The Awakening: by Kate Chopin Pt 2
Maybe because family relationships are always complicated, or because the first people we will ever meet in our lives are our parents, but Chapter 23 was hard for me to read. Edna’s father comes into the picture with a rigid posture and military sense. It makes sense to me that Edna’s main conflict comes from the suppression of her feelings.
When her children come, Chopin states, “He resented the intrusion of the children, who gaped with wondering eyes at him, sitting so stiff up there in their mother’s bright atelier” (p 176-177). Those are his grandchildren. When I think of most modern grandparents, I think of spoiling and laughter. Yet, we are with the Colonel, never addressed in terms of familiarity or love, and it is clear this man only really cares about respect and image. To imagine little Edna running around as a child, I can picture that she never received much attention from him, unless it was because of something she did wrong.
It is present in the way she is anxiously waiting for his approval in this chapter. She tries to impress him through her friends, her home, and her life. Is it enough? Maybe, maybe not, but, “for the first time in her life she felt as if she were thoroughly acquainted with him. He kept her busy serving him and ministering to his wants” (p 179). Even when she feels the connection she desires, it is at the expense of her time. She might feel connected, but in no way does her father actually appreciate her as a person.
I know that during this period, children are expected to be silent and obedient to their parents. For children of elite families, they got love and affection normally from an outside source, like a governess, but at the end of the day, nothing stops the primal yearning of family. There are so many studies of how children are impacted by the parenting that they receive, that for Edna to repeatedly be taught to suppress herself, I am not surprised by her little rebellions in the book. A cage works best when the animal does not realize there is a cage, but Edna is becoming more aware of herself. She is learning the limits and starting to try find her way around. This fact makes me so excited for her. I wish for her to get a happy ending with Robert, but I know that, deep down, this will only be a tragedy. Edna’s awakening will not end happily, but that is the point.
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