The Awakening

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Chapter XIX

Edna could not help but think that it was very foolish, very childish, to have stamped upon her wedding ring and smashed the crystal vase upon the tiles. She was visited by no more outbursts, moving her to such futile expedients. She began to do as she liked and to feel as she liked. She completely abandoned her Tuesdays at home, and did not return the visits of those who had called upon her. She made no ineffectual efforts to conduct her household en bonne menagere, going and coming as it suited her fancy, and, so far as she was able, lending herself to any passing caprice.

Mr. Pontellier had been a rather courteous husband so long as he met a certain tacit submissiveness in his wife. But her new and unexpected line of conduct completely bewildered him. It shocked him. Then her absolute disregard for her duties as a wife angered him. When Mr. Pontellier became rude, Edna grew insolent. She had resolved never to take another step backward.

“It seems to me the utmost folly for a woman at the head of a household, and the mother of children, to spend in an atelier days which would be better employed contriving for the comfort of her family.”

“I feel like painting,” answered Edna. “Perhaps I shan't always feel like it.”

“Then in God's name paint! but don't let the family go to the devil. There's Madame Ratignolle; because she keeps up her music, she doesn't let everything else go to chaos. And she's more of a musician than you are a painter.”

“She isn't a musician, and I'm not a painter. It isn't on account of painting that I let things go.”

“On account of what, then?”

“Oh! I don't know. Let me alone; you bother me.”

It sometimes entered Mr. Pontellier's mind to wonder if his wife were not growing a little unbalanced mentally. He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.

Her husband let her alone as she requested, and went away to his office. Edna went up to her atelier—a bright room in the top of the house. She was working with great energy and interest, without accomplishing anything, however, which satisfied her even in the smallest degree. For a time she had the whole household enrolled in the service of art. The boys posed for her. They thought it amusing at first, but the occupation soon lost its attractiveness when they discovered that it was not a game arranged especially for their entertainment. The quadroon sat for hours before Edna's palette, patient as a savage, while the house-maid took charge of the children, and the drawing-room went undusted. But the housemaid, too, served her term as model when Edna perceived that the young woman's back and shoulders were molded on classic lines, and that her hair, loosened from its confining cap, became an inspiration. While Edna worked she sometimes sang low the little air, “Ah! si tu savais!”

It moved her with recollections. She could hear again the ripple of the water, the flapping sail. She could see the glint of the moon upon the bay, and could feel the soft, gusty beating of the hot south wind. A subtle current of desire passed through her body, weakening her hold upon the brushes and making her eyes burn.

There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day. She liked then to wander alone into strange and unfamiliar places. She discovered many a sunny, sleepy corner, fashioned to dream in. And she found it good to dream and to be alone and unmolested.

There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why,—when it did not seem worth while to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation. She could not work on such a day, nor weave fancies to stir her pulses and warm her blood.

Frequently Asked Questions about Chapter XIX from The Awakening

What happens in Chapter 19 of The Awakening?

Chapter 19 marks a turning point in Edna’s rebellion. She reflects on her earlier outburst—stamping her wedding ring and smashing a crystal vase—as childish, and replaces those impulsive gestures with a sustained, deliberate rejection of her social role. She abandons her Tuesday at-home receptions entirely, stops returning visits, and spends her days painting in an atelier on the top floor of the house. Mr. Pontellier, shocked and angered, criticizes her neglect of the household and compares her unfavorably to Madame Ratignolle. Edna refuses to justify herself, and the chapter closes with descriptions of her wildly oscillating moods—days of intense happiness alternating with days of bleak despair.

Why does Edna abandon her household duties in Chapter 19?

Edna’s abandonment of domestic duties is not simple laziness but a deliberate rejection of the role society has assigned her. When Léonce accuses her of neglecting the family for painting, she replies that Madame Ratignolle “isn’t a musician, and I’m not a painter. It isn’t on account of painting that I let things go.” This crucial admission reveals that art is not the cause of her transformation but merely its outward expression. The deeper cause is an internal awakening—a growing refusal to perform the “fictitious self” that her marriage and Creole society demand of her.

What is the significance of the “fictitious self” passage in Chapter 19?

One of the most important passages in the novel appears when the narrator observes that Léonce “could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.” The clothing metaphor—the self as a garment put on for public display—connects to the novel’s broader symbolism of dress and undressing as markers of social conformity and personal liberation. Léonce interprets Edna’s changes as mental instability because he can only understand her through the lens of her prescribed role. The narrator’s correction makes clear that Edna is not losing her mind but finding her authentic identity.

What role does the song “Ah! si tu savais” play in Chapter 19?

While painting in her atelier, Edna hums the French air “Ah! si tu savais!” (“Ah! if you only knew!”), a song closely associated with Robert Lebrun and their summer together at Grand Isle. The melody triggers a flood of sensory memories—rippling water, flapping sails, moonlight on the bay, the hot south wind—and sends a “subtle current of desire” through her body that weakens her hold on the brushes. The song functions as an emotional bridge between Edna’s present solitude and her awakening desires, showing how art and longing have become intertwined in her experience.

How does Mr. Pontellier react to Edna’s transformation in Chapter 19?

Mr. Pontellier moves through several stages of reaction. Having been “a rather courteous husband so long as he met a certain tacit submissiveness,” he is first bewildered, then shocked, then angered by Edna’s defiance. He lectures her about wasting time in an atelier when she should be “contriving for the comfort of her family,” and holds up Madame Ratignolle as the ideal of a woman who pursues art without neglecting domestic responsibilities. When Edna grows insolent in response to his rudeness, he retreats to his office. He even begins to wonder if she might be “a little unbalanced mentally”—a reaction that reveals his inability to conceive of a wife who willingly rejects her prescribed social role.

What do Edna’s mood swings at the end of Chapter 19 signify?

The chapter’s final paragraphs describe Edna alternating between days of rapturous happiness—when “her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors”—and days of profound despair, when life appears “a grotesque pandemonium” and humanity like “worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation.” These extreme emotional swings signify the psychological cost of her awakening. Having shed her social persona, Edna lacks a stable replacement identity; she oscillates between the exhilaration of freedom and the existential dread that comes with stepping outside the structures that once gave her life its shape. The mood swings also foreshadow the novel’s tragic conclusion, hinting that Edna’s liberation may lead to dissolution as much as fulfillment.