Dissolution of Marriage in "The Term Paper

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Edna needed more than what family life could offer her but she was living in a time where women did not seek an independent life outside the home. Edna was a woman out of her time and society made sure of that.

Another aspect that leads to the breakup of Edna's marriage was the relationship she had with men other than her husband. Edna and Robert are not doubt in love but even Robert's love could not satisfy Edna. She knew this and Robert's love, romantic as it was, could never be enough. Edna needed Robert but not completely. However, Robert is significant because he brings Edna "out of a life-long stupid dream" (143). She valued their relationship but knew that it would not last. She tells him that he is a foolish man because he:

wastes his time dreaming of impossible things when you speak of Mr. Pontellier setting me free! I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, 'Here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours.' I should laugh at you both. (143)

In addition, Edna's fling with Arobin only reinforces the fact that Edna is desperate and wants to find meaning outside of house and home. Her outside relationships are important because we see that Edna can never be content with one man as long as she lives in a world that does not see women as anything more than wives and mothers. It is also important to realize that Edna's affairs are the result of an inner conflict. Edna knows that there is more to life and she is content to do whatever she can to experience what life has to offer.

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Perhaps the most significant, yet hidden, reason for Edna's failed marriage is her state of mind. Edna knows she is trapped and when she visits the doctor, he simply reinforces everything she suspected. He says, "Youth is given up to illusions... A decoy to secure mothers for the race" (Chopin 147). She responds almost definesively when she tells him, "The years that are gone seem like a dream.. It is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one's life" (147). It is here that Edna silently admits defeat. She knows what she can do and what she must do. Her depression is greater than her call to being a wife or a mother and she sealed her fate with this fact.

In "The Awakening," we see how Edna is caught in a lose-lose situation. Her marriage fails because she should have never been married in the first place. Marriage is the first and perhaps deadliest mistake Edna makes. Edna is not a family woman nor is she a motherly type. Her prescribed lifestyle is one that leads to her destruction. Edna's husband does not make matters any better with his lack of concern. However, Edna does not help things with her extramarital affairs. The last contributing factor in the demise of Edna's marriage is her depression. We see from the first pages of the novel that she is an unhappy woman in search of something she cannot attain.

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