Sleep Walking

Edna feels confined when surrounded by the presence of her husband and children, in short, the responsibilities that society has placed upon her. In the Awakening, there is a sense of wandering, as if Edna is flitting from one place to another, trying to find where she is happy. She tries to be happy inside of her own home, then inside of the home of her friend Madame Ratignolle, and then with Robert. It in these moments that Edna appears to be sleep walking, unsure of what she wants and who she is. She is awakened, however, listening to the music of Madame Riez, and discovers while swimming that she feels most empowered on her own. This new sense of strength translates to the latter half of the book where Edna decides to move out of her husband’s house.

Taking the money left to her by her mother and what she had won from the races, Edna secures for herself a small dwelling deemed the ‘pigeon house.’ It is within this time that Edna makes numerous visits to Madame Riez’s apartment. Edna finds comfort in the Madame’s solitary life style, and is perhaps encouraged to become independent through observation of this small, rude woman. Although brash, Madame Riez gives Enda things to think about. She states upon feeling her shoulder blades to see if they were strong that  “it is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, and fluttering back down to earth.”(Chopin83) Edna, upon finding herself, must develop strong ‘wings’ in order to become the independent woman that she desires to be. Edna, upon awakening and spending time getting to know herself, has become no longer “one of Mr. Pontiller’s possessions,”(Chopin108) but in possession of her own spirit. Near the end, Edna, now in possession of herself, gives herself to Robert. I feel that the wandering that Edna did throughout the book, her mistakes and accomplishments, were all necessary to get her to this point.

How do you feel about Edna buying a house while her husband and children were away? Do you think that it was brave of her, or cowardly? Why?

How does Edna’s new situation give her ‘power?’

What roles did Robert, Arobin, and Mr. Pontellier play in edna’s awakening throughout the story? What role did Madame Riez play?