Lost Habits

Edna is now becoming completely alienated from her husband and smashing her marriage apart in the process. A strong part was her refusing the invitation from her husband afterward with the excuse of wanting to work. Though this should be a valid excuse, she never really "works" but instead goes to her friend's house for art lessons. This is the moment where she is doing everything she can to distract herself from the man that may ruin her life. But there are certain things happening automatically that will not allow a that distraction. She finds that she can't stop thinking about Robert, and the like of time spent with her husband are the two strong pieces that refuse to let her go. In order to get things back in order, she must change back to her old habits. But it won't matter whether she puts strong efforts into changing but whether or not she will at the end of the day. Habits are the base of what people do and if she simply can't get it fixed, there will be a number of things that will go wrong in very soon.

This is the sort of story that has been played over and over when it comes to any sort of relationship. The woman falls in love with another man and has no other alternative but to run away from that feeling or get trapped in a world she does not belong in and will bring nothing but more conflict and more damage. But that is the danger in not being able to change habits. They must be able to fit into the status quo of the society to make things run smoothly. Otherwise, things happen. Edna may not be able to go back to her old life after this.

Spending Time

There is nothing that strengthens relationships better than spending time with a person. In this particular case, there could be no better place to stimulate love than at the shore of New Orleans. But this time, it was Edna the one that decided to start the day with Robert. Though it didn't end in the same romantic night with a kiss that the audience so much loves, it gives that same predictable element of the novel. She simply decided to go on an appropriate date to find an end with a new and stronger mix of feeling that will tear her marriage apart. But these are the small things that make the novel predictable and also unpredictable since there will always be something to come after the ugly fight.

Spending time in the wrong place is just as dangerous as wasting it. Edna decided that her time was not worthwhile with her husband and decided to pursue another. So by looking at the way she chooses to spend time, we can see it will probably end by using the idea of "then means justify the ends." In this case, it's far easier since we have seen several other examples of this same story. But in general, the reason we read a novel like this is to see people spend their time in the wrong place and the wrong time which will lead to their doom. The idea of reading is all about time and how people are either caught in it, or how they choose to spend it and get caught in it as a result. So time is the very base in which they do things except that it is our choice on how to spend it. The only way in which it can no longer be there is by the person not being there and therefore not worrying about time. So by making the novel more predictable, the reader is given a future glimpse on how their time will be spent by reading. But if it is an unknown, they will just drop the book by the fear of having their time wasted. It is all about time.

The start

Things are starting to happen that the characters themselves simply cannot explain. Things that they do instinctively and when they finally realize that they have don it, there is no room for explanation. This is something like Robert finding himself running after Edna in chapter ten when she is walking back home. He has no explanation of why he ran except for the fact that he wanted to make sure that she was not afraid of getting home safely or if she would rather go with company. But why running? He has not yet described any emotions that are even close to love. He may have denied it in his talk with Adéle but this is good enough evidence that there is something happening in his head that will develop into love even if he does not know it yet. And this could be one of the most dangerous aspect of love: he has a suspicion that it's there but knows not when it will suddenly come up and bite him.

Edna is at a different stage of love in chapter ten. We know that Robert took Adéle's advice in distancing himself from Edna. She may not know this, but feels that distance happen and goes on into simply having a bad time at the shore. That is when Robert finds regret and proving the idea that his love is starting to develop. But Edna does not really take it easy. This is a part of the book where a love can and will give out another set of feelings. Edna simply felt excluded but at the same time with a developing love over Robert and when he came to accompany her home, she tried to reject it. But she did so in a more soft manner than expected. Most people would have simply walked faster to get away. But she stayed behind which means she still has hopes of getting something out of the possible love.

Envy

Envy tends to be the strongest element that comes up in a marriage. In The Awakening it is the base of most conflicts including that of Robert and Adéle Ratignolle in the beginning of chapter 8 when she asks him to stay away from Edna. From here on in, an argument comes concerning why he should stay away from Edna and whether Adéle is jealous or not. Taking into consideration the fact that she and Edan are good friends, there is little room for a valid excuse on why she is not jealous. Very few times will envy come in front of true friendship in this form. In other worlds, Adéle has taken out of consideration the idea of friendship for the sake of her own convenience. She wants the same relationship that Robert and Edan will develop in the future and that by definition is envy.

With envy, comes a set of mistakes that typically break out into the continuation of the same heated argument. "You are not thinking of what you are saying (P46)" is a sign of desperation on Adéle's part and is perhaps one of the most ironic quotes in the book. She is the one speaking without correct processing and the one that is simply not being herself taking into consideration that she is kicking out her best friend to keep the man she wants. She is becoming mad with the power that she does not have. She is becoming the villain of the story that will end with the words of "envy is wrong."

Stuck

There often comes a time in a marriage where a series of feelings of regret comes into play. Taking Edan, she is looking back in the days where she did love her husband as support to try to recreate those feeling that are no longer there. Guilt will begin to come in and the dissatisfaction that she was simply not able to keep going with her marriage. those feeling turn into anger later on when she reacts to the music played by Mademoiselle Reisz. The most likely possibility is leans to that old feeling of love no longer being there and then being replaced by something darker. In this particular situation, there is little room to blame someone other than herself since she is sharing these emotions only with herself.

This is pure evidence that in a truly stable marriage, the feeling to the other person on the long run certainly counts even if there is still a constant supply of physical objects to enforce the love. This is also proof that after a certain time, a person's love for another may wear off and produce a strong mix of feeling that will typically end in the wrong place. At this point, Edan remembers loving and tries to apply that feeling to the present and see if it's there. Since it's not, she can only think of how things were and image how they would be if it were still in the same condition. She is stuck in the life that she feared most of having and lost what she feared most of loosing. From here on in, she will be either forced to live the life, or find an alternative that may cause further conflict within the story.

Starting Conflicts

Every time that there's a conflict between two people, it can either expand, or be resolved in a series of regretful and apologetic events. This is not the case of Edan and Léonce. Very few times will a starting conflict cool off in a novel and turn out to only be a little bump on the road. A novel must have a predictable side where a conflict will have to develop. Otherwise, the plot will only develop under a certain number of ideas that will soon be repeated. A conflict creates a stream of though where the writer can argue and the reader can think upon and therefore make the book much more productive and attractive to read. And in a starting conflict like this, there can't be a change in heart now that the reader has foreshadowed the future increasing conflict. This is of the few things in the novel that if changed, will make it far less intuitive to read and loose the magic of sitting back down and reading once more.

With little room for alternative to such a predictable move, authors will try to tweak whatever will come afterwards in the novel. They will bring something original and completely unexpected in order to stimulate that new generation of thought that makes the novel worth reading. But even if things do happen as the reader predicted, it continues to be a book worth reading. But the best authors are able to present an original idea or set of ideas, and be able to present them so that the reader can understand them and use them. So far into The Awakening, it has been relatively predictable but there is still some hope for a turnaround.