5.10 the Awakening
1. What features make The Awakening a "local color" story?The type of dialogue used, the way the town is depicted and the fact that it was a time where women did not have much say in their lives or decisions 2. What customs and beliefs of Edna Pontellier 's society are significant in relation to her psychological development?The typical new Orleans woman is expected to let their life revolve around their husband and children and they are expected to spend their time doing their domestic duties, and Edna is forced to live in these confines, and she is not happy with her life and feels tied down in her marriage and life. 3. What attitudes and tendencies in the Creole characters does Edna have trouble adjusting to?She has trouble adjusting to the matronly attitude of other women and the tendency to put her husband and children and their needs before hers. 4. Why did Edna marry Leonce? Is he the model husband?She married him because she loved his devotion, and the fact that she was infatuated with another man, and he was the only one that seemed to pay attention to her made her fancy him even more and she wanted to defy her father and sister. 5. What incidents in the novel reveal that he may not be a good husband for Edna?Fully believes in the traditional duties of a creole woman in their society and he can’t, or is unwilling to communicate with her and figure out how she feels. 6. How do Mlle. Reisz and Mme. Ratignolle function in relation to Edna and the novel 's view of women as mothers and artists? Mademoiselle Reisz is an unmarried artist and represents freedom for Edna and is the only person who knows about her and Roberts’s secret love. She tells Edna that if she wants to become independent then she must be brave because artists are brave and defiant people. Madame Ratignolle represents the ideal new Orleans/ Creole woman and contrasts with Mademoiselle Reisz 7. What kind of mother is Edna? What kind of artist is she?She isn’t and