The Awakening

The Awakening is certainly an interesting topic for discussion and I must say that I am anxious to see how the seminar will go tomorrow. According to the questions you asked us, we have several opposing opinions on gender roles in society that will hopefully be reflected tomorrow. The articles you gave us on all of the etiquette that women were expected to follow are humorous. Edna is doing a poor job at most of it actually. I respect Edna and I obviously understand why she is moody at this awakening moment in her life, but she is definitely annoying me. Her husband is so good to her yet she continually acts difficultly because she is not content with life. Idealistically it would be great if she would balance her independence and domestic duties but I suppose that it is too difficult right now. I can tell that by the end of the book I will probably just think of Edna as whiny but who knows, maybe not. Also, I am trying to figure out Robert’s significance. Clearly there is a mutual infatuation going on. I know that it would be unheard of for Robert to actually pursue Edna, but I wonder what significance he holds to the novel as a whole. Maybe her crush is Edna’s first independent thought for a while. Robert represents an unthinkable possibility and desire and I guess that ultimately that is what she wants in life. She wants the ability to make crazy decisions, whether good or bad, by herself. And now he is in Mexico so maybe that is one way to represent Edna losing what she desires. One odd thing that I am noticing is her lack of attention to her kids. I understand that women had nannies but Edna seems like she is rarely ever taking care of them. Like the day she went off with Robert all day- what were her kids doing? I don’t know but I just think that Edna is a bit too self-centered so it makes me a bit unsympathetic to her situation. And she is simply putting in no effort into anything; she does not tend to her kids, her husband, or any necessary duties… it’s kind of annoying to me. It was interesting though to hear everybody’s perspective on womanly roles. I guess I am very flexible with things- I believe that not all women are meant to be motherly and not all are meant to be bread winners so I think it is a personal decision on how to live life. I want gender equality but at the same time, I think that tradition is important. For example, I think it would be odd to not have the men ask the women out or pay for her dinner but I am sure that some women would be offended by that gesture. Well, I don’t know. Gender roles are confusing- I think that tradition versus modern era will fight back and forth for a long time.