passionate and stronger than anything she's ever felt toward Leonce. I'd feel bad for him, but I don't. Edna has finally allowed herself to admit that what she feels for Robert is different than what she feels for Leonce.
Why, indeed, Edna. Why, indeed.
4. Favorite Quotations
(p. 78) "She [Edna] perceived that her will had blazed up, stubborn and resistant. She could not at that moment have done other than denied and resisted."
(p. 88) Reflecting on the summer:
". . . she tried to discover wherein this summer had been different from any and every other summer of her life. She could only realize that she herself - her present self - was in some way different from the other self. That she was seeing with different eyes and making the acquaintance of new conditions in herself that colored and changed her environment, she did not yet suspect."
(p. 94) On Robert leaving:
"For the first time she recognized anew the symptoms of infatuation which she had felt incipiently as a child, as a girl in her earliest teens, and later as a young woman. The recognition did not lessen the reality, the poignancy of the revelation by any suggestion or promise of instability. The past was nothing to her; offered no lesson which she was willing to heed. The future was a mystery which she never attempted to penetrate. The present alone was significant; was hers, to torture her as it was doing then with the biting conviction that she has lost that which she had held, that she had been denied that which her impassioned, newly awakened being demanded."
ROBERT.
(Gif win - my actual head-canon winking. SCORE.)
(p. 97) IF YOU NEVER READ ANY OTHER QUOTE FROM THIS BOOK READ THIS ONE:
"They [her thoughts and emotions] belonged to her and were her own, and she entertained the conviction that she had a right to them and that they concerned no one but herself. Edna had once told Madame Ratignolle that she would never sacrifice herself for her children, or for any one . . . Edna tried to appease her friend, to explain.
'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. I can't make it more clear, it's only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me.'"
Also my head-canon Robert...maybe I should just use only gifs of him?
Oh, Jensen Ackles, you <3
Oh, Jensen Ackles, you <3
(p. 107) On marriage:
"It was not a condition of life which fitted her, and she could see in it but an appalling and hopeless ennui."
(p. 108) "It sometimes entered Mr. Pontellier's mind to wonder if his wife were not growing a little unbalanced mentally. He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world."
(p. 109) Reflecting on and remembering times with Robert:
"She could hear again the ripple of the water, the flapping sail. She could see the glint on the moon upon the bay, and could feel the soft, gusty beating of the hot south wind. A subtle current of desire passed through her body, weakening her hold upon the brushes and making her eyes burn.
There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day. She liked then to wander alone into strange and unfamiliar places. She discovered many a sunny, sleepy corner, fashioned to dream in. And she found it good to dream and to be alone and unmolested."
And on that note, I'll see y'all next week!!
