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

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

It says answer one but I'd like to answer all but number one, because they're all pretty good questions.

2= she feels a sense of fear of the unknown, but when she looks back at what she currently has, she is reminded that she needs to move on in order to be happy. I would say that she is growing, due to the fact that she is attempting to search for some sense of happiness in her life, which is admirable because that is quite a daunting task for many. The problem is that she is unsure of what will truly make her happy, and from the looks of it it seems as if she is searching for romantic validation, and honestly someone who can truly make her feel alive. Leonce does love her, but some are simply not made for others, and the ability to conform to that is not an easily attainable one for most. Robert and Alcee both clearly love her and she feels mutual, but they offer her something that Leonce has never been able to, which is sad for Leonce, but good for Edna, as she now has the option to seek joy, rather than accept that she will be in a stagnant position for the rest of her life.

3= I sort of eluded to this in the previous response, but the way Edna feels for Leonce by this stage in the book almost feels like a platonic relationship, where she can tolerate him on a friendship level, but the romance is dead (if it was ever even alive). Robert and Alcee make her feel appreciated, wanted, give her reason to WANT to come back, and that is simply something that cannot be achieved by Leonce. Clearly, he cares for her, but he lacks a cutting edge, and while he, for the most part, is good to her, his very indifferent aura makes little moments of behavioral shifts extremely noticeable, and those shifts in tone or attitude typically coincide with something negative on his part, which only accelerates Edna's loss of interest in him.

4= Leonce visits the doctor in order to find some form of a solution to his dilemma with Edna. He sees it as her no longer being how she once was, and since he is speaking to a certified doctor, he is confident that he will find a remedy and fix his predicament. The Doctor doesn't even really take him seriously at first, but after some time conversing, he caves in and offers the possibility of her having some sort of mental illness, since women aren't supposed to be acting the way she was to him. Not only were there obviously no mental problems within Edna, but there is double stupidity because if anything Leonce lately has been acting the same towards Edna, being very distant due to his work, making himself emotionally unavailable, and even when he is home, he doesn't really treat her as well as he ought to, which only further drives her to act this way, as she now has a means of justifying it all.

Savannah wrote: "2. Choose a character--how is that character impacting the overall plot?
Robert is a character only after his own gain so he will impact the plot by keeping it moving. He will continue to act in a ..."

I can agree with you that Robert is an incredibly important character to the overall plot, and although I am not completely aware if he will ever return, I am certainly sure that he will indirectly guide the story in a certain direction, although that direction is not yet definitive.

Frank wrote: "I can feel the personal dilemma from Edna on a personal level, which may have been why it was such a conflicting read from the very beginning of the book. Although our desires are quite different f..."

this is for questions 2 and 4 btw lol

Bri wrote: "The driving conflict in the awakening would definitely be Edna's inability to blend in with the world she's in, leading to several subs-conflict like her inability to care for her children in a bet..."

I enjoyed the reply that you wrote, as the book does indeed characterize and symbolize many of the late eighteenth to early nineteenth-century perceptions of feminism. Some chose to conform to the traditional, conservative perspective on the matter, while others, such as Edna, felt a need to be unshackled from her personal restrictions, seeking a sense of liberation and choice in her own life and the ability to direct oneself without the assistance of others.

I can feel the personal dilemma from Edna on a personal level, which may have been why it was such a conflicting read from the very beginning of the book. Although our desires are quite different from one another, we both struggle with identity, as we seek to remold ourselves from the people we once were or currently are, yet we simply can't, due to us never really knowing any different way to live. It's difficult because you yearn for change, that feeling of being reborn, yet you are afraid of the implications, how those around you may only continue to support you if you opt to keep going the same way that you've always been. It's difficult because change may lead you to finally feel awakened, yet you're unsure of the isolation it may gift to you, so you try to find alternatives as a means of distraction --none of which assist you in any way. It's difficult because you know what you want, but it's so very difficult to get there, needing to find direction on your own. It's difficult when there isn't a support web or something definitively waiting for you on the other side, and even when it is there, it eventually fades, just as all things do with the passage of time and the subsequent reluctance to grasp onto an opportunity. To Edna, that possibility of a change could have been shepherded through Robert, yet he is now residing in some strange, abstract location she knows little to nothing about, yet his spirit and very essence continues to haunt her. In some ways, it drives her. In other ways, in cement her onto the ground she stands upon, unable to break away from her bearings because the only guiding light has effectively been dimmed, maybe even blown out. It's so intriguing, because for half the story he has not even been physically there, yet his aura, the mere thought of him, is enough to drive her wild. I personally have no Robert --in the sense of a human being-- but my Robert presents itself at times through missed opportunities and possibilities of the past that always feels fleeting, yet, like Edna, I keep that vague, indistinguishably oblivious, optimistic hope that they may return, and be present just as legitimately as when Robert was there, walking side by side with Edna on the edge of the beach.