Please respond to the following prompt by Sunday, January 24th at midnight. Then, respond to at least one of your classmates by Monday, January 25th at midnight. Be prepared to go over responses on Tuesday, January 26th. Your responses should be at least 2 paragraphs.
After reading and reflecting on Robinson's introduction, and reading through chapter 8, do you think you are able to locate Mrs. Pontellier's true struggle? If so, how? If not, why not? Based on what you know about the protagonist, what would you say is her true inner struggle? Explain.
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It's hard to tell what Mrs. Pontellier's true struggle is so far. I haven't been able to get much from the novel, but all I can tell is that Mrs. Pontellier is unhappy. She appears unhappy in her marriage, but she seems to have settled with Mr. Pontellier.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Pontellier doesn't seem too in touch with her children either, and she's got this infatuation for someone else. It's almost as if she wishes she would've ended up with Robert, who travels and who lives an exciting life. Unfortunately Mrs. Pontellier's struggle lies within the fact that she wants something she can't have, and she just has to live with what she's got; her children and her husband. She is unsatisfied, but has settled, yet she wants something more.
Mrs. Pontellier's life's story is her stuggle. By knowing little things about the author Kate Chopin herself, we can tell that the protagonist will try to characterize Mrs. Pontelliier in the same way that she, herself, grew up; independently. When reading about Mrs. P one can notice her struggle's through relationship's and true identity.
ReplyDelete"As a devoted wife of a man who worshiped her, she felt she would take her place with a certain dignity in the world of reality, closing the portals forever behind her upon the realm of romance and dreams" (24). Mrs. P long's for more than what she possesess, that of being a true love. In their society they settle for what can best provide. As other's see her husband as a caring, loving, romantic, secrets are hidden behind the relationship. She want's true love, not a flake, and by standing out all things might change in the Cerole society.
In response to Abi:
ReplyDeleteDon't think that by seeing the difficulties in Mrs. P's relationship's can very well be the true struggle throughout this book. After all it's soposed to be some cheesy chick novel, of course it's going to have some ridiculous plot that no-one can follow, much like all the other books we have read. Foreshadowing the rest of the plot shouldn't be too hard to notice because of Kate's real life reflected on the character Mrs. Pontellier. The independece shown through emotions and persons behaviors will prevail and show chaos in the Cerole society. Each action reflects that specific persons ideal life, social staus, and routine marraige. The true struggle has to be within Mrs. P relationship with her husband and with Robert.
As I read through the introduction and these chapters I also found it hard to pinpoint exactly what Mrs. Pontellier's true struggle is. I find that she truly is unhappy with the life she is living because it is what she had settled for, but I don't see that as her true struggle. Rather, I see her struggling more with being unhappy with herself.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Mrs. Pontellier is unhappy with her life but that had to have come from someplce deeper within her being, not simply from a weak marriage and little relation to her children. I find that she is very unhappy with herself. Her best friend, Mrs. Ratignolle seems to be the picture of perfection. She is beautiful and happily married. On the contrary, Mrs. Pontellier has become so tired of just playing the role of loving wife and mother that she has had no time to really discover herself at all. She doesn't know much about who her identity really is. She is living in a state where she appears to be comfortable with her life but is still unhappy with it. Yet she chose this and chooses to remain in it because she is required to do so. She is unaware of what her true feelings, emotions, and ambitions really are. Her dreams have simply disappeared with her marriage. I don't think it is her marriage that is her biggest struggle, but rather herself, her identity.
I had a bit of a hard time deciding what I think is Edna's struggle. However, after reflecting on the introduction and what we have read so far, I believe Edna is unhappy with herself and the choices she has made. She struggles with the fact that, because of what she has chosen and why she has chosen these things, she is stuck with them.
ReplyDeleteWe are told that Edna married Leonce, a Catholic partially because it offended her Protestant family. Now, even though she is vacationing on an island with her family, she feels trapped. She is jealous of Robert's youthful freedom; his dreams are still within reach. She has no connection to her children and she resents that but has no understanding of how to establish one. She is disatisfied with who she has become; she is trapped in a box with no way out.
“We have long been accustomed the fact that when science analyzes any mystery it reduces it to component mysteries, no less perplexing. …Kate Chopin’s affinity with Romanticism and with other nineteenth-century writers is clear enough to prepare us to see her as one who…would set about to expound mystery rather than to dispel it” (viii). Like the other writers of her time, Chopin wrote using a Romantic style, which focuses on earthly and human nature, to put it simply. Chopin followed the transcendentalist canon in one sense—the focal point of the novel being on physical nature, here the sea. But she deferred from it in another sense—the fact that Chopin does not write to express the happiness found in nature, but rather how cold and cruel nature can be. This is something to be grasped, because this is more closely related to antitranscendentalism. Even outside the bounds of conventional novels (those which don’t contain stark feminism, etc.) Chopin wrote with a unique freestyle in which mystery is introduced but maybe not explored.
ReplyDeleteThis may be the reason for Mrs. Pontellier’s equivocal and enigmatic internal turmoil. Possibly Chopin wished to show that all humans yearn for something “bigger and better that what they already have, though in varying capacities. Women especially are capable of having unmet emotional needs for seemingly no reason. Perhaps the root of Mrs. Pontellier’s struggle is the fact that she cannot find the root of her struggle, the time and place where her unmet yearnings began, causing her more suffering. If she could pinpoint her own struggle, maybe she could do something about it (maybe assuming correctly, maybe incorrectly, such a solution is within the confines of the “laws of society”). Or maybe just the satisfaction of finally understanding her own feelings would be enough to drive it from her mind or will her to find a suitable replacement for whatever desires she never received.
In response to Destiny:
ReplyDeleteI like that you mentioned the Creole society, because I too feel this is a clue to Mrs. Pontellier's feelings. "Southern writers have always treated society more as an organism, less as a mechanism, than have Norther writers. That is, Southern writers have viewed society as a repository of experience and wisdom, however dark, rather than as a system of accomidation among individuals, always sugject to reform. And Southern writers tend to regard their soceity with nostalgia in anticipation of the lost of its particularity and therefore to dwell on its striking or its amicable features, especially those that might be expected to pass away" (x-xi).
Perhaps Mrs. Pontellier personifies Chopin's own nostalgia of the times of her youth, the constant wishing for something more, past or present. A big part of Robert's life was spent on the island--nine summers--and therefore he revels in such a place because he too is most comfortable with the familiar. However, Mrs. Pontellier has always seemed out-of-place, marrying a Creole to spite her Protestant father, but never actually "fitting in".
After reading the introduction to and first eight chapters of The Awakening, I think I am starting to understand what Mrs. Pontellier’s inner true struggle. Some people say that her inner struggle is her passion she is starting to develop for Robert, and whether or not she should act upon it. However, I think that conclusion is only skimming the surface of a larger struggle. In addition, Edna’s main struggle is not just feelings of discontentment regarding her marriage. I think she is facing a greater struggle than those two examples.
ReplyDeleteI think Edna Pontellier’s inner struggle is her attempt in finding self-identity. In the novel, we learn that when she was younger, Mrs. Pontellier has always been a romantic at heart. Found on pages 23 and 24, it is evident that Edna was enamored with a cavalry officer at a very young age, in love with a man visiting a neighboring plantation in her teens, and infatuated with a tragedian as a young woman. However, she settled for Leonce Pontellier, “Purely and accident.” (24) Obviously, she feels that her marriage to Leonce is ending her life of passion and instead heaping expectations and responsibilities upon her. “As the devoted wife of a man who worshiped her, she felt she would take her place…closing the portals forever behind her upon the realms of romance and dreams.” (24) As said before, I think that Edna’s main struggle is finding her identity. She settled for a suitor, but is becoming restless and reminiscing of her youth days, which were filled with passion. Mrs. Pontellier is trying to find a compromise between the worlds of passion and responsibility. Torn between what she feels and what society expects of her, Mrs. Pontellier is struggling with self-identity.
Thus far in our reading it is hard to truly see what Mrs. Pontellier's true struggle is. It seems to be a inner struggle that has just begun to unwind. This strugle will pry be a very deep and confusing.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason we don't quite understand this struggle Mrs. Pontellier is having is because we havent seen enough quite yet. We have not read enough yet in the novel in order to understand her true struggle. We have only seen glimpses of this struggle. Like her description of the sea, and her crying in the night after her husband came in and scolded her for not taking care of the children. Her struggle seems to be derived from her feeling of being traped with her husband, and her want and need to escape from her current life and be free. I think this is a good insight to her struggle, and a lot can be inffered from it, but we will see a lot more as the novel continues.
After reading through Ch. 8, the reader is slowly shown what Mrs. Pontellier struggles with on a daily basis. She flirts with Robert but knows that she should not cross the line, though he tries to push it. She is not in touch with her childeren. And she is married to the seemingly perfect husband, when in reality he is not.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Pontellier struggles with her daily life and her innner struggle is who she is and what she wants. She knows who she should be according to the society, and often acts that way, but she is unhappy with it. She is so tired of playing the mother and wife role that she is unhappy and lost who she really is and what she wants. She sees her friend perfect in everything and wants to be like that. She is not passoinate about many things like she used to be. She lost her interest. Everyone believes she has the perfect husband, but she just settled with him so she would be provided for. She doesn’t really passionately love him at all. She is going through the motions of her life mindlessly, and she believes there is no hope of change or escape.
In response to Nathan:
ReplyDeleteEdna has always been a romantic. She always had infatuations before she became married. Unlike her marriage, her ‘loves’ before were full of passion and she enjoyed those that she was with. She knew according to society, she would have to marry someone that would beable to provide for her later. Those before could not do that. She settled with her marriage but as a result her life was without passion and happiness.
Mrs. Pontellier true struggle is one coming from within her. It is an obvious observation that she is unhappy with her life, constantly wishing for more. Kate Chopin allows her readers to easily identify that the main conflict in the novel is man vs. self. Why? Has a single event, maybe even tragic, allowed Edna to slip into this way of thinking, or is it simply a combination of the every day grind that she never had honestly envisioned herself in? The two assumptions are quite possible, and may not be proven factual until later in the novel.
ReplyDeleteEdna Pontellier, the protagonist of “The Awakening,” is passionate, driven, and highly independent. However, in her conservative life style the freedom she long dreams for is not present. In the opening of the novel, readers find Edna caught up in a slightly inappropriate relationship with Robert. Intentions are questionably thus far, however can be easily predicted to sky rocket. As a result of the relationship and the discontentment in Mrs. Pontellier’s life, she pushes her wifely and mother duties on to the back burner to pursue her passions.
Um. Honestly, I don't really know what Mrs. Pontieller's problem is as of now. From what I know about Chopin and this book, I think that her problem more or less stems from the way that the society she's living in functions. It's completely different than she's used to. What with all the 'getting close to cheating, but not really crossing the line' thing. That'd be a little strange to me, too.
ReplyDeleteAlso, reading into the novel, Mrs. Pontieller is somewhat unhappy with her life. She knows, and has come to realize more and more, that she has the perfect husband and blah blah blah, but it doesn't really fulfill her. She wants the things that she know she cannot have, and that drives her to switch up her priorities; which isn't a good thing in her case, her being a mother and a wife and all. She's not at all content with the way she's living, even though she knows that she should be, and that taking the role society expects her to is the right thing to do. Regardless of those things, she can't so much as force herself to be happy with all the dreams she's let go unfulfilled. The end.
After reading the first eight chapters of The Awakening, Edna Pontellier's inner struggle begins to arise. I see her struggle as being one of regret, regret for marrying and not being able to do what she wants to do. Being that it was expected of society that all women had to get married and have children; Edna had to get married even though that was not what she wanted.
ReplyDeleteI believe Mrs. Pontellier would have wished to be independent and able to do what she wants, but since she had to get married, she was not able to do so. I suppose this is also the reason why she is not always at home looking after her family as she is expected to. It is also because of this that she feels she can flirt with Robert Lebrun. Mrs. Pontellier is very unhappy with her life, and I think this is Edna Pontellier's inner struggle, along with her yearning for independence. I feel that without her independence, and without being able to do what she truly wants, Mrs. Pontellier will never be happy.
After reading the introduction and the eight chapters thus far, it seems as if Edna Pontieller's true struggle is within herself. There seems to be so many problems and questionable things that have occured already in the novel concerning Edna. The relationship with her husband is a huge predicament. That can be seen from the first few chapters and will probably worsen. The way her family interacts and lives with one another is very disfunctional. I would be unhappy as well if I didn't want my husband or even my kids for that matter, but was acting like I did. It is clear that Mrs. Pontieller does not actually love her husband, but rather forces herself to. She is obviously settling and any woman is not happy or proud of herself for doing such a thing.
ReplyDeleteThe Creole society she is surrounded by also has an impact on her unhappiness. She does not fit in with the strict society and is forcing herself again to be apart of something she doesn't want to be. Edna is tired of being someone else and needs something significant to occure to put herself in her place. She needs to stand up for who she is and do what she wants. Which unfortuanetely, Edna probably does not even know what she truly wants because of how messed up she already is for not dealing with her inner struggle already. Hopefully Edna will find a way out.
I think that Mrs. Pontellier’s true struggle is the fact that she is sick of her life right now and looking for something new and exciting, whether that is Robert, or something else we have yet to find out. Maybe she is getting tired of her husband and her mediocre life.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Pontellier’s inner struggle is being different than the woman of her time because Mrs. Pontellier is looking for something new and trying to be independent. It seems as if she is using Robert to get that something new. He is exciting to her and so even though, they never cross that line, they are still flirting with the idea, by bathing together, and having many inside jokes together. Although her life is pretty awesome, she is still looking for something new because nothing is ever good enough for her. The other woman will probably end up looking down upon her for trying to be different and independent.
In response to Liz R.
ReplyDeleteThat's very true...I never thought of Edna's independence being taken away from her. That is obviously accurate since she was forced to get married and start a family so soon. Edna needs to start over and find her identity.
Your right, she has a definite yearn for independence. That is probably why she is having so many issues because she never got to be herself and truly herself. Independence is a key thing in oneself, and havng that before getting married and starting a family is very helpful.
In Response to Nathan:
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you when you said that she "settled" when she married Leonce, and how she was becoming restless and reminiscient of her days of youth. I also liked how stated that she was trying to find a compromise between the worlds of passion and responsibility. I really liked your wording of it, and also I agree when you say that she had to choose between passion and responsibility.
It is hard to tell for sure what exactly is Mrs. Pontellier's issue. There are many things that it could be. She is obviously discontent with her marriage, and has feelings for a younger man. However, i think that her biggest struggle is the fact that her husband hasn't done anything wrong so there's nothing she can really blame, other than her wanting of independence. There is also no one she can talk to about her problems, because her feelings were so foreign to the times. All those around her agree that he would be the best husband, and there is nothing that disputes that. There is nothing that he could change to make her happier, because he is already doing everything expected of him. There is a scene where he treats her like a child for not looking after the children, but he was right, and she's not a good mother. Overall i think she feels stuck in her relationship and doesn't want to deal with it's monotony and wants to be independent like she was before marriage.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Matt
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said. She definitely is trying to become more independent, and she really has no reason to. She has a good life with her husband. It almost feels like she is just trying to find an excuse to leave her husband and children. I'd be surprised if Leonce didn't want to leave her for being a horrible mother and wife to him. I'm pretty sure that everyone is saying how she is settled for Leonce, and how she is trying to become independent.
In response to Audrey...and pretty much everyone else...
ReplyDeleteIt seems clear that the majority of us agree her struggle is just within herself. She seems to be quite confused and somewhat lost. Her feelings and emotions are the primary issue here, and I'm sure we can all relate somehow. We each struggle with things inside ourselves, even if it's simply finding who were truly are. Mrs. Pontellier seems unhappy with who she is, but her struggle is not with the world around her; it's inside.
Throughout the first eight chapters, Edna’s emotions of uncertainty arise. Since we aren’t too far into the book, it is hard to say what her true struggle is. Obviously Edna is very unhappy with her life being married and taking care of the kids. Even though on the outside to her friends, the relationship between Mr. Pontieller and Mrs. Pontieller is not as perfect as it seems. Whenever Edna and Robert see each other she has a need that isn’t being met by her husband (no pun intended). I her role and by knowing Kate Chopin’s writing she is very displeased being “tied down” by a male.
ReplyDeleteI believe the real struggle that Edna is dealing with is uncertainty. She doesn’t know what she wants in that being married and settling for Mr. Pontieller or fighting for true love that could be Robert. I believe that Edna is getting some fulfillment by spending time with Robert and may have not be tied down.
After reading through the assigned reading, I think that there are bits an peices of Mrs. Pontellier's struggle that start to come out but it is not yet fully revealed. She definitely does not seem to be pleased with her life or almost everything in it. She doesnt really have a relationship with her children, and it seems like she isnt fully connected with her husband. She also seems to be jealous of her friend, who appears to have everything working for her. Overall she is just unsatisfied with her life.
ReplyDeleteThat unsatisfaction leads to confusion which is what her true inner struggle is. She is confused about what she wants at times, and never really knows where to turn when things get bad, especially since she doesnt really connect with her husband. Also she is conflicted with Robert and what to do with him. She definitely seems attracted to him, but at the same time she is married to a very loving husband.
Going along with what alot of other people have said, I can't find exactly what Mrs. Pontellier's struggle is, but it is composed of her longing to escape the normalcy of her life. She is too tired to deal with it anymore and only wants to find a way out of the life she is in now. She has settled for her husband, but it seems she would rather spend time Robert. She is simply bored with her redundant life.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Pontellier's true internal struggles seem to come from her longing to be free. She wants to have a sense of independence and liberation. In her time, society had a different view on women. She was ahead of her time, acting flirtatiously and trying to escape the standards for household wives of the time. Mrs. Pontellier is doubtful that she is happy in her current state and it drives her to desire a different life in a new and exciting setting.
in response to Nathan:
ReplyDeleteI agree with your second paragraph. She probably is dealing with issues of self identity. I also like how you talked about her marriage as purely an accident. Maybe that's how she feels her whole life has been, just one big accident after another. I think it's a definite possibility that she thinks her life should be different and without "accidents"
It is apparent that Edna's inner struggle is that of disatisfaction of her life. Edna is not happy or fulfilled with where she is in her path of life. She longs of distant memories, and dreams of being swept off of her feet by some mystical man. She feels as if she settled for what others thought was best for her.
ReplyDeleteEdna isn't satisfied with her marriage, yet she hides her problems well. She doesn't feel passion for her husband at all. She married him because he was a good, well-off guy who devoted himself to loving her. Her children come off as annoying towards her and her husband scoffs her for not taking care of them. Edna is at a place where she doesn't know what to do. She is stuck in a life that she doesn't want to be in, and that obviously is the reason fo the suicide.
So obviously she is not happy with her life. When you think of a spouse it seems like they are a constant, a normal, regular part of everyday life that can be expected. As we talked about in class it seems as if Mrs. P just settled in life with her husband. If you settle for something you will always be longing for something better or thinking of what you should have had. This is how her husband makes her feel;confined.
ReplyDeleteAn affair for or these outside feelings represent something to her and to all women with the same struggle and that is freedom, adventure, spontaneous action that leads to fun memories because they are out of the norm. Mrs. P feels like if she does this than she will feel these things and not have to worry about having settled. Her real struggle is a life unlived and she feels like doing these things will bring out something inside of her she could not have experienced with her husband. She seems like the type of woman who would need a dependency to make it through the day. At least to me.
In response to Jill:
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how you brought up the comparison between Edna and her best friend, Mrs. Ratignolle. It is important to recongize that it is very possible for Mrs. Pontellier to feel insecure about her life cirsumstances while comparing herslef to her friends. Often times people, but especially woman allow others in their life that seem to be more successful to let them feel inferior because of the others happiness. Edna could want her freedom and happiness because she sees is occuring in her best friends life, but not her own.
In response to Parker:
Most of us have already touched on Edna wishing and longing for freedom, but I liked how you talked about her confusion. Edna is obvioulsy in a difficult place, which is causing confusion in her over all outlook on life. She doesn't have an outlet to turn to, her relationships are not deep or solid with anyone in her life, hence to need to be free which then will eventually lead to the suicide.
In response to Parker:
ReplyDeleteI agree with the things you had to say in your response. I think that it is true, Mrs. Pontellier is a very confused woman. She recognizes her unhappiness in her life but she tends to be confused about what she really wants. The fact that she has settled adds to this because it means that she didn't really know what she wanted from the start. Her disconnection from her family adds to this confusion as well and later comes in play when she starts to get to know Robert and spends time with him. She is faced with the conflict of choosing her husband or this other man. She enjoys her time with Robert but she is still married to Mr. Pontellier. Good Job Parker!
In responce to Jill:
ReplyDeleteI completly agree with you. Mrs. Pontellier really has not had much time to figure out what she wants. She has had way to many responsabilities and she feels stuck in her life and she would like to find some way to get out, but Robert is not the way she wants to get out.
In response to Liz R:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on every point you state. I also agree that Edna regrets marrying Mr. Pontellier. She wants to be free from the male role and being married. I think everyone knows from the intro to the book that Edna will never be happy with her life; therefore, committing suicide.
In response to Roberts and mostly everyone:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we don’t know her true struggle. The struggle seems to be marriage in general and how society sees marriage. We don’t know enough about Edna as a person and what her true emotions are, and I have a feeling we never will.
Response to Zach
ReplyDeleteI agree with alot of what you said. I deffinately think Mrs. Pontellier settled for her husband, but then again that was a much more normal thing to do in that time period. Many times spouses were chosen based on status rather than true emotions or feelings.
I'm not sure if I can see her justify an affair in her mind by thinking that she settled and longing to experience something differant. I think it is more of something that just happens, based on emotions and not logic. Mrs. Pontellier doesn't sit at home and plan to get in affair, if it were to happen I see it as a reaction to what she feels rather than what she thinks she would like.
In respponse to David:
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your response especially the part about her dreaming of being swept off of her feet by some mystical man. To her right now that man is Robert, or at least she thinks it is. She is definitely attracted to him, but it is porbably more of an infatuation. This is where most of her confusion is coming from. She is not really sure if she should pursue him or not, or if she really wants to do that at all. She is also conflicted because her husband has never done anything wrong.
To Liz R:
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with everything that you said. It's true that she's highly dissatisfied with her life, but the fact that her husband really hasn't done anything wrong makes it hard for Edna to really place blame on anything other than herself for the things that she is thinking and feeling. Obviously, she isn't ever going to be satisfied with life unless things change for the better in her case, and from what I've read so far, it doesn't really look like things are going to change too much. She's got a husband who treats her extremely well, and more or less anything that anyone could ever ask for, but she isn't happy with any of it because her independence is pretty much gone. And without that independence, she isn't happy, and won't be happy until it comes back. If it does.
In response to Zach...
ReplyDeleteI agree with you i think that Mrs. Pontelliers problem is the fact that she doesn't feel like she is living her life to the fullest. She wants to feel alive again and she can't experience that with her husband, so she seeks it in Robert. She wants to break the monotony of her every day life, because the thought of the same thing every day scares her and she needs more in her life.
Reading through the chapters of The Awakening, Edna Pontellier’s true struggle is not evident or apparent within the first few chapters of the novel. She was born and raised in a Protestant home, but decided to defy her parents by marrying into a Catholic family. She feels that she may be able to fill a void of unhappiness in her life by marrying a wealthy man and living life within this society.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Pontellier’s true struggle is the pure fact that she lives an unhappy lifestyle. She tries to fill that void with different things that seem to make her happy, but those things only fulfill her wants for a short period. She is a person who does not seem to fit any certain mold of society or cultures. She feels as if she is alone and tries to find her place within different lifestyles and feelings of freedom and independence she periodically has.
In response to Beach, Matt, and Zach:
ReplyDeleteI think she is stuck on the idea of living her life to the fullest. I don't think she truly knows how to live it that way anymore. She feels stuck in a box with her marriage and her children, she wants to escape and feels partially relieved when her children or husband are not with her. She is not like the other Creole women who see that imaginery line and don't cross it, she finds comfort in the fact of Robert who makes her feel youthful and rejuvenated like she once was.
In response to Mark:
You stated that Mrs. Pontellier would rather spend time with Robert than her husband. I agree with that. Mainly, because when she is with Robert it makes her feel free from her obligations which seems to make her happy in the moment. She probably feels how she was when she was young because of the gentleman who probably admired her before she was married. I agree that she settled with her husband, but a lot of marriages were like that in those days because marriage was based on status and money.
In response to Liz Rodriguez’s comment,
ReplyDeleteYeah I think that most of us have agreed by now that Mrs. Pontellier settled for Leonce. Not only that, but she is also missing all the passion and freedom she had when she was young and single. As I said before, I really think what it comes down to is he is trying to find a compromise between the live she lived and the life expected of her by the surrounding society. She needs to address her questions pertaining to such things as the physical bounds of flirting with Robert, her responsibilities to her family as wife and mother, and even simpler things like how she is able to express herself. She is trying to discover her identity and is looking for help. When she visits the sea, she is reminded of all this.
In response to Matt:
ReplyDeleteMatt your response to the promt really made me look at Mrs. P from an abstract view and I just think what a sad sad life. People don't realize they only get one life, one shot at this petty crapshoot called life and they don't take the most from it. They all settle. Just like Mrs. P. Looking at the situation from an outside view which is usually wrong, it seems like Mrs. P is the least common denominator as the problem. She is the reason that she is unhappy, she is the reason she married her husband, why she treats her kids the way she does, and why her life is the way it is. I feel sorry for her being cuz I just think of how it is a wasted life, wasted opportunity but I don't feel sorry for her self because it is her own fault she does not change it. Another thing I got from your prompt was about her husband. What a great guy. He does everything he is supposed to do as a family man. He seems like the perfect guy, but maybe he is not the perfect guy for her. That happens a lot in life. That is what she is just now figuring out.