Understanding A Different Time

The Awakening by Kate Chopin takes place in an island near New Orleans. Based on what has been read, the setting of this novel is for wealthy inhabitants, most of them describes as Creole. The creoles talked about in this novel are people that were born from French descent in New Orleans and are very connected to French colonial culture. This basically translates into old money that married other older money to keep all that money in the family. These Creoles can be thought of as the elite of where they live and the idea described previously explains a bit more about the characters in this book.

The character of Robert Lebrun is very intriguing. He is not like the other men who leave the vacation spot and work in some business that takes up all their time. He prefers to spend his days with the married women that are staying in his mothers cottages. He seems particularly attached to Mrs. Pontellier but is nagged at for this by Mrs. Ratignolle, a close friend of Mrs. Pontellier. It seems as if Robert makes it a habit of his to attach himself to a particular woman and offer his services in any way to her, even if she is married. At this present time in the novel, he enjoys conversing with both ladies and is very helpful to them. In a modern context I would call him a player. His motives aren’t really clear but he seems to have an interest in Mrs. Pontellier and this is bound to have some sort of climax in the novel.

Mrs. Pontellier is married and came with her husband and kids to this island. Right from the beginning you can tell she is not happy in her marriage. There is one particular moment in which she leaves her bed and cries:

“Turning, she thrust her face, steaming and wet, into the bend of her arm, and she went on crying there, not caring any longer to dry her face, her eyes, and her arms. She could not have told why she was crying. Such experiences as the foregoing were not uncommon in her married life.”(Ch III, pg 22)

There is no explanation to why she does this but you have to admit this is cliché. A typical story of a woman that probably didn’t marry the man she wanted to and now she is stuck in a marriage that despite being “good” wasn’t really her decision. In the exterior it everything seems to be fine but in reality it isn’t and it might be fine for her husband, but for Mrs. Pontellier it isn’t. The only moments she seems to be content with what is happening around her is when she is with Robert and Mrs. Ratignolle. Especially Robert who seems to calm her and actually listen to her, something her husband does not do.

A seemingly opposite to Mrs. Pontellier is her friend Mrs. Ratignolle. This is a woman who exemplifies what was expected of a 19^th century woman. She is very devoted to her husband as well as her children. She runs her household very well and seems to be happy with her life. The only issue with Mrs. Ratignolle is her “condition” which the narrator describes as “no way apparent “. There is another mention of this when she picks up one of her children but despite being told not to pick up anything heavy, she picks up her child with no care. Mrs. Ratignolle shows more affection towards her children and in a sense is opposite in behavior to Mrs. Pontellier. She never seems to be sad about her way of life and is ok with being just a woman of the house.

The characters of this novel give different ideas of the time. Mrs. Pontellier seems to be defy her role in her household while Mrs. Ratignolle is happy with it, Robert rather chase after married women than go out and find one that is single, and the seemingly innocent interactions between Robert and Mrs. Pontellier are bound to create some sort of problem in the novel.