April/Novel of Manners Reading: The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Just finished Chapter 23. On the back jacket of my copy, it says that "audiences were taken aback by Chopin's daring portrayal of a woman trapped in a stifling marriage." I don't see Mr. P as a stifling husband. I think he genuinely loves his wife, but doesn't understand what is happening with her. I'm not sure I do either. She didn't want Robert when they were together, but now that he's away, she is getting more and more infatuated with him. Janine, Does the story ever say how old her children are? It sounds almost like post-partem depression. ( I'm not an expert on this topic, so if I'm completely off based here, please let me know) She very much wants to answer to no one, she wants no responsibilites. I think she is actually losing herself, insteading of "awakening" to a new self.
I had written awhile ago about how solitude plays the story. Remember, that was the piano piece that Madame Reisz played? And now, it seems, the word "alone" pops up. She wants Mr. P. to leave her alone... and in Chapter 19, in the very same paragraph she recalls..."There were days when she was very happy without knowing why...She liked then to wander alone into strange and unfamiliar places. She discovered many a sunny, sleepy corner, fashioned to dream in. And she found it good to dream and to be alone and unmolested.
I think she's trying to be someone she's not.
Hope I didn't go on too much. I am enjoying the story and everyone's
comments too.