Edna's husband, Leónce, and her children create the space for Edna to be like Madame Ratignolle. The men, likewise, operate as catalysts for these choices. The novella, then, both portrays regional stereotypes while also criticizing cultural attachment to those stereotypes. By studying other female characters in The Awakening, students will see how Chopin carefully provides many examples of a socially acceptable "role" that Edna could adopt (of course, to the betrayal of her "awakening")-a perfect mother and wife, like Madame Ratignolle, an independent but somewhat ostracized "old maid" like Mademoiselle Reisz (who represents, in part, the artist), the "flirt" like Mariequita, one of the "young lovers" (they are never seen apart, and never described as independent of the other), a pious, almost single-mindedly religious, woman like the "lady in black," a servant to her children like the quadroon nurse, and so on.
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