What Makes a Woman: How Mrs. Pontillier is described.

When reading The Awakening, I was immediately called back to Eileen’s post from January comparing King’s “The Balcony” to Chopin. She discussed that the language is evocative and provides a feminine perspective.

I wanted to call this idea back to mind and to make a claim that this feminine perspective shifts in the early chapters of the novel. The evocative language is speaking about things other than Mrs. Pontellier. For example, at the end of Chapter 3 has the ladies discussing Mr. Pontellier’s delivered chocolates as luscious and as the finest pieces.

I would agree with Morgan’s post that Edna’s awakening occurred when she took her swim. The end of Chapter 7 describes the ocean “enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.” This turn starts to allow more effeminate descriptions of Edna, like that “her body [was] long, clean and symmetrical; it was a body which occasionally fell into splendid poses; there was no suggestion of the trim, stereotyped fashion-plate about it.” She had a “noble beauty … and the graceful severity of poise and movement.” These descriptors change as Edna ‘awakens’. As she realizes her worth, the narrator provides more descriptors to discuss her femininity and independence, as apposed to describing the things around her as feminine.