"The Awakening Chapter 21 - End

Throughout our time reading The Awakening we've been reminded to find empathy towards Edna. We've had to remember that while her actions may be irritating at times, we must try to put ourselves in her shoes and understand her logic. When reading these chapters, I found myself relating this mentality to Leonce. Throughout our discussions, it has been clear that I as well as others have found him to be quite possesive and problematic. He views Edna as his property, he is highly concerned with his social status, and he is consistently hypocritical towards Edna's role as a mother or lack there of. Leonce's rigid conformity is so absurd that it is at times comical. For these reason, I often find him totally unlikeable. Yet, when reading chapter 22, I found myself reminded that he is also human, and if we are willing to find empathy for Edna and her reckless behavior, we must also be willing to find some for Leonce. When he goes to visit the doctor concerning what he considers to be Edna's condition, he is clearly worried about her. While his reasonings are a bit flawed like she "abandoned her Tuesday at home", in this day and age that would be a real cause for concern. While to us this may seem like a superfical reason to feel worried about the mental state of your wife, for him, this could mean something really serious is going on. And he's right. Edna is clearly struggling with her mental health and while he may be comically superficial about concerns, he cares about her enough to notice something is wrong. And while one may say that this is just because her actions are affecting his social status, I don't believe that. When the Doctor tells Leonce to let Edna work through these impulses, he does. Leonce truly cares for Edna, and while he often times falls into the rigid ideals of his society, this is simply because he was raised to do so. Can we really judge Leonce so harshly for confining to his society if we do not judge Edna for her reckless abandonment? While I do agree they are different situations, both Edna and Leonce are human. Leonce makes A LOT of mistakes, but honestly so does Edna, and I think that we must be fair in the judgments passed onto both of them. Both Leonce and Edna deserve to be treated with both empathy and some judgment. They are not perfect people so we should not expect either of them to act like it.