The Awakening 15-19

These are the chapters in which Robert leaves for Mexico. Though Edna knows that she has special feelings for Robert, this is the part in which she truly realizes it and it begins to cause her to look at life very differently. Primarily, she is extremely dejected at Robert's absence and tries to talk about him as much as she possibly can. She is angered at his lack of correspondence to her, but continues to visit his mother and question her husband about his having seen Robert. As the chapters go on, however, she gets increasingly independent. She tells Adéle that she would not sacrifice herself for her children, but she would her life. This is a very interesting statement that Adéle can't seem to grasp- but Edna basically sees harm in the idea of letting something take over ones self that they change their entire being and life to revolve around a certain thing- such as their children. Edna however is getting back into touch with her interests that she had lost in the process of being a wife, because she had never really realized that the loss of herself had happened.