We are influenced by all sorts of people in all sorts of
situations. Edna Pontellier has
many people who influence her life.
Some are family members, others are people she meets while staying in
Grand Isle. Mademoiselle Reisz,
Adele Ratignolle, Robert Lebrun, Alcee Arobin, Leonce Pontellier, Doctor
Mandelet, The Colonel, Madame Antoine, are not all, but certainly some of those
people. Comment on how characters
from Chapters I-XV influenced Edna – or how she influenced them.
Include quotes and page numbers to support your ideas. Once you have
posted your ideas, please check back periodically to comment on at least two
other posts.
Many characters from The Awakening have either influenced or have been influenced by Edna Pontellier. Edna is spending her summer in a costal area called Grand Isle. She has become acquaintances with many of the locals such as Mademoiselle Reisz, Adele Ratignolle, Robert Lebrun, Leonce Pontellier, Tonie Antoine, and Madame Antoine. Mademoiselle Reisz is a musician who greatly influences Edna. On the night of August the 28th, Mademoiselle Reisz performs a song on the piano for Edna. Mademoiselle Reisz insists that nobody’s opinion matters except for Edna’s, “You are the only one worth playing for. Those others? Bah!” (72). The music that Mademoiselle Reisz played on that night changed Edna and made her start to rethink life. Adele Ratignolle is another mother visiting Grand Isle with her family. Adele is a gorgeous, motherly figure. She is one of Edna’s best friends even though they don’t see eye to eye on their lifestyles. Adele is the model of a perfect woman from that period. She loves her children and can barely live without her husband. Edna loves her children too, but not to the same extent that Adele does; plus, she’s a lot more independent than Adele is. Edna and Adele are really important to each other. They can talk to each other about almost anything and are extremely supportive. Robert Lebrun is a friend of many of the women who vacation to Grand Isle. He usually picks a woman to look after each year and becomes a kind of servant for her. He is usually very romantic towards to the women he looks after, but few of them take his compliments seriously. Robert and Edna are mentally close, kind of like George and Helen from “Sophistication” by Sherwood Anderson. They understand each other and are there to provide consolation and a bit of comic relief. It seems as though Edna may be acquiring a bit of a crush on Robert, “For the first time she recognized anew the symptoms of infatuation which she had felt incipiently as a child, as a girl in her earliest teens, and later as a young woman,” (94). Edna’s husband, Leonce, is accustomed to the idea that wives are homemakers and cannot function without a husband. He loves Edna, and she loves him, but there is definitely something wrong going on in their relationship. He orders her around a lot and she is realizing that she shouldn’t have to stand for that. Tonie and Madame Antoine live in Chênière Caminada, which is where the church service that Edna and Robert attended was held. Edna felt faint during the service, so Robert brought her to Madame Antoine’s home. Madame Antoine takes her in with much hospitality. During the short stay at the Antoines’ home, Edna and Robert became a lot closer. There are many characters in Grand Isle who influence the way Edna Pontellier thinks and acts.
ReplyDeleteYou have another student who will be joining your group later this week. I will wait for his post and then respond to you both. Thanks.
DeleteAwesome! It'll be great to have another person reading this book.
DeleteJordan you make really good connections. You have a really good perspective on this book. I hope you are enjoying it.
DeleteEdna Pontellier was and has been influenced by many characters in The Awakening. One of her big influences lies in Madame Ratignolle. She is “not thoroughly at home (52)” with the creole society. She is especially surprised by Mme. Ratignolle, who empress Edna Pontellier with her “entire absence of prudery (53).” Edna finds camaraderie with Mme. Ratignolle, and is influenced by her brazen attitude to be more independent and speak her mind more; while also becoming more independent and distancing herself from others. Although Adele Ratignolle is more of a ‘mother-woman,’ where Edna is not the over-mothering type. Edna and her husband, Leonce, find themselves sometimes at odds, him thinking that her “inattention, her habitual neglect of the children (48)” was bad; while she feels an “indescribable oppression (49).” This influence effects Edna in many ways, while at the same time, she influences the others.
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