Edna Pontellier was on her way to an awakening. She realized during the book that she was not happy with her position in life. It is apparent that she had never really been fully unaware however, because her own summary of this was some sort of blissful ignorance. Especially in the years of life readers are told about before her newly appearing independence, we see that she has never been fully content with the way her life had turned out. For example she admits she married Mr. Pontellier out of convenience rather than love. She knew he loved her but she did not love him. It was not even the case that she did not know what love was, for she had had infatuations that at the time (being so

young) she believed was love. She consciously chose to marry Mr. Pontellier even though she did not love him. When she falls in love with Robert she regrets her decision of marrying Mr. Pontellier. Readers should not sympathize with this because she was the one who had set her own trap. She did not love her husband when she married him but will never once admit that it was a bad decision. She attributes all the problems of her marriage to the way society has defined the roles of men and women. She does not attribute any of the blame to herself.

Edna seems almost arrogant in some ways. She feels that the other women are pitiful because they cannot see past the mask society placed over their faces. She develops an air of superiority. She reproaches their forms of social interaction, not stopping once to think that maybe the women enjoy meeting together to talk. She degrades their way of life completely, coming only to the conclusion that they choose to lead their lives the way they do because they are blind to the opportunity of freedom. Yet she has no right to scorn them because she is not free herself. She recognizes her problems with infatuation but cannot break herself from the trend. She never awakens because she is never free from her obsession. One of the last lines of the book reads "The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch." To her death, she is never free from her preoccupation.

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Some common words found in the essay are:
Robert Arobin, Pontellier Readers, Edna Pontellier, , edna pontellier, readers sympathize, mother children, life readers,
Approximate Word count = 968
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)