Previous
Chapter 33
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Awakening, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Convention and Individuality
Women’s Rights, Femininity, and Motherhood
Realism and Romanticism
Action and Reflection
Freedom and Emptiness
Summary
Analysis
Edna and Robert talk pleasantly over dinner. Edna asks jealously about an embroidered tobacco pouch Robert had received as a present from a Mexican girl, and Robert assures her that she is not important to him. Arobin stops by with a message, and Robert quickly leaves.
Edna repays Robert’s jealousy with jealousy of her own. Though she has turned away from the rubber-stamped possessiveness of marriage, she is seized nonetheless by the possessiveness of love—for this, she would yield some of her freedom.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
Edna decides not to go to Mrs. Merriman’s card game, and Arobin agrees to mail her note of apology. She refuses Arobin’s invitation to go for a walk and ignores his flirtations. After he leaves, she thinks sadly of her incomplete reunion with Robert.
With Robert’s visit, Edna remembers the warmth and depth of real romance and friendship, so she brushes away the unsatisfying substitutes.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
