Character relations in the awa
Character relations in the awaIt would be easy to say that Edna Pontellier emulates both Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, however, throughout the novel, it is evident that Edna steps out beyond this assumption and asserts herself as another person altogether. This is obvious in the defining features of each of the women. Madame Ratignolle, for example, is always represented in a very flamboyant nature and is usually associated with clothes, whereas, Mademoiselle Reisz, in contrast, has no relation to clothes or anything of material nature. She instead is associated “passionately” with music. Edna, on the other hand, has none of these qualities attributed to her. She is not described in terms of clothes. She is never attributed with being flamboyant. She is not musically inclined, with the exception of the fact that the music moves her toward the “awakening” of her sensuality.
When examining the first stirrings, “a certain light [that] was beginning to dawn dimly within her,” we see that Edna thinks independently of outside interference. When she “was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her” she does just that—she realizes the world within her, not without her. That is to say, she does this entire “awakening” on her own. She does not directly receive any outside influence.
Edna Pontellier, as a whole, is a woman completely different from any other in the novel. She stands alone and thinks alone and speaks...
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