1. Feminist Revolution?
Edna’s Failure

2. Close Reading Chapter XXV (25)
Taking “plot” notes, examine Edna’s first real test as a “free” woman.
1. The sequence of events that are put into play
2. The interaction between Edna and Alcee Arobin
3. Warning signs are given in the chapter about the relationship
4. The relationship as a distractor to her goal to be an artist

3. Still Figuring it Out
Edna’s behavior with Alcee Arobin calls into question what her ‘true’ self wants: "One of these days," she said, "I'm going to pull myself together for a while and think--try to determine what character of a woman I am; for, candidly, I don't know. By all the codes which I am acquainted with, I am a devilishly wicked specimen of the sex. But some way I can't convince myself that I am. I must think about it." (XXVII) Later, as their interactions become more serious, Edna’s behavior becomes suspect. "I'm jealous of your thoughts tonight. They're making you a little kinder than usual; but some way I feel as if they were wandering, as if they were not here with me." She only looked at him and smiled. His eyes were very near. He leaned upon the lounge with an arm extended across her, while the other hand still rested upon her hair. They continued silently to look into each other's eyes. When he leaned forward and kissed her, she clasped his head, holding his lips to hers. It was the first kiss of her life to which her nature had really responded. It was a flaming torch that kindled desire. (XXVII) Here, Edna is caught between public opinion and defining her own self. What are the morals she is offending? Is her behavior appropriate? Does Edna really know what she wants?

4. New House: New Identity
Before dinner in the evening Edna wrote a charming letter to her husband, telling him of her intention to move for a while into the little house around the block, and to give a farewell dinner before leaving, regretting that he was not there to share it, to help out with the menu and assist her in entertaining the guests. Her letter was brilliant and brimming with cheerfulness. (XXVI)
The pigeon house pleased her. It at once assumed the intimate character of a home, while she herself invested it with a charm which it reflected like a warm glow. There was with her a feeling of having descended in the social scale, with a corresponding sense of having risen in the spiritual. Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual. She began to look with her own eyes; to see and to apprehend the deeper undercurrents of life. No longer was she content to "feed upon opinion" when her own soul had invited her. (XXXII)
Is a change of location the answer to Edna’s problems?
Is this escapism or a coherent plan for a new life?

5. Keeping Up Appearances
When Mr. Pontellier learned of his wife's intention to abandon her home and take up her residence elsewhere, he immediately wrote her a letter of unqualified disapproval and remonstrance. She had given reasons which he was unwilling to acknowledge as adequate. He hoped she had not acted upon her rash impulse; and he begged her to consider first, foremost, and above all else, what people would say. He was not dreaming of scandal when he uttered this warning; that was a thing which would never have entered into his mind to consider in connection with his wife's name or his own. He was simply thinking of his financial integrity. It might get noised about that the Pontelliers had met with reverses, and were forced to conduct their ménage on a humbler scale than heretofore. It might do incalculable mischief to his business prospects. (XXXII)
How does Mr. Pontellier’s reaction point to his values?
How do you view his reaction in relation to his earlier seeking of advice about Edna?

6. The Robert Reality
Madmoiselle Reisz’s assessment: "If I were young and in love with a man," said Mademoiselle, turning on the stool and pressing her wiry hands between her knees as she looked down at Edna, who sat on the floor holding the letter, "it seems to me he would have to be some grand esprit; a man with lofty aims and ability to reach them; one who stood high enough to attract the notice of his fellow-men. It seems to me if I were young and in love I should never deem a man of ordinary caliber worthy of my devotion." (XXVI)
Edna and Robert Reunion: "You have been a very, very foolish boy, wasting your time dreaming of impossible things when you speak of Mr. Pontellier setting me free! I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, 'Here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,' I should laugh at you both."  His face grew a little white. "What do you mean?" he asked. (XXXVI)
The Break-Up Letter: "Good-bye – because I love you"
What is the reality check about Robert?
In what ways is a real romance with Robert a fiction?

7. Is Edna a manic-depressive?
Edna seems to have variable reactions to events. Sometimes she is active participant and other times she seems as if she is still a bystander in the search for self.
Edna cried a little that night after Arobin left her. It was only one phase of the multitudinous emotions which had assailed her. There was with her an overwhelming feeling of irresponsibility. There was the shock of the unexpected and the unaccustomed. There was her husband's reproach looking at her from the external things around her which he had provided for her external existence. There was Robert's reproach making itself felt by a quicker, fiercer, more overpowering love, which had awakened within her toward him. Above all, there was understanding. She felt as if a mist had been lifted from her eyes, enabling her to took upon and comprehend the significance of life, that monster made up of beauty and brutality. But among the conflicting sensations which assailed her, there was neither shame nor remorse. There was a dull pang of regret because it was not the kiss of love which had inflamed her, because it was not love which had held this cup of life to her lips (XXVIII)
"Some way I don't feel moved to speak of things that trouble me. Don't think I am ungrateful or that I don't appreciate your sympathy. There are periods of despondency and suffering which take possession of me. But I don't want anything but my own way. That is wanting a good deal, of course, when you have to trample upon the lives, the hearts, the prejudices of others--but no matter-still, I shouldn't want to trample upon the little lives. Oh! I don't know what I'm saying, Doctor. Good night. Don't blame me for anything." (XXXVIII)

8. Final End: Lack of a Courageous Soul
Edna’s final moments on the beach and in the sea, set up how she still hasn’t claimed her SELF. In the Aphrodite myth, after her misadventures, the goddess born full-grown in the sea is returned to the sea.
She had said over and over to herself: "To-day it is Arobin; to-morrow it will be some one else. It makes no difference to me, it doesn't matter about Leonce Pontellier--but Raoul and Etienne!" She understood now clearly what she had meant long ago when she said to Adele Ratignolle that she would give up the unessential, but she would never sacrifice herself for her children.  Despondency had come upon her there in the wakeful night, and had never lifted. There was no one thing in the world that she desired. There was no human being whom she wanted near her except Robert; and she even realized that the day would come when he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of her existence, leaving her alone. The children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul's slavery for the rest of her days. But she knew a way to elude them. She was not thinking of these things when she walked down to the beach. (XXXIX)
She put it on, leaving her clothing in the bath-house. But when she was there beside the sea, absolutely alone, she cast the unpleasant, pricking garments from her, and for the first time in her life she stood naked in the open air, at the mercy of the sun, the breeze that beat upon her, and the waves that invited her.  How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! How delicious! She felt like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known.  (XXXIX)

9. Quick Write Follow Up
Write well-developed paragraphs for 2 of the 3 Questions. Use specific events/quotes from the novel.
Does Edna truly escape the gender roles/expectations ?
Discuss two significant events that show Edna’s awakening and two significant events that foreshadow her downfall.
How does Chopin develop modern myths of Psyche, Aphrodite and Artemis in the novel? How do these represent the conflicts that Edna faces?