I find the character and actions of Edna Pontellier despicable. She betrays her husband and family and puts herself first. I understand her desire to be more independent, but leaving her family? That is just pathetic. In her relationships with Alycee and Robert, she knowingly betrays Mr. Pontellier. Some people say you should follow your heart and forget society’s expectations. However, to betray your husband and your family is wrong. I am all for equality and woman’s rights, but betraying your marriage isn’t “women’s rights.” It isn’t “woman’s emancipation” either, as the back of the book says. It is just wrong. When a man cheats on his wife, he’s called a cheater and a low-life, but when a woman does it it’s “female emancipation”. That’s a load of BS. What makes this all worse is the fact that not only did she betray her husband, but she consciously abandoned and neglected her children. Her own children!! That’s pathetic. If she were to divorce her husband and they went their own way, it would be regrettable but not wrong. However, when you add children to the equation they must come first. I’m not saying she has to be a stay at home wife and raise the kids, the husband could do that for all I care, but she at least has to be a mother to her children.
Another thing I don’t understand is why Edna is considered to be “oppressed” by her husband and society. While Mr. Pontellier could be a better husband, he wasn’t horrible and certainly didn’t deserve what he got. Edna had money to buy what ever she wanted, she was free to explore whatever art form she wanted, and was able to go anywhere she wanted. It wasn’t like she was discriminated against, poor, or abused. To be blunt, she was an upper class, white woman. Add to that the fact that she lived in a culture where woman were treated with the utmost respect. I think Edna Pontellier is more of an example of what is wrong with America today, then women’s emancipation. Today’s society is too self-centered and morally weak. Divorce and adultery are commonplace. The idea of “family” is not what it used to be.
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- This day is called the Feast of Crispian:
- He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
- Will stand a-tiptoe when the day is named,
- And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
- He that shall see this day and live t'old age,
- Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
- And say "To-morrow is Saint Crispian":
- Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars
- And say "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."
- Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
- But he'll remember with advantages
- What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
- Familiar in his mouth as household words
- Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
- Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
- Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
- This story shall the good man teach his son;
- And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
- From this day to the ending of the world,
- But we in it shall be remembered;
- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
- For he today that sheds his blood with me
- Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
- This day shall gentle his condition:
- And gentlemen in England now abed
- Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
- And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
- That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. (IV, iii)
- - King Henry V
"airmen, who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few..."
- Winston Churchill during the Battle of Britain, 1940.
Bryan-
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that under no circumstances should a wife, and specifically a mother, leave her family, I think she does experience an emancipation. This emancipation is from the views that society, and her husband, put on her. It is not so much what she can or cannot do, for her actions are her own, but what she can or cannot think. She had lost herself to a world that demanded a specific stereotype. No, she wasn't physically or emotionally abused, but she was emotionally detached. Before she experienced life (and I am 100 percent against adultry--its DESPICABLE) she had never truly expericened a thought of her own. While I disagree with her actions, I am forced to admire the individualism she experiences.
Bryan- I appreciate the passion of your response! We will talk about some of these issues in class. For monthly connections, expound upon your societal connection. In this case, the issue of adultery and the double standards with which today's society views the men and women who are adulterers would be especially relevant. Other than that- good job!
ReplyDeleteI was not aware that ordering your wife around like she is your possesion constitutes as treating her with the utmost respect. And, in a point of clarification, CHIVALRY is not the same thing as RESPECT. In Kate Chopin's time, a gentleman would open doors for a lady but never let her into a jury stand, a science lab, or a voting booth. Just because you help someone over a mud puddle doen't mean you feel they are your intellectual equal, it means you think they are fragile. On something of Mrs. Demers' vein from this morning, The Awakening is not a symbol of what is wrong with America today, it's about the problems of the Victorian Era. If you want to complain about selfish people sleeping around you should go after Howard Roark and Dominique Francon.
ReplyDeleteSorry that came out sounding so harsh, Bryan, I know you like being gallant. And I agree that marriage is not what it should be.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean people are lacking in respect for the institution of marriage in modern times. There is really nothing that we can do as a whole but as individuals is where maybe we can do something about it. If people had more respect for their partners or even for themselves they wouldn't act that way.
ReplyDelete