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

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

Lauren wrote: "Madame Ratignolle is a character that enjoys what life wants her to be. She furthers the plot by providing Edna with an example of what society wants a woman to be like. Madame Ratignolle is a very..."
I agree, Madame Ratignolle is a great foil character for Edna and shows her what she almost should be in society. Leonce also notices how Madame Ratignolle acts with her husband and child, and I think that because of that Leonce tries to push Madame Ratignolle's character onto Edna, creating more conflict between Edna and Leonce.

Ryley wrote: "A driving conflict of The Awakening is Edna Pontellier's actions which contrast the societal norms that were placed upon women at the time. Repeatedly Edna is shown to disregard her homely duties s..."
I agree, I think that Robert helped to instill in Edna a sense of adventure, or at least made her aware that she doesn't have to be like most people. With Robert out the way she no longer feels as if she has anyone she can share her feeling with as she could with Robert, which helps create more conflict within herself.

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 their children. On the other hand Edna does not love Leonce at all, nor does she always care much about her children. Edna wants to be free to live her life and do as she pleases, however her husband has always stopped her from doing this before. Leonce thinks that if he is forceful and steadfast in what he wants Edna to do and be like, then she will listen to him. However Edna has begun to disobey the wishes of her husband, creating more conflict, as the blatant disobedience angers Leonce. Leonce is then unknowingly driving forward the plot as his continual pushing Edna to be more "perfect" in his eyes, only pushes Edna further away from him, and she becomes more disobedient. As the plot continues we will probably see more pushback from Leonce against Edna's independence, and Edna's possible break away from her husband because of it.