“And, moreover, to succeed, the artist must possess the courageous soul.”
These lines are significant, as they show Edna’s beginning of the realization that the world is not as friendly as she thought. The narrator explains that she has lost interest not only in herself but also in everything around her. However, after Robert pretends to go away on the business trip, Edna loses interest in everything. The street, the children, the fruit vendor, the flowers growing there under her eyes, were all part and parcel of an alien world which has suddenly become antagonistic.”Įdna Pontellier’s life changes after meeting Robert.
“She felt no interest in anything about her. However, as the ring doesn’t break or damage, she realizes that her marriage bond is far from broken.
#THE AWAKENING QUOTES FREE#
Therefore, she tries here to break this marriage bond to free herself from limitations. In fact, it is the pressure of domestic life that has made her feel oppressed. The marriage, which was an exciting experience for her in the past, has now become oppressing. The narrator uses these words about Edna. But the small boot heel did not make an indenture, not a mark upon the little glittering circlet.” When she saw it lying there, she stamped her heel upon it, striving to crush it. “Once she stopped, and taking off her wedding ring, flung it upon the carpet. However, her identity and her freedom are very dear to her because she has begun to embrace free-spirited life and cannot sacrifice it for anyone including her children. She expresses that she can leave everything, including money, and also die for her children. I can’t make it clear, it’s only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me.” Chapter XVIĮdna Pontellier speaks these words to assert her identity while she is engaged in conversation with Madame Ratignolle. “I would give up the unessential I would give my money, I would give my life for my children, but I wouldn’t give myself. In other words, she is not willing to stay in her marriage or take any responsibilities and wants to take advantage of the present moment. However, she admits that in the past she hadn’t learned any lesson and it was painful. She has realized that she has never thought of her future and knows that it will be a mystery. These lines are very significant, as they show that Enda Pontellier wants to enjoy her life. The present alone was significant was hers, to torture her as it was doing then with the biting conviction that she had lost that which she had held, that she had been denied that which her impassioned, newly awakened being demanded.” The future was a mystery which she never attempted to penetrate. “The past was nothing to her offered no lesson which she was willing to heed.