The Awakening

Mademoiselle Reisz is happy and surprised when Edna arrives at her door. Edna tells Reisz right away that Edna still doesn’t know if she likes Reisz or not. Mademoiselle Reisz finds Edna’s candidness appealing. The two women converse and Reisz brings up the topic of Robert, and how he had sent her a letter, where he writes not about himself, but mostly about Edna. Edna begs to read the letter but Mademoiselle Reisz tells her that although it is about her, it is not addressed to her. Nevertheless, Reisz offers to play for Edna, because that’s what Robert had asked her to do in his letter. Edna pleads for Mademoiselle Reisz to play the piano and to show her Robert’s letter incessantly.

Edna shares with Mademoiselle Reisz her intentions to become an artist; Reisz does not hide her astonishment. She warns Edna that it’s not easy to be an artist, as an artist must possess “a courageous soul […] that dares and defies” (165). Edna assures her that she is persistent, if not brave, and begs her again to play the piano and to show her the letter. Mademoiselle Reisz gives in to Edna’s pleas, hands her the letter, and begins to play Chopin’s Impromptu. The music moves Edna and she cries as Mademoiselle Reisz plays the Impromptu and “Isolde’s Song.” Edna cries “just as she had wept one midnight at Grand Isle when strange, new voices awoke in her” (167). It is already quite late when Edna leaves Mademoiselle Reisz’s house. Before Edna goes away, Reisz assures her that she can visit her at any time.

Concerned about Edna’s health, Léonce decides to consult Doctor Mandelet, the family’s physician and Léonce’s friend. Léonce tells the doctor that Edna “has got some sort of notion in her head concerning the eternal rights of women” (170). Doctor Mandelet asks if Edna has become friends with the so-called “pseudo-intellectual women” (171), to which Léonce replies that now she mostly spends time alone and does not see anyone at all, and has even abandoned her Tuesday receptions and spends her days wandering the streets alone.

Realizing that Edna’s surroundings are not a reason for her metamorphosis, Doctor Mandelet asks about her family history. Léonce does not think that the reason for such behavior may be found in Edna’s family, because she had received an exemplary Christian upbringing. Despite this, he admits that Edna’s younger sister, Janet, “is something of a vixen” (172). Doctor Mandelet advises Léonce to let Edna go to her sister’s wedding so that she can spend time with her family. Léonce is not sure if Edna wants to go to the wedding, because once she told him that “a wedding is one of the most lamentable spectacles on earth” (172). Doctor Mandelet thinks for a while, and finally advises Léonce to leave Edna alone for a while and let her do as she pleases. He thinks that this is only “some passing whim” (173) that will go away soon. He even suggests that Léonce allow her to stay home alone when he goes on a business trip, if she decides that this is what she wants to do. Doctor Mandelet does not tell Léonce about his suspicion that the cause for Edna’s strange behavior might lie in another man, and instead promises to attend dinner at the Pontellier home to talk to Edna and to observe her himself.

Edna’s father, a former colonel in the Confederate Army, pays a visit to the Pontellier family. He came to the city to search for a wedding gift and to buy himself a new suit. Edna is not very close with her father, but she finds his company enjoyable. As soon as he arrives, Edna sketches him in her studio. Edna’s father does not make fun of her painting, and instead is willing to pose for her at every opportunity. Edna decides to go with him to Adèle’s house, to listen to her play the piano. Once they get there, Adèle compliments Edna’s father unceasingly. Léonce does not attend the event, as he prefers to spend his time at the club. Adèle does not hide the fact that she finds it inappropriate that Léonce is always at the club. She adds that instead of spending the time apart, Edna and Léonce should make an effort to spend more time together. Edna finds this idea ridiculous because they “wouldn’t have anything to say to each other” (179).

Edna appreciates the companionship of her father but she realizes that her interest in him will likely fade soon. Doctor Mandelet comes to dinner but notices nothing disturbing in Edna’s behavior. On the contrary, she seems to him radiant, as she relates her day at the racetrack, where she and her father socialized with Mrs. Merriman, Mrs. Highcamp, and Alcée Arobin. At the dinner table, everyone takes turns telling stories for entertainment: the Colonel speaks of war times, Léonce recalls memories from his youth, and the doctor tells a tale of a female patient who fell in love with another man but eventually returned her devotion to her husband. Edna counters his story with a fictional tale about a woman and her lover who rowed away one night in a small boat and disappeared forever. Edna pretends to have heard the story from Madame Antoine but the doctor perceives the implications of her tale, and fears that some other man enamored her. On his way home, he says to himself, “I hope to heaven it isn’t Alcée Arobin” (184).

Edna is glad when her father’s visit is over, as the two have clashed over Edna not wanting to attend Janet’s wedding. Léonce does not intervene, adhering to the doctor’s suggestion and letting Edna do what she pleases. Instead, he decides to attend the wedding himself, in order to compensate for Edna’s absence. The Colonel criticizes Léonce’s lack of control over Edna, saying that being more commanding is the only way to manage a wife. When Léonce is about to leave for his extended business trip to New York, Edna suddenly becomes attentive to him, remembering many of his acts of kindness towards her. The children are also leaving for a while, in order to spend some time with Léonce’s mother, Madame Pontellier, in the countryside. Once alone, Edna feels that “a radiant peace settles upon her” (187). She wanders through her house and gardens as if for the first time, eats her dinner alone, and reads a book before going to bed.