No Emotion

In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, it’s hard to have an emotional connection with the main character, Edna Pontellier. Not much about her is revealed so it’s difficult to feel any remorse for her. Kate Chopin writes this way as a way of making the reader constantly look for more: wondering if we’ll ever be able to get into the dirty little details of Edna. Little information about Edna is given, “Mrs. Pontellier’s eyes were quick and bright: they were a yellowish brown about the color of her hair,” (Chopin 4). It’s hard not to feel detached from Edna because the novel is written in third person. There isn’t any information about her personality or her views which are usually shown in first person point of view novels.

Copin does not give much detail about any character and this is because she wants the reader to have their own opinion of them. She expects each reader to view each character differently and judge them based on their own knowledge and experience. There is suspected cheating between Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier. Chopin doesn’t put in any opinion of the situation because she wants the reader to form their own. If one reader has been cheated on they might feel sorrow for Mr. Pontellier. If the reader hasn’t been cheated on, they might feel neutral on the topic. Kate Chopin makes sure that the characters are detached and closed off so readers can form their own opinions. 

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