#13 of 52 – 52 Books in 52 Weeks
Many times while reading this book, I drew comparisons between it and one of my favorite books, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. The themes are similar: dissatisfaction with the mundane, defiance of social convention, and the entrapment of marriage. Specifically, Edna reminds me, in many ways, of Newland Archer in The Age of Innocence. They feel similarly trapped, and slightly hopeless. I guess I relate to these stories because I found myself in a comparable situation years ago.
There is little that can console someone who is in that situation. The numbness, the empty ache, cannot be ignored or wished away. Either you float from day to day, putting on pretense–or you do everything you can to break free from it.
Having said that, I identified with Chopin’s Edna more than I expected to. Coincidentally, her character is the same age that I am now. Her need to have a life of her own, to find some small joy in a world of nothingness, made sense to me. I also found her husband coincidental (bitterly so). I had no trouble identifying with Edna, especially when she first attempts to think for herself. Her husband, noticing the change, immediately thinks she is becoming mentally unstable. Though she is becoming more herself than ever before, he thinks she is going mad.
Her husband seemed to her now like a person whom she had married without love as an excuse.
–The Awakening, Chapter 25
I can’t say that I was happy with the ending of the story, but it felt appropriate. As always, I wondered about the other characters–where their stories might have gone. This ending, though sad, was fitting. I didn’t cry because, somehow, it felt right.
