He found it very disheartening that his wife, who was the only reason he existed, showed such little interest in the matters that worried him and showed such little appreciation for his conversation. The chocolates and peanuts for the boys had been neglected by Mr. Pontellier. Despite this, he still cared deeply for them and entered the room next to where they were sleeping to check on them and make sure they were content. His investigation's findings were hardly acceptable. He turned and moved the kids around in their beds. One of them started to kick while mentioning a crab-filled container. Mr. Pontellier returned to his wife with the information that Raoul had a high fever and needed looking after. Then he lit a cigar and went and sat near the open door to smoke it.”
(Chopin 11)
Prior to the passage, we discover that Mr. Pontellier gets home late and despite finding his wife Edna asleep, he goes on to gossip and tells stories while emptying his pockets. Edna’s scanty responses to her husband make him annoyed. To attract her attention, Mr. Pontellier checks on his children as they sleep, and when one of his kids, Raoul, stirs restlessly, he reaches out to his wife claiming that the youngster has a fever. He does not stop at this but goes on to accuse her of poor motherhood traits. This provokes her to get up and check on the boy reluctantly. The excerpt shows feminine oppression brought about by the explicit division between the male world of social responsibility, work, and activity and the female scope of passive dependence and domesticity.
Female oppression in this passage is illustrated by Mr. Pontellier behavior. He acts in a manner that defines him as an ill-tempered bully who demeans women due to their societal status. Whereas he provides for the family, Mr. Pontellier is quick to make up a situation that he will exploit by all means to disgrace Edna. In spite of not giving a thought to Edna’s needs, Pontellier expects her to be submissive and attend to his every necessity. Mr. Pontellier ridiculously diverts his irritation to the capacity of Edna as a mother when he feels that his needs are not met. For instance, in the passage, he disturbs his children while at sleep and claims that one of them is ill just because he received scanty responses, for his gossips and stories, from his wife. He accuses her of not living up to the motherhood standards, yet she had checked on the kids before she retired to bed, and none showed any symptoms of sickness. We realize that it does not occur to Mr. Pontellier to be attentive to the needs of his wife, however, he notices that she is not attentive to his. When he comes across a reason to get her out of bed, in a mean-spirited maneuver, Mr. Pontellier harasses Edna until she submits to his intimidation.
Mr. Pontellier furthers his oppression against Edna by not only waking her up to provide an audience for his tales but by also chastising her for her hesitancy for checking on Raoul’s fever which he had mistakenly perceived. Mr. Pontellier accuses his wife of neglecting the kids even after she affirms that none had symptoms of fever at the time she went to bed. This situation is fueled by the fact that they had assigned the family support duties separately whereby Edna assumed full responsibility of the domestic chores while Mr. Pontellier supported the family expenses. Taking into account that it was not her choice but the culture of the society, Edna goes through gender oppression.
To sum up, the passage demonstrates, explicitly, feminine oppression brought about by the male and female division of labor. Edna is harassed by his husband to be attentive to all his needs failure to which she is demeaned through her gender roles.
Work Cited
Chopin, Kate. "The Awakening." Harvard College Library (1899): 1-242. Print.
