Edna has “the best husband in the world,” to which she was “forced to admit that she knew of none better” (Chopin III). Edna has to choose between staying in her unhappy marriage with her husband for her children which she has grown accustomed to his absence over prolonged periods or leave him for her true love Robert and forget about her family because she can not have both. The physical journey of Edna Pontellier in The Awakening by Kate Chopin, is one of lasciviousness, self-determination to become independent, and one of tragedy that develops from the first display of oppression in beginning of the novel until the last gasp of freedom at the very end of the novel to captivate the reader in this world where women are socially exploited.
The journey of physically leaving her husband for another man which was incredibly frowned upon by society in that time period and even in society today. Leaving the comfort of her husband which she has grown too accustomed was easy because she found the right, but wrong person to fall in love with. At first she did not want to admit her feelings, but as time when by the novel began to develop her character enough for her to have an affair while still living in her husband's house. She began having thoughts about her desire for Robert, but with Robert’s
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This was Edna’s first display of true independence because she moved into her own place without the help of her husband. Her husband covered this up by saying that there are “remodeling... his home” (Chopin XXXII). What is the most astonishing is that while Edna was breaking through society’s view of a women Mr. Pontellier never once stop to think that she was leaving him slowly because he thought he has a grasp on her. Edna admired his ability to cover up this situation, but she did not care because she knew that she was independent from that moment