Mrs. Pontellier's Desires (Music)

  Ohh... wait, that sounds wrong, please dont be diry-minded and take this post seriously. It seems that Mrs. Pontellier has many ways to express her inner desires, as she goes to listen to Madmoiselle Reisz´s piano music there are two things that happen that are important. The first one is Madmoiselle Reisz claim that Edna (Pontellier) is the only woman who deserves to listen to her music. This shows how Mrs. Pontellier is not the only woman who thinks different as Reisz clearly values her differenciation from other women.
  The second thing is Mrs. P´s reaction when the music is played. The narrator describes the experience as breath taking "she was choking" overwhelming "the tears blinded her".

  Pontelliers reaction is not the strange part here, but is rather the images she saw in her mind, "She saw no pictures of solitude, (...) but the very passions themselves." This amazing reaction shows how Mrs. pontellier is different from other women and how her passions flourish with the things that inspire her.

(All qoutes were taken from the following online version of the book as I left my copy home.)

http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/chopin/Awakening6x9.pdf 

Listen while reading...    

The Isle of Mother-women:

  During one of the narrators reflexions of Mrs. Pontellier, she describes that Mrs. P. is not a mother-woman. Anyway, this called my attention when I was reading because Mrs. P. is trapped in a world of mother women that has a high concetration of them in the Grand Isle. The mother-women are described as people who adore thier children and only live for them to be perfect and happy, but the most shocking part (the one that really captured my attention) is when the narrator says that those mother-women "esteemed it a holy priviledge to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings." Mrs. Pontellier´s aspirations of freedom represented as wings (...and again with the birds. "Eye-roll.") are what avoids he to be a mother- women.

  Another intereting thing on this chapter is the mentioning of Adele Ratignolle, who represents the total antithesis of Mrs. P. (...maybe some foil structure going on in here?) As this woman is said to have "nothing subtle or hidden about her charms", she contrasts with the rather more "handsome than beautiful"  Mrs. P. (p.26 and 17 respectively). This yuxtaposition of the two women enhances the imprisonment that Mrs. pontellier exihibits during the novel. As every woman wants to be a mother-woman, or every woman wants to be like Adele, she seems to be trapped and sorrounded by Adeles.

        

Involvement? NOT!!!

  One of the most outstanding things in the early intances of The Awakening, is the complete lack of involvement that Mr. Pontellier shows in the raising of his children. Even if he shows some concern in the condition of the kids, he does not act (... kind of Hamlety isn´t) on these worries and leaves his parenting task on the shoulders of his wife. There is evidence of this passive attitude during chapter 3 in the novel, as he tells his wife that his son Raul "... had a high fever and needed looking after" and then deliverately doing nothing. (p. 21) This shows how Mr. Pontellier has a sexist perspective of the home tasks and how he expects his wife to attend the business that he considers to be for the woman of the house.

  In this passage the character of Mr. Pontellier shows to be a sort of antagonist, only basing my judgement on his attitude towards his wife. Maybe he is presented in this way be the author in order to create a general perspective on the social structure of that time. Mrs. Pontellier´s crying, later on that chapter, shows her discontent on the situation of her marriage even if she says that "... she could not have told why she was crying." Maybe, her realising of her own unhappiness is going to be the AWAKENING (Ahh... foreshadowing).

  In the final sentence of the chapter she says that "she knew of none better" expressing her opinion of her husband, but I think this line could show her desire for something better that she never knew. You may be thinking, how do you miss something you never knew? Thats the beauty of it, maybe she feels there is something missing in her life.

  

A Parrot, a Cage, a Woman:

   Since I started my lecture on The Awakening, I´d asked myself the same question: why is there a parrot in the very beginning of the novel? The answer to this enigma has eluded me like a needle in a haystack, so I decided to focus the first second semester reading blog trying to figure it out. 

  

   Then, to find out why did the author used a bird in the first place, I need to realize what birds may represent in literature. So lets see; birds are free, unless they are in cage. They are pretty, they fly, they are admired by people? This seems to be much harder than I thought. Anyway, lets make some theories: 

1. The birds represent the image of women as a trophy for men. Women are exhibited by men as museum pieces, and they are shown as a symbol of power. The prettier the wife, the better man. Even if it seems plausible, there´s no substantial evidence in the text of this supposition, so lets explore another possibilities.
2. Women can fly? No just kidding´ but I only have two real theories so I had to fill some space...
3. The real stuff is that in this book it seems that Mrs. Pontellier has strong anneals of freedom. The bird, parrot, and the cage that contains it are a metaphor of women and society. It seems pretty plausible to interpretate that Mrs. Pontellier is the parrot and that the cage that keeps the parrot is society. In the time the novel takes place, women did not have the freedom they enjoy today, probably because society was ruled in a sexist forbidding manner. Men´s society has total control over women. But lest focus on what IS on the text.

The only evidence of the last possibility I listed in on the first chapter of the novel:

The description that starts at the very first line when the "the green yellow parrot, which hung in a cage (...) the mocking bird that hung on the other side of the door...". These two birds represent Mrs. Pontellier´s current situation of reclusion and her desire of freedom. In other words Mrs. P. wants to be free as a bird. 


Another hint of Mrs. Pontellier´s represed desires is presented in the form of the "language which nobody understood" as it represents the represed female voice in old time society which stoped them from achieving any progress in their lives appart from marriage. 


This matter is really similar to the world of Pride and Prejudice where women were unable to succeed in life. As a matter of fact, the character of Mrs. Pontellier could be compared to the one of elizabeth.