Chapter XXIX:

Summary:
Without deliberating about it, Edna immediately sets about moving out of the big
house on Esplanade Street. She wants to escape from her husband's
possessions which surround her, and she sends her own things over to the
smaller "pigeon house." Arobin finds her standing on a ladder, looking healthy
and vigorous, unhooking pictures from the wall. If he's surprised by her behavior,
he doesn't show it and after unsuccessfully trying to get her to get off the ladder,
helps her in her task. Like Edna, he wears a dust-cap, which the maid Ellen finds
hilariously funny
Edna does not want to be alone with Arobin, and they converse a little about the
elaborate dinner party she will throw in two days to celebrate her departure. After
the dinner, Edna will completely move into the "pigeon house." Excusing herself
to finish her chores, she tells Arobin that she will see him at the dinner, but no
sooner. Arobin protests a bit, but looking into her eyes, resolves to wait until then.
Analysis:
As has become her habit, Edna decides to move out of her house without
carefully considering her actions and fails to even consult her husband. She acts
on impulse, knowing that she cannot continue an affair while still living in her
husband's house. As she sees it, it would be grossly hypocritical of her to
continue living as one of his possessions while treating her body and her person
as her own.
Edna shows an almost surprising lack of emotion towards Arobin. Her attitude is
almost completely neutral, and she exhibits neither the sexual attraction nor the
awkwardness that one might expect. However, her relative indifference does
make sense. She is not particularly attached to Arobin, and their affair was simply
the result of a momentary whim. She didn't spend that much thought going into it,
so there's no reason why she should analyze it afterwards. Similarly, she makes
no promises about whether or not it'll happen again: if it does, it does; if it
doesn't, she wouldn't really care that much either.
The fact that Edna and Arobin spend their morning-after cleaning her house has
symbolic importance. Just as Edna is removing old fixtures from the wall and

dislodging dust everywhere, so is she ripping away whatever prejudices, ties to

convention, and entrenched social privilege she may have previously had. She is
forging a new life path for herself, but before she can do so, she must first get rid
of the relicsthe old attitudesof her past.
Chapter XXX:
Summary:
Edna's special dinner is actually a small, intimate gathering of people, due
to Madame Ratignolle's advanced pregnancy and Madame Lebrun's lastminute
no.
The
guests
present
are
Mrs.
Highcamp,Alce
Arobin, Mademoiselle Reisz, Monsieur Ratignolle, Victor Lebrun, an
intellectual young woman named Miss Mayblunt, and her bland companion
Gouvernail. They all sit around an elaborately and expensively decorated table,
and wearing new diamond jewelry from her husband, Edna admits that it's her
twenty-ninth birthday. They then proceed to drink the Colonel's health with one of
his invented cocktails.
Wearing a golden satin gown, Edna sits regally among her guests, who chat
pleasantly with each other. Though they are having a good time, she feels
overcome with boredom and despair. She is filled with longing for Robert, yet
simultaneously feels that he is unattainable. The guests continue to laugh and
have a good time, until both Monsieur Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz get up
to leave. As Edna escorts them out the door, Madmoiselle Reisz slyly tells her to
be good.
When she rejoins the rest of her guests, she finds Mrs. Highcamp weaving a
garland of roses for Victor, who then poses with a white scarf draped around his
neck. The color contrasts are striking, and Victor looks exotic and extremely
handsome. When asked to sing, he looks at Edna and starts to croon "Ah! si tu
savais!," the song that she associates with Robert. Edna reacts violently,
demanding that he stop and accidentally shattering a wine glass on the table. He
apologizes gently to Mrs. Pontellier and kisses her hand, and pulling the garland
and scarf away from his head, she tells him to stop performing for them. At this
point, the rest of the guests depart and enter the quiet, still street.
Analysis:

This chapter is very similar to the climactic scene of Virginia Woolf'sMrs.

Dalloway, in which the title character successfully draws together various guests
for an elaborate little dinner party. Like Mrs. Dalloway, Edna feels removed from
the pleasant chatter of her guests and doesn't actually enjoy the occasion. She
has created the illusion of intimacy among her guests, but she does not
participate in the illusion. The dinner party is like one of her paintings: although
aesthetically pleasing, it is just the picture of reality, not reality itself.
The dinner table is perfectly decorated, and Edna herself looks majestic and
gorgeous in her gown. Her guests talk constantly, but as the description of their
conversation implies, they don't really say anything of substance. They are there
to celebrate Edna's departure from the conventionality of high society, but
ironically, they are all members of the social elite. They do not really understand
why Edna is leaving Esplanade Street, and so their interactions, though pleasant
and very agreeable, are exactly the kind that Edna is trying to escape: formal,
prescribed, and embedded within a specific social context. Feeling bored, Edna
longs for something indescribable, but which is the sincere, emotional bond that
she has with Robert.
When Victor poses for the gathering, he creates a different kind of picture, but
one that is equally false. He becomes a stand-in for Robert when he starts to
sing "Ah! si tu savais!", but as Edna knows all too well, he is not his brother. He
evokes the specter of Robert, but the illusion that he creates is inevitably false.
Chapter XXXI:
Summary:
Only Arobin remains behind after the party disperses, and he helps her lock up
the house. Together they leave Esplanade Street and walk to the "pigeon house"
arm in arm. Edna seems sad and doesn't feel like speaking much. They enter the
small house, which has a front porch opening directly into the pantry. Edna has
already decorated a little bit, so the house looks comfortable and inviting. In
addition, Arobin has surprised her by ordering the pantry filled with flowers.
Edna admits that she feels tired and unhappy and that she has overextended
herself in throwing the dinner party by herself. Caressing her head and neck,
Arobin tells her that he will let her rest; however, he does not leave and begins to
gently kiss her neck. He tells Edna, who is slightly uneasy, that he will leave after
he says good night, but only after they sleep together does he do so.

Chapter XXXII:
Summary:
Mr. Pontellier is displeased when he finds out about his wife's recent decisions,
and he writes her a heated letter scolding her for being foolish and irresponsible.
He reminds her that she must not neglect her social obligations and that people
might think she moved out of the big house because of financial reasons.
Primarily concerned with his business prospects, Mr. Pontellier also writes a
letter to a local architect and contracts a number of expensive renovations to the
house. Soon, the house is under construction and clearly uninhabitable. Finally,
he sends a notice to the local newspaper indicating that the Pontelliers will be
going on summer holiday and that their house is currently subject to "sumptuous
alterations."
Edna takes little notice of her husband's actions and feels content and happy in
her new home. She enjoys the feeling of having descended from the social elite
and experiences an increased sense of freedom and clairvoyance. In a few days,
she goes to visit her children in Iberville and spends a week there playing with
them and looking at everything they have to show her. She nearly weeps with joy
when she sees them, and their youthful energy and curiosity completely fulfills
her for that one week. When she has to leave, she feels pangs of sadness that
accompany her all the way back to New Orleans. However, by the time she
enters the "pigeon house," she is once more celebrating the solitude and quiet of
her life there.
Analysis:
Characteristically, Mr. Pontellier seems to care more about his business
prospects than his wife. Rather than discussing with Edna her reasons for
leaving their home, he contacts the architect and the local newspaper. However,
it may be that such a response is entirely justified. The narrator notes that Mr.
Pontellier did not even consider it a possibility that his wife's departure would be
a reason for scandal. Apparently, it does not even enter his mind that his wife
may want to leave him or that she may have become interested in other men
during his absence. He takes it for granted that his wife will always be his wife
and that she will always remain faithful to him, and so he cannot even conceive
of people gossiping about them or their marriage. Since he assumes that his wife
would never even think of leaving him, perhaps it would be logical for him to
worry first about his business prospects.

By moving into the pigeon house and thereby descending the social scale, Edna
can continue to define herself without regard to social norms and expectations.
Moving into the smaller house was an enormous step of originality and
independence. Having already led people to expect "radical" behavior from her,
there are no longer as many barriers to prevent her from asserting her
individuality.
Just as she devotes all her attention to her father when he comes to visit, so
does she focus all her energy on her children because she finds them
temporarily amusing. She thoroughly enjoys them because she can experience
them simply as children, and not specifically as her children that she has to
constantly take care of. They entertain her when she visits them, and when she
leaves, she is glad that she can again be free of the responsibility of being their
mother.
Chapter XXXIII:
Summary:
This chapter begins with Edna visiting Mademoiselle Reisz' apartment to talk
about Robert, but it soon flashes back to the events of that afternoon. Edna had
been trying to paint but was interrupted byMadame Ratignolle, who asked
about the dinner party and the new house. After making Edna promise to go to
her when she is in labor, she warns her friend that she may want someone to
stay with her in the pigeon house. Telling Edna that she acts without adequate
reflection, she cautions her that people have begun to talk about Arobin visiting
her alone. Edna casually brushes off her warning, and Madame Ratignolle
apologizes for even mentioning it.
When Edna seeks out Mademoiselle Reisz for some much-needed relaxation,
she finds her friend out but goes inside anyway to wait for her. Idly, she occupies
herself with the plants and the piano, until suddenly Robert knocks on the door
and walks in. Having stood up, Edna falls back into her seat and unsteadily,
begins to speak to her beloved. Wanting him all to herself, she is upset to find out
that he arrived the day before yesterday and that he left Mexico because he
didn't like the people there.
She studies his face and finds him pretty much the same. For a moment, he
looks deep into her eyes, and she recognizes the man she fell in love with at
Grand Isle. Having imagined Robert's return many times, she is a little

disconcerted to find it somewhat banal and awkward. Instead of waiting for

Mademoiselle Reisz to come back, they both go to Edna's house for dinner.
Robert finds a photograph of Alce Arobin that Edna explains she is using to
sketch from, and they begin to banter casually with each other.
Analysis:
Madame Ratignolle attempts to remind Edna that she cannot live completely free
of social constraints. Even though Edna wants to ignore them, she must realize
that people will continue to expect her to follow them. She warns her that her
actions will have consequences that she must be aware of. Though Madame
Ratignolle is caught up in being the perfect wife and mother, she does have
certain insights that Edna could benefit from. Even though she may lack daring
and individuality, she does possess a certain wisdom that comes from quietly
observing the world around her.
Just as he was when he left her, Robert is very restrained in his emotions and
maintains a cool reserve. Although he perhaps overdoes a little of the formality,
he is an old-school gentleman and does not want to impose himself where it
would be improper to do so. After all, Edna is still a married woman, and Robert
does not know that she has started to cheat on her husband.
Robert mentions that he is glad that he didn't know Edna in her old home, and
the implication of his words is clear: while she was living on Esplanade Street,
she was embedded in her role as wife, mother, and socialite, whereas now he
can know her by herself, a whole person. Lence Pontellier has less of a claim
on her now than he did before, and Edna is free of the mundane responsibilities
that would lessen the strength of her and Robert's bond.