These chapters contain many examples of irony--moments when the narrator is telling us something that contradicts the ideas that we might have on our own, based on the characters' words or actions. Find an example of a line that you think is ironic or contradictory. In your comment, make sure to quote the line, give the page number, and explain what is ironic/contradictory about it.
The Creole community,described in the novel "The Awakening", seems extremely ironic and contradictory to me. A society, where women have almost no rights and are treated like a possession by their husbands, are free to talk about most of the topics they like and they are free to communicate with other man. On the page 37 in chapter 13 to Mrs Ponteiller's question of wether her husband will be uneasy on her for being away from home for almost the whole they, Roberts replies "Of course not; he knows you are with me.". The reason I find this sentence very ironic is that theoretically, a man should be jealous of his wife spending the whole day with another man, but Robert is sure that there is no reason for Mr. Ponteiller to be jealous. On the other hand, throughout this chapters I came to a conclusion that there is more between Robert and Edna than just a friendship. The irony is that both of them, Edna and Robert. feel this chemistry between them but continue to act as if nothing happens. Moreover, Robert knows that in reality "Edna is not one of them" and she takes their daily meetings more serious than any other Creole wife. In addition to that, Robert clearly understands that Mr. Ponteiller also knows that his wife is not a real Creole and comes from a society with a very different mentality, but still expects Mr. Ponteiller not to be jealous. The overall tone of this dialogue is very careless and ironic. The idea of them being clearly attached to each other and the fact that they expect Mr. Ponteiller not to be jealous is very contradictory and ironic.
ReplyDelete