Plot+Snyopsis!

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//The Awakening// starts out with Mr. Pontellier and his wife edna and two sons at Grand Isle a vactioning area where they spend the summer. Mr.Pontellier spends his summer gambling, drinking and smoking cigars at the Klein. Edna meanwhile spends her summer with Madame Ratignolle who she is friends with. Robert lebrun whos is "always going to mexico to seek his fourtune" and known to hang around with older women (much older in fact since one died in between summers) tries to gain sympathy from madame Ratignolle and starts to warm up to Edna. While at first he simply lays his head on her arm (which she repules several times with no apology) Edna starts to develop a liking to him. The two start to pal around for the remainder of the summer. Robert caters to Edna and even starts to read to her. Its before this however that Madame Ratignolle warns Robert to stay away and stop fliriting with Edna for she's not like them. Once on a boat trip with her husband and everyone else including Robert, Edna takes ill and whilst everyone else goes on he takes her to a woman who speaks only french and is able to secure a place for her to sleep. Later that day she awakes with Robert reading a novel making sure shes ok. They leave and sometime later Robert teaches Edna how to swim which at the time she did not know how to do. At first she is shakey she soon learns how to swim well and goes out very far until she for a small instant feared she would die. However she is able to make it back safely. This can be taken as a foreshadowing of whats to come. The summer contiunes and we learn certain things about Edna. For instance she draws people by having them pose and, shockingly she tells Madame Ratignolle she would not give everything of herself to her children. Also the fact she married Leonce almost by accident rather then love. One night at a party Robert has Mademmoiselle Reisz play a piano piece called the Chopin Impromtu. While no one really likes Mademmoilelle Reisz (Edna admitting to he face she does not know wether to like or dislike the woman at first) and the Madame doesn't really like anyone else the piece moves Edna to tears. As more of the summer passes more do Robert and Edna spend time together. However, Edna discovers in the morning that Robert is leaving that evening to finnaly go to mexico as he has been planning or in truth tellling people about for a long time. Edna is shocked and saddened about his depature. msotly due to the fact he did not tell her even though he and her had spent the morning together. Even though Edna is shocked she asks Robert if he is indeed leaving and he does tell her that he's going. The summer passes slowly for Edna after he leaves however and she spends time reading the book he left her.

The summmer ends and the Pontelliers return home. Leonce comments how he loves his home and the possesions he has. Edna will say later how she never felt the home was hers however. Edna at this point starts to disobey her husband using her time to draw and paint using her own children sometimes as models and others such as Madame Ratignolle. She starts to go out on Tuedays the day usually reserved for her to stay home and play secretary for her husband. He immediaetly gets angry but Edna starting to really gain her independence does not care. She starts to see Mademmosille Reisz at her small stuffy apartment. At this time she also starts to develop a relationship with Arobin. A man she starts to develop a very intimate relationship with to the point that she does cheat with him at least once having sex with him. At one point her father comes from Kentucky and stays with her. He at one point consents to have himself drawn and he poses. Once he leaves however Edna is grateful. She contiunes to see Mademmosille Reisz who had letters from Robert. In the letters he talks of nothing but Edna and Reisz is able to get Edna to admit that she loves Robert for the first time. Reisz also says that Robert loves her and this sets the idea un Ednas mind for the rest of the book. Her husband starts to ask there doctor Mendelet if he thinks Edna has a mental condition. Mandelet being a smart man realizes this new independence is probably due to an affair or just a man in general (and he's right) however he has no wish to tell Leonce because he would just get mad and he has no wish to get involved with there affairs and remains silent. Leonce leaves as do Edna's children once on a business trip and the children going to a farm in the west. She decides she wishes to leave her home and move into a "pigeon" house. She wishes to have one last large party at her old home which in her mind went well. Leonce learns of this and is able to stop her moving into the house as he feels it would make people think they had fallen on hard times. Also it's good to note he has yet to think anything of his wife except that she might be property. Edna goes once again to Reisz's apartment and is shockd to see Robert who came back the day before. He says he loves her and did not want to see her because he has the strange idea of marriage in his head and she' s a married woman and it isn't allowed. Edna doesn't care and takes him back to her room. She is called away when Adele's child is being born and he promises to wait. However, when she comes back he has left with a note saysing "i love you goodbye because i love you"(152).She stares at a wall for a day before going back to Grand Isle strips naked and walks into the ocean and kills her self due to the heartache she fells at Roberts leaving.