Power?

The aparent power males have over females is somewhat questionable in "The Awakening". Altough Mr. Pontellier does have a say in Mrs. Pontelliers decisions, his opinion starts to diminish as Edna awakens. At first, Edna would do whatever Mr. Pontellier would tell her to do, and Pontellier himself could do whatever he wanted to do without Ednas aproval or dissaprova. Edna would keep her opinion to herself.

An example, Mr. Pontellier wants to go over to a club where he can bet, and spend time with his friends. So a little time before an early dinner, he just excuses himself and leaves. Edna knows him well and she understands that he might take a long time coming back, "perhaps he would return for the early dinner and perhaps he would not" (pg. 16). Pontellier left before dinner, leaving Enda alone with the children. As she seems to acept everything her husband does, she keps quiet. However this changes radically when Edna starts doing whatever she wants to do. When Edna abandoned the tuesdays with Mr. Pontellier, he freaked out, "she has abandoned her Tuesdays at home"(pg. 126).  He wouldn’t understand why she was doing such thing. Very different reaction to that of Mrs. Pontellier when her husband did the same thing.

Women tend to react less when their husbands do whatever they want. Edna for example, just remains quiet, and she accomodates herself to Mr. Pontelliers desires. However, when the women start to do how they please, they are repressed by their husbands, in this case, Pontellier is trying to get his wife back.