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Womanhood

"I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give my-self" (Chopin 51). These words spoken to Madame Ratignolle at the beach, and again just before she takes her life, speak volumes of the womanhood of Edna Pontellier. Feeling not a person in her own right, but the wife of successful businessman, Leonce, and the mother of Raoul and Etienne, this woman of the late nineteenth-century faced the same dilemna women face in our century. But unlike many women of our time, Edna was willing to give the unessential: her husband, her money, her children, and in the end, herself to preserve her womanhood.
Edna Pontellier would never sacrifice herself for anyone, not her husband nor her children. Although her husba...

Posted by: Anthony Pacella

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