The Awakening

“You are burnt beyond recognition,’ he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage.” 

Léonce speaks these words to Edna when she comes back from the beach with Robert. He does not seem worried about any physical discomfort that she might feel; rather, he is only concerned about her looks. This foreshadows Léonce’s attitude towards his wife throughout the novel: preoccupied with the reputation and social appearance of his marriage, he fails to notice Edna’s intrinsic changes and ignores her emotions and feelings.

“An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul’s summer day.”

After Léonce accuses Edna of being a negligent mother, she escapes out onto the porch. As she sits there, crying, a strange new feeling overtakes her, although she cannot explain what it is, describing it only as a “shadow”. In this rare moment of solitude, Edna begins to listen to her feelings and emotions. It is this process of self-exploration that later catalyzes Edna’s transformation.

“They were women who idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.” (Chapter 4, Page 19)

In this passage, the narrator openly contrasts Edna with many of the other women on the island. While Edna’s friend Adèle is an exemplification of an ideal “mother-woman,” Edna feels like she herself has never been quite fitted for the role.