Edna pontellier wants to swim
Edna pontellier wants to swim-The Awakening by, Kate Chopin
Edna Pontillier Wants to Swim
Edna Pontillier is a woman playing the role of the wealthy New Orleans housewife. She has a generous husband, children, financial stability, and a great deal of friends. What she also has, unfortunately, is a kind of generic happiness that is the result of such a conventional society. Edna begins to change, and like a small chip of ice breaking away from a huge iceberg, she heads out into the ocean alone. It seems that it’s almost not possible for her to follow society's rules any longer, and she just stops doing it, without even making the decision to. She begins to want more. Edna craves mental exercise, personal independence, and company that she can feel equal to (unlike her husband). Edna was far ahead of her time to crave such things. This behavior was considered unacceptable and vulgar. This leaves Edna very alone in her search for what she wants in life. She thinks Robert is what she needs, but soon enough discovers he certainly is not. She makes a choice, and many events lead up to this final act of suicide.
Edna realizes she is till very young and has grown numb to feelings of vitality, love, and freedom; her spirit has become nonexistent. What she discovers are things she could not ignore. The first changes occurred when she began sleeping when she pleased and spent time doing want she wanted, mostly painting or swimming. She also began to break away from her husband’s oppression. He would attempt to control her by telling her what to do, as he had always done, except that now she just sort of ignored him. The truth was that her marriage had dehumanized her and she was no longer an individual. He believed she was mentally ill. She had awakened, and could not return to her previous self.
Robert is the man she falls in love with. When she is with him, she is herself, and she is his equal. He is a major reason why she awakened from her “long, stupid dream.” She doesn’t have an affair with him though, but she does come to the point where she has a giddy, young love for him, he gives her goosebumps that make her feel alive. He leaves town, however, knowing that he loves her back, but knowing that the consequences of their love may not be worth it. He is caught in the web of society’s standards, and even love cannot break it....
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