Blog: Option #2

Edna Pontellier’s Playlist

Annie Kenyon

Breakaway: Kelly Clarkson

            Edna tends to isolate herself from others in many situations. Unlike Madame Ratignolle, Edna doesn’t adopt her role as a woman in society during the late 1800’s. The more Edna pushes herself away from the norms and obligations of what she is suppose to act like, she discovers herself.

            Edna attempts to swim through out the summer. She was worried that once in the water she would have the “hand near by that might reach out and reassure her” (Choppin 27). But after realizing one night that she has “the power,” she walks in the water and begins to swim out “where no woman had swum before” (Choppin 27). Edna “lost herself” and discovers that she must find herself by breaking away.

            The song Break Away by Kelly Clarkson relates to Edna’s journey of “awakening.” Clarkson sings, “I'll take a risk. Take a chance. Make a change. And breakaway.” Edna is taking a risk by overcoming her fear, taking a chance by being different, and breaking away from the society she belongs to.

You Don’t Own Me: Leslie Gore

            Women during this era were objects of men. Their basic day consisted of taking care of their children, daily chores, and of course meeting their husbands needs. In Grand Isles, the women go about their daily routines and never battle with their husbands. They do what they are told and everything else seems to fall into place. Edna on the other hand, doesn’t care to take on this role.

 Mr. Pontellier, early on refers to Edna as a “valuable piece of property” (Chopplin 2). While most of the women act as objects to men during this time, Edna makes it known that she may be valuable, but defiantly not a piece of property.

Lesley Gore sings, “You don't own me, I'm not just one of your many toys…and don’t tell me what to do. And don’t tell me what to say…I’m free and love to be free. To live life the way I want. To say and do whatever I please.” These lyrics seem to embody Edna’s character. She doesn’t let her husband tell her what to do like the other women around her. When she is outside late at night and he demands for her to go to bed she responds firmly saying “don’t speak to me like that again; I shall not answer you” (Chopplin 32). These lyrics right after this quote in the text would fit perfectly and intensify the text greatly. Hearing the song would allow you, for a couple seconds, to be in Edna’s shoes and feel the rage she has when feeling belittled. 

Ain’t No Sunshine: Bill Wither

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone

It's not warm when she's away.

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone

And she's always gone too long

Anytime she goes away.

            These lyrics came to mind when thinking of Edna’s emotional state when Robert left. After days of great times they shared together, he decides to finally go to Mexico. When Edna hears the news she turned “blank of bewilderment” (Chopplin 41). She couldn’t believe that when she woke the next morning Robert would be gone.

            To Edna, “Roberts going had some way taken away the brightness, the color, the meaning out of everything” (Chopplin 46). Her feelings of his absence made everything seem dull to her, “like a faded garment” (Chopplin 46). Wither sings of the light and warmth that is taken away when a love one is gone, which Edna is experiencing with the absence of Robert.

I Don’t Want To Be: Gavin DeGraw

The Song I Don’t Be by Gavin DeGraw speaks about being different and not conforming to society. He sings, “I'm surrounded by imposters everywhere I turn.

I'm surrounded by identity crisis everywhere I turn. Am I the only one who noticed?

I can't be the only one who's learned!” These lyrics tie into The Awakening because women, except for Edna, haven’t realized their voice means nothing to society. These women have taken on roles that society sees as acceptable.

Edna admits she wouldn’t give up who she was/her identity for her children. That was something very rare during this time because a woman’s main priority was her children. DeGraw also sings about not conforming to the norm, “I'm tired of looking 'round rooms. Wondering what I've got to do. Or who I'm supposed to be. I don't want to be anything other than me.” Edna is not scared to be different and is not willing to give up her hopes and dreams just because its not the way society works. Even Madame Rationale says to Robert that Edna “is not one of us; she is not like us”(Chopplin).

This song, if listened to after the first couple chapters, would again allow us to feel Edna’s frustration of the world she lives in.

Goodbye Time: Blake Shelton

            Edna’s relationship to Leonce was “purely and accident.” She married into something that she once thought might lead her to happiness. Leonce wasn’t a bad husband; they just had no chemistry or passion for one another. The song Goodbye Time by Blake Shelton sings of a woman and a man departing because the love isn’t strong enough to keep them together.

            Even though Edna doesn’t leave her husband, these words are what we are assumed to believe that she wants her husband to realize.  “If being free's worth what you leave behind. And if it's too late for love to change your mind. Then it's goodbye time.” At this point in Edna’s life her personal development and finding her identity is more important than her family and marriage. “If we had known our love would come to this we could have saved our hearts the hurt of wasted years.” Both sides seem uninterested and unloved. While Leonce is preforming greatly as a typical husband at this time, Edna seeks for freedom.