Edna

I found myself intrigued with our class discussion on Wednesday regarding overall reactions to Edna. Many of the women in class had a negative view of Edna, primarily because she had children. Their argument was along the lines of “yea, we liked that she was independent—BUT SHE HAD CHILDREN.” While I am not disregarding the importance of raising children and being present in a family setting, I have to wonder how these reactions would have been reversed should Edna have been a male character. Meaning, would the women in class be more supportive of an Edna-like character should the point of view been from a husband confined by the barracks of his wife? I can’t help but question the role and responsibility a mother has over her children and the role and responsibility of a father. I can only speculate how the novel The Awakening would read should the roles have been reversed. Obviously the attraction to the novel is based on the feministic qualities it embodies. As a woman, perhaps I am supposed to have a motherly instinctive distaste to Edna—yet I completely enjoyed her as a character. Her needy, and disillusioned idea of independence amused me (and I use amused in the least degrading way). The reader and I see a woman character pushing the boundaries of her societal role. I think as modern readers we forget to read the novel as if we were living during 1899. The reaction of the public then and the reaction now must be vastly dissimilar. I want to think many women read this novel and secretly embraced Edna and began to make slight changes in their own lives to carry out Edna’s message. Whereas, the modern woman reads this novel already having the freedom Edna so greatly wished for. Perhaps I am assuming too much and taking liberties not available to me—however, I think this novel was exactly what society needed in 1899; and exactly what society needs in 2012.