Reading

Notes for reading 1

Print - .doc file

Print - .pdf file

PREREADING

SUGGESTED PREREADING QUESTIONS:

a) What is your prior knowledge of this novel?

None.

Knowing when this novel was first published (1899) and who its author is, what are your expectations of theme, character treatment, narrative techniques, or style?

Rn1 I expect it to have a lot of description of characters before they enter into action. The theme –by the cover of the book—seems to be women in their daily life. Expect it to provide an answer for every single problem.

Have your expectations been influenced by the 1991 film adaptation of this novel (The Grand Isle), in case you’ve watched it?

I have never seen the film.

b) What type of story and plot do you expect, judging from the title of this novel?

It is either a religious or a self-discovery topic.

What suggestions/expectations does the title convey?

Somebody discovers the truth about somebody or something and she/he does what they believe is right. It also sounds kind of religious.

Read then first three chapters (pages 22-28) and comment on the probable direction of the rest of the book. What new meanings has the title acquired for you?

It seems like one of the women, Mrs. Pontellier. will do something crazy or she will have an affair with Robert. This sounds like a very small and gregarious community; it is an island so this sort of situations may happen.


FIRST READING

The following protocol of questions (adapted from Marcel Cornis-Pope, Hermeneutic Desire and Critical Rewriting, 1992) is intended to slow down the progress of first reading and allow us to explore the various operations that we perform as we try to make sense of Shelley's novel. While reading, pause periodically and make a note of some of the following:

~details of plot, character, or setting you have singled out as significant, your response to them;


Chapters III to chapter XII

Edna Pontellier wants to be with Robert. He has been advised by Madame R. not to get too close to Edna. This seems to be an everyday-part of this society: young men may accompany older, married women for hours and nobody says anything.

Rn2 Edna is not pretty. She is a Presbyterian, but married a Catholic. Edna is from Kentucky and lives in Grand Island, Louisiana. This is a big change, from the middle of the country to an island. I have never lived in an island, but this change sounds somehow asphyxiating.

The beach and the sky are very important here.

Madame Ratignolle represents the pretty, untouchable lady of high society, even if she is not rich.

Black characters are mentioned like accessories, not as important parts of the lives of the main characters.

It seems that the parrot’s expression that starts the novel is in part what Madame Ratignolle is trying to tell Robert, or what the reader is thinking about the possible relationship between Robert and Edna The parrot may represent Madame Ratignolle and the “ideal wife” that society wants Edna to be.

When the narrator began talking more about the main character’s thoughts and her story, it refers to her as Edna, no longer Mrs. P.

~expressions and clusters of images that stick in your memory; their role in foreshadowing and building theme;

This house makes me think of places where the weather is hotter. In my mind, I have the images of huge Spanish colonial houses.

The characters take baths in the sea. The narrator never says that they rinse themselves before getting dressed or going to bed. What about the itchiness that comes from bathing in salty waters only? It makes me uncomfortable. Here is where I wonder if the author has done this before.

Expressions: “To go about” is one of the phrases that has stuck in my head now. I had heard this phrase before, but not as many times as in this book.

Maybe the itchiness that I feel is also the idea that Edna may cheat on her husband. This is something I could not do, just as I would never go to bed after bathing in the ocean without rinsing myself with regular water.

The house and the story look like a hexagon. Each one of the corners is a cluster or household:

The center is the garden and common place.

~associations (with personal experiences and other readings) triggered by this text;

Rr5 I read the “Domesticity Manifesto” by Amy Kaplan last semester. Madame Ratignolle and way the other women in this novel live reminds me of the women that Kaplan talks about.

"gaps," contradictions, unresolved questions in the novel’s plot(s), characterization, or overall structure;

Why did Mr. Pontellier marry Edna? What was he doing in Kentucky? Why does the author refer to Edna as Misses Pontellier instead of Madame Pontellier? Is it to differentiate her background?

Rn4 Edna seems depressed now, but it sounds like she has always been this way. She also seems to have lesbian tendencies.

~your awareness of the narrative voice in this text: is this narrative voice neutral or closer to a character perspective, omniscient or limited, subjective or objective? What kind of audience or "implied readers" does this novel seem to target?

The perspective of the narrator is from Edna’s point of view. The point of view only changes a little bit when Rotignelle and Robert talk. The narrator is omniscient and makes the reader feel like the story is just a slice of life, maybe a case study of how quotidian life among the Creoles in Louisiana really is.

I read a little bit about Kate Chopin’s biography online. It seems like Edna has a lot of similarities with her: both are from the heartland of the US, but Chopin is Catholic; Chopin’s family was the first one to inhabit an island in Alabama, which explains why she knows about life in an island.

The audience or implied readers may be women from anywhere in the US or the European world.

It mentions that Robert wants to go to Veracruz, which sounds like an adventure in a wilder world than Grand Island.

~did you identify with any characters during your reading, how did this identification affect your understanding of the novel? Do the characters undergo any development, have you had to readjust your evaluation of them?

Let’s say that one third of me identifies with Edna and the other two thirds don’t. I identify with her in the following situations: I married a man who is not from the same place I am. We grew up in different cultures. Sometimes I feel like Williamsburg is Madame Lebrun’s house—full of people that I don’t know well because I didn’t grow up with them. She is a mother and me too. She is not the best seamstress or knitter and all my childhood and adolescence I refused to follow my sister’s advice—learn to knit.

On the other hand, I don’t identify with Edna because: I married my husband because I was in love not because I wanted to leave the place I lived then. Edna is an irresponsible mother, and I’m almost sure that I’m not and I don’t want to be it. I would not talk too much to Robert, go with him to mass or the beach. I believe that marriage is sacred and it is also a lot of responsibility. I don’t let the mosquitoes eat me alive, which I believe is also an allegory to explain that Edna is sacrificing herself. I have counter attacked my depression—caused by migration—by reading, learning software, and writing.

~what ideas or attitudes expressed in this novel agree/conflict with your own? What are some of the major cultural concerns of this novel, what is your response to them?

First, the way they entertain themselves, either in small or large groups sounds very similar to other novels.

Even if I don’t agree or identify 100% with Edna, I like the character because in my head she may not be that loose or depressed.

This is a “painting” of the Island. Edna and the other characters are similar to Degas’ or any other impressionists’ paintings. This is like a picnic of the middle or high class.

~which narrative techniques or aspects of style have you enjoyed most, which have caused most problems for you?

I have enjoyed the description of the women and their conversations. I believe the parrot should have more action here because I have the feeling that it represents more than an excuse to start this novel.

Note: Unfortunately, Dr. Cornis-Pope gave away the end of the story in class. Edna commits suicide by walking into the ocean, like Alfonsina Storni!!! Now, I have to figure out how the story progresses from chapter XII to the end.

Robert and Edna attend mass to Our Lady of Lourdes, hey, Lourdes like me.


Notes from chapter XIII to chapter XVI.

Edna’s getting out of mass maybe because she’s not Catholic and because the author needs to show more about the Cajun people. Or probably because she didn’t want to be in church, but rather in Robert’s arms.

Until now, Edna has not shown to be very religious.

The Cajun family’s house is very clean; this was their main characteristic, aside from being poor.

It seems to be a difference between Robert’s ancestors and Madame Antoine’s. Robert has more class, probably because his family came from France to Louisiana and stayed there, while the Cajuns came to the same place via Canada. This is double discrimination.

The face powder is rice powder, something used in Mexico too.

The scene that occurs after Edna wakes up at Mme. Antoine’s house is very idyllic.

Edna comes back home very late. Her kids are very young and she should be with them. Her husband is mad, I would be mad too.

In the dinner scene everybody seems to agree with Edna, “why is Robert going away?”

Edna seems to conclude that her life has to change, her focus has to be the present.

Edna is jealous of everybody who is near Robert, even his mother, and everybody can see that.

p. 69 = The comment to Mme. Ratignollle’s is very important, but it is not clear why the novel presents it as a “tell” not a “show” scene. “…She would never sacrifice herself for her children, or for any one.” I have a very similar argument: I would never give my life for anybody other than my son, and I would never kill anybody on the name of love or because killing will save a loved one. Actually, I would not kill, commit suicide, steal money, or do something stupid in the name of love or friendship.

Mademoiselle Reisz doesn’t bathe and believes artists shouldn’t bathe!! It sounds very rebellious!!

The Creoles, like Madame Ratignolle, don’t like Mexicans probably because of the Battle of Puebla, where the Mexicans won against the French on a May 5th (Cinco de mayo). Mme. Ratignolle also sounds racist.

The dinner scene is chaotic; it represents all the voices in Edna’s head telling Robert not to go away.

Robert wants to change one adventure for another.

Edna gets closer to Mlle. Reisz probably because the pianist is the only artist in the island.

Rn3 “Your Bible tells you so” sounds very strong. This is a reference to Protestantism vs. Catholicism. Does Mme. Ratignolle really read the Bible? Or is she saying that because of the “Jesus loves, the Bible tells me so” song?

“Artists don’t bathe” is similar to “We intellectuals don’t clap” according to my friend Carmen Julia.

Having a favorite child is awful. I was my paternal grandmother’s favorite grandchild, but my father was not her favorite son. This was a horrible situation.

Mme. Lebrun’s favorite son is Victor and not Robert, according to Mlle. Reisz. I believe, like Edna, that Robert is her favorite.

I cannot help it, but I wanted to see more of the discussion between Edna and Adèle’s discussion about sacrifice.

Edna is changing. Religion or appearances are not important her anymore. Her children are not the main concern for her either. She is acting more like an adolescent.

Edna seems more like an idea or ideal than a character.

I would not stay by myself with another man in an island! At this point, I accept Edna as an idea-character, more than a real person or a person I can identify with.

Mlle. Reisz is like Celestina, the Spanish character that looks for lovers for her clients, or provides a safe-heaven for lovers, specially prohibited lovers, to be alone. Celestina is an important character in Spanish, just like Don Quijote or Don Juan.

The scene at Mme. Antoine is a trip to the wilder side of Grand Island.

Notes for chapters XVII –XXII

Here we “see” how the Pontelliers live in New Orleans. They are rich and they observe “les convenances,” or at least Mr. Pontellier does. Edna wins the battle when she paints, visits her friends instead of receiving people who are related to her husband’s business.

Edna re-encounters Mlle. Reisz, maybe because she feels she’s an artist.

We see Pontellier’s real feelings when he talks to the doctor.

The word “dingy” shows up twice in a paragraph. (84)

“Ah! si tu saves” = Robert’s song.

“Eternal rights of women” This is a key issue. The doctor’s idea is about predestination, or naturalism. The doctor is needed here to provide us with the “scientific” part of the naturalist philosophy.

My husband is also the one who is more concerned with having art at home, this is obvious: he is an art historian. He would also point out that we have to live surrounded by art.

Why doesn’t Mr. Pontellier talk to Edna? Why is he so concerned about his wife he doesn’t try to be more caring and tender with her?

It is interesting that Pontellier doesn’t attend mass, if he is so concerned with appearances, why doesn’t he attend mass? Why doesn’t he go to confession and ask the priest for advice with Edna? Why is he more concerned about his business than his religion?

By providing the doctor’s opinion, the author is giving us a source or a reason to believe that we are right. The doctor’s opinion is similar to that of a psychologist. Edna is not a feminist, or at least she doesn’t follow a specific philosophy.

Pontellier is not as cold and smart as he looks. When he consults the doctor for advice with Edna, this is a sign of at least affection, if not love.

The doctor, like most wise-enough people, thinks that everything will pass. Time heals everything. But this novel is more romantic than I thought, so Edna looks like she will not forget Robert and herself.

None.


Chapters XXIII-XXVIII

Edna’s father projects power. (p90)

The children seem not to be that important for Edna’s father either.

Edna’s relationship with her father looks better than it was described before. Maybe they're also keeping up the appearances.

Even with all the power display by Edna’s father, he’s still a “redneck” and the contrast between him and Pontellier is great.

Pontellier knows the countryside, but he is more urban and metropolitan than Edna and her father, or at least that's what he simulates.

The doctor warns the reader about Arobin. (p 93)

Edna doesn’t read the Bible, which means she is not religious, she’s cut one cord or one part of her culture.

Edna’s father advice to Léonce is harsh. For him a woman is a woman, it doesn’t matter if that woman is his daughter.

Grand Isle and its immensity as well as the blue grass from Kentucky are Edna’s “happy places.” The gulf waters and the grass are similar.

Edna’s father, her husband and children leave. Her schedule is hers, to do whatever she wishes to do.

Edna likes the races because there is some randomness involved, maybe.

Arobin plays, flirts with Edna and she flirts back. Arobin’s feelings and the dynamic between Edna and Arobin’s are not as sincere and “pure” as Robert’s feeling.

Mme. Ratignolle is still the voice of reason here. Edna continues with this relationship because she needs to know how far or close she is from her freedom.

Edna rejects Arobin probably because she knows he’s nuts—if he was in a duel in Paris, the guy can hurt anybody and hurt her as well.

Arobin is the pretty boy who’s willing to fight, has good manners, is attractive, but Edna will not risk herself for him.

p. 103 – Edna promises herself “not to belong to another than herself.” This is a very individualistic idea, that comes at the right time in the novel.

p. 104 Edna admits that she loves Robert. If she loves him, this is in part wrong, because in spirit, she belongs to him. She had said before that she doesn't belong to anybody but herself.

p. 106 “The bird that….” This is a clue about Edna’s future. It also reminds me of the parrot from the beginning.

Edna kisses Arobin!!!??? Is this to demonstrate to herself that she can do anything? That she doesn’t belong to anybody but herself and her emotions?

The relationship between Edna and her husband is not the best one, but he’s good at keeping up appearances. She has never loved him, anyway, and he knows it.

I liked the word “coquetted” since it’s a cognate between English and Spanish. I like it better than “flirt.”

I like the word “perambulated” (p 95) because this is what Edna does in New Orleans and Grand Isle until she finds herself.

Edna becomes wilder (p. 100-101). The “animalism” within her is a very powerful image.

I like Grieg’s music. My best friend from Mexico would play Grieg in the piano often. I have never learned the names of any of his pieces, but I’ll do it sometime soon.

Edna is learning how to manipulate people. Now that she has tamed Arobin, she probably knows how to control herself a little bit more.

Before I got married, I was so proud of going anywhere I wanted to go. I didn’t like anybody telling me where to go or ask me “where were you?”

Edna’s trying to be herself, but she actually is getting closer to her father’s image (character, maybe).

Arobin, according to the doctor is not good company for Edna. If the doctor says so, then I need to pay attention. The doctor is like a rational critic.

Arobin is definitely the playboy here.

Here the audience needs to know or may want to know about races, soirees and other high society activities.

Edna made me mad when she kissed Arobin. Why? She should wait for Robert, like in any other “romantic” novel. (ha, ha, ha)

Edna gets a little closer to her father, but at the same time she doesn’t want to be so close. Physically they have some resemblance. I look like my father and his mother, but I believe I act more like my mother, because my mother is a fair, diplomatic, nice, and kind person, while my grandmother wasn’t. I understand why Edna feels close to and far from her father at the same time.

I like how Mme. Ratignolle keeps telling Edna that she has to be carefull.

I don’t like the idea of being far from my son for so long.

Edna is unpredictable now.

Edna doesn’t fit anywhere, except at the races. This is what she knows better and feels that she can control.

I enjoyed the interaction between Edna’s father and husband.

Chapter XXVIII is very short, but it is very poetic as well. She’s crying for the first time in several months.


Chapters XXIX-XXXIII

The coup d’état that Arobin mentions (p.108) is apparent to everybody. Only Edna doesn’t see it, or want to see it.

p. 109 – Edna is playing with Arobin and he knows it.

Edna’s grand dinner is a farewell to her house, husband, family and old self.

Mme. Ratignolle doesn’t attend because she knows she shouldn’t. She’s a decent person.

Pontellier’s house probably smells like all those houses in The Fan—a little bit humid sometimes.


Chapter XXXIV-XXXVIII

Arobin’s firm (?) is on “Perdido St.” which means “lost” in Spanish.

Edna spends time his her kids, which is nice for once. Maybe, deep inside she cares about them.

Pontellier cares more about his business than his love and family life. He may have a lover, but we’ll never know about it.

Edna doesn’t hide her love, not just amusement, for Robert.

She has chosen to love him, she’s obsessed with him.

The encounter between Robert and Arobin means the two options that Edna has—Arobin’s the playboy, everybody will stop being her friend if she picks him, he probably doesn’t love her; Robert at least loves and respects her.

Edna chooses Robert.

Edna talks to the doctor= this is a naturalist talk, like all the others that involve the doctor. P. 135 “And nature takes….”

Mme. Ratignolle is still the consciousness here. She’s the soul of the Creole and the voice of reason.

Robert is not such a stupid person. He can loose a lot by staying with Edna.

Why is Pontellier still in New York?

Mme. Ratignolle is the voice of the narrator, maybe. “Think of the children” is the most important phrase here.

Just like Mme. Ratignolle, I would try to convince but not to push an idea with my friends.

The two lovers are both aware that she is married, and they kind of decide in front of her that Robert is the one who should be with her. This is a spiritual duel.


Chapter XXXIX

We never know if Edna went to the island by herself of with a group of people.

Mariquita o “Mariequita” is with Victor, they are probably lovers.

Edna wants to eat fish, even though before she seemed not to like it that much.

Edna prefers to leave a good image to her kids than to leave her kids for a lover. This is a good idea. At the end, even if she committed suicide, she got out of the problem and her kids kind of win. She scarified herself for the kids, but she died loving Robert.