The Awakening
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The Awakening by Kate Chopin
“She perceived that her will had blazed up, stubborn and resistant. She could not at that moment have done other than denied and resisted. She wondered if her husband had ever spoken to her like that before, and if she had submitted to his command. Of course she had; she remembered that she had. But she could not realize why or how she should have yielded, feeling as she then did.” (Chopin, 31)
In Chapter XI in The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, Edna was resting outside on the hammock when Lйonce, her husband insisted that she come inside and sleep. Edna always listened to what Lйonce said, but this was the first time ever that she did not listen to him. Usually she would not speak against him and argue with him, she would just listen to him and do what he said. Edna noticed that she was changing and that she was drifting away from Lйonce. She tried to remember the last time that she defied her husband and she could not remember one occasion that she did. When Edna looked back on what she said to her husband and why she declined his invitations to come inside, she did not know what was wrong with her. When she tried to think over why she reacted the way she did, she could not understand but feels like this is her “awakening.” Edna noticed that she had tried so many new things such as learning how to swim, to disobey her husband for the first time, and meet new people and become more social. Everyone around Edna, in a way noticed that she was changing into a different person. Therefore, some people would look at it in a positive way and some would look at it in a negative way, but no one would say anything to her. The most important thing was that Edna noticed that she changed herself and that was all that mattered.