How has "awakening" separated Madame Pontellier from other women?
Does Madame Pontellier's off hand treatment of her wifely duties make her a bad person?
Is Mr. Pontellier actually a good husband?
Monday, February 16, 2015
Gender Roles
Gender roles are a significant theme in The Awakening. We are a given brief look into southern American life of the Victorian era where the roles of men and women are firmly cemented in refined society. We are also given good and"bad" examples of such roles for either sex. Madame Ratignolle versus Madame Pontellier for example. Madame Ratignolle is buxom and flushed with all her womanly prowess, she cares obsessively over her children and husband, her identity is nothing without them while Madame Pontellier is the opposite. Madame Pontellier is always late for dinner and barely pays a thought towards her children. Alternatively there is also Mr. Pontellier vs Robert Lebrun. Mr. Pontellier is adored by everyone in Great Isles, they all come to see him leave and he devotedly sends gift baskets to his wife, he is successful in both society and private life. Robert Lebrun on the other hand has no money, no direction, and shamelessly flirts with married women. At this point I would argue that Madame Pontellier is viewed with less tolerance than Robert. Not being dutiful to her husband or children makes Madame Pontellier a "bad" woman while Roberts frivolous acts are dismissed, he has not in anyway degraded his worth to society.
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I do not believe Madame Pontellier is a bad person; I believe she is expressing her dislike for the pressures of society that has been put upon her. It is a shame that women were subjected to the social norms, expected to perform their wifely duties without so much as an alternate opinion. She regrets a lot, a lot that society has made her perform.
ReplyDeleteI agree with kai. Theres this criticism in what a woman should be and all these examples of what a woman could be. But if we see something as aggresive it becomes wrong and the challenges perception
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that Madame Pontellier's duties as a wife doesn't necessarily make her a bad person. For instance, she's from a completely different background of culture, vs. her husbands creole culture. It's just that Madame Pontellier, as Culley described as an American French women, isn't quite use to adjusting to her husbands creole lifestyle because she's use to the Victorian ways of living. While her husbands Orleans roots are more soulful and every creole treat each other like family. I just think that Madame Pontellier has more learning to do of her husbands culture and shouldn't be faulted because of her lack of knowledge.
ReplyDeleteBasically she is like a modern type of woman. In my point of view means that she doesn't really abide by wifely duties of that time period. She didn't always pay attention to her family, which was her husband and two boys. It seems her husband was disappointed that she didn't carry the same familial values as he did. She did recognize that she had a good husband and children but did not conform to family life. By opinion she wasn't a bad person, she just had a diffent comprehension of the idea of wifly duties.
ReplyDeletePs. I know my response late but figured I still should respond.
Edna only felt bad because her husband and society has set standards for a role that is unable to be mastered. She is helping herself by doing and believing what she feels. She finally has gained enough experience so that she nay form her oen perception of the world. Her children are seeing a happy, lively mother, and are learning to obey other head figures in teir lives such as ther nanny. Edna is helping her life by being aware of it. I know why the caged bird sings.
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