Natalie’s Comments (group member since Feb 04, 2022)

Natalie’s comments from the AP Literature and Composition (SHHS) group.

Question 1: Each of these characters has an impact on Edna, Leonce, or their relationship. First, the Colonel's visit was at first beneficial to Edna as he let her paint him and took her new found passion seriously. It also is enjoyable to her to have someone to take care of that is not her husband or her children. But, his presence proves to be an unfortunate tension in Leonce and Edna's marriage, as he berates Leonce's inability to manage his wife. This further feeds into Leonce's thought that his wife is acting strangely and unlike proper wives, and this feeds Edna's feeling that she is stuck and the expectations of her are crippling and undesirable to her. Alcee Arobin becomes a tension as well, but not to Leonce's knowledge. After Edna and him were flirting and he kissed her, she felt guilty because she felt she had betrayed Robert, not Leonce her husband. This makes it very clear that Edna has no investment in her marriage or the life that she has, as she has already engaged in infidelity. Leonce interacting with Doctor Mandelet is damaging to Edna and Leonce's marriage because Mandelet gives Leonce advice about how to try and fix Edna, even though she is not broken. The involvement of these people drive Leonce and Edna further apart, until their marriage is dangling by a thread.

What is the internal conflict that Edna Pontellier experiences during the absence of her family? How does this drive the plot in a new direction?

Ian wrote: "One of the driving conflicts in the story is the relationship between Edna and her husband Leonce. Leonce wants Edna to be a wife that adores him and he wants her to be more attentive to him and th..." You're right about Leonce's expectations, while he sees it as a longing for a caring wife and mother of his children, she feels smothered and unheard, leaving her to feel isolated. I think that as Leonce's expectations of Edna were unrealistic for her personality, he was driving her closer to Robert, hence her sense of infatuation with him.

Taylor wrote: "A driving conflict in the novella is the one between Edna's awakening and the expectations of women in society. As Edna begins to realize her freedom and expresses her independence, she realizes th..." I absolutely agree, Edna faces so many expectations from the people in her life as well as from society itself, it all must be very overwhelming. Your point specifically about Leonce's expectations is spot on, as he thought she was neglectful and seemed to be different when in reality she was stuck in a life that did not give her a sense of purpose.

The novel has contained multiple conflicts up to chapter XX, including Robert leaving for Mexico abruptly and Edna being offended by this. She is upset to see him go having had no prior awareness of this want of his. Another conflict being Leonce's distaste for the new personality Edna has assumed, as he finds her to be acting like a different person. When in reality, she is finally shedding the costume she wore for so long as the supple housewife and mother of two. There is even a small conflict between Madame Ratignolle and Edna as she is disturbed to hear that Edna would not sacrifice herself for her children. Their differing views preventing them from seeing the perspective of the other person. The overarching conflict, however, being Edna's internal conflict as she feels herself being pulled in two directions. One half of her belongs to her home with her children and her husband, though her attachment to that life is feigning and was never completely true. Whereas the other half pulls her toward a daring life, coming and going as she pleases, and not being tied down to motherly or wifely duties. She seeks change, a characteristic which likely draws her to Robert, who is such an impulsive and flirty character. With this main conflict, feminist criticism, or gender studies, would be a fitting way to critique this novel. As the central character is a women that leads a somewhat traditional life of being responsible for tending to the children and being a good wife to her husband, her identity can be unpacked using this lense. Edna is a woman stuck in the role of "dutiful housewife" and longs to break free of it, similarly to how women longed to assume suffrage and enter the workforce. Edna can be analyzed as wanting this change and this awakening so that she may feel more purpose in her life.