Summary The scene shifts to Grand Isle, where Victor is making a few repairs during the off-season on the pension while flirting with Mariequita. Edna appears suddenly, saying she had come to rest for a while. Startled, Victor scurries to manage room and board for her; she requests fish for […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 39Summary and Analysis Chapter 38
Summary Dr. Mandelet walks Edna home. She muses on the significance of Madame Ratignolle’s parting words and on her own recent disillusionment with her life. The doctor strongly urges her to talk with him about what she is going through, offering compassionate understanding. She turns down his offer. Arriving home, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 38Summary and Analysis Chapter 37
Summary When Edna reaches Madame Ratignolle’s, she finds her friend exhausted and overwrought in her labor pains. Dr. Mandelet and a midwife also attend the birth. Edna regrets attending; the birth is a harrowing scene. Edna’s own childbirth experiences do not provide useful perspective, because she was drugged with chloroform […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 37Summary and Analysis Chapter 36
Summary Edna again encounters Robert accidentally, this time in a deserted garden cafe. When she asks him why he hasn’t come to see her, he responds emotionally, again calling her cruel for forcing him into disclosure of his feelings. She withdraws from emotional topics and they chat a while in […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 36Summary and Analysis Chapters 33-35
Summary Madame Ratignolle visits Edna in the pigeon house and warns her of gossip concerning her relationship with Arobin. Later that day, Edna is waiting in Mademoiselle Reisz’s apartment for Reisz to return when Robert appears. Both are shocked to see each other, and Edna is hurt that he has […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 33-35Summary and Analysis Chapter 32
Summary When Leonce receives Edna’s letter telling him of her plans to move into her own little house, he is concerned about how this move might look to his current and prospective clients. Feeling that they’ll think he can’t afford the large house, he contracts long-distance with architects and workers […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 32Summary and Analysis Chapters 30-31
Summary Ten guests show up for Edna’s dinner party: Arobin, Mademoiselle Reisz, Victor Lebrun, Mrs. Highcamp, Monsieur Ratignolle, and a few others. Edna announces that it is her twenty-ninth birthday. Despite the party’s success, she longs for Robert. When Victor later begins to drunkenly sing the song Robert sang to […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 30-31Summary and Analysis Chapter 29
Summary The day after the kiss, Edna hurries to gather her things to move out of the house she shares with Leonce into the “pigeon house” she has rented, so called because of its small size. Arobin arrives and helps with the preparations, then Edna sends him away, insisting that […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 29Summary and Analysis Chapters 27-28
Summary Arobin visits Edna that night. She is still exhilarated at the thought of Robert’s imminent return but does not reveal the reason for her good mood to Arobin. She does tell him about Mademoiselle Reisz’s unusual gesture of feeling Edna’s shoulder blades “to see if my wings were strong,” […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 27-28Summary and Analysis Chapter 26
Summary Arobin embarrasses Edna with an emotional letter of apology for upsetting her the night before, and this irritates her: The next day she feels as though she’d taken the kiss on her hand too seriously. She writes a deliberately light and playful note in response. After that, they see […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 26