The Awakening: Novel Summary: Part 25
Chapter 25
advertisement
Edna goes to the horse races with Alc�e Arobin (see Dr. Mandelet's concern in Chapter XXIII), a "young [man] of fashion" who much admires her. Edna finds the races exciting as she bets large sums of money and captures the attention of fellow race-goers, eager for "the elusive but ever-desired 'tip.'" After the races, Edna dines with Arobin and the Highcamps, a socially well-to-do but personally dull couple who, for instance, cannot understand why their daughter-whom Mrs. Highcamp uses to meet men such as Arobin-chose a Dante reading over the race track. Perhaps the Highcamps represent a further critique of les convenances.
Arobin escorts Edna home. Edna, far from being tired, is eager for "something to happen." A notable detail tells the reader that, while the Highcamps' dinner was "of excellent quality, [it] had lacked abundance," and Edna still finds herself hungry-surely, a hunger to be understood metaphorically as well as literally. Edna regrets allowing Arobin to leave her. However, she and Arobin spend an afternoon together a few days later. The two quickly become close, but Edna eventually asks him to leave, protesting that she does not like him, even though she knows her words lack "dignity and sincerity." Arobin apologizes for being misled by his emotions, and leaves after casting "one last appealing glance at her, to which she [makes] no response." The narrator informs us that Arobin's manner "was so genuine that it often deceived even himself," leaving us to wonder how true his feelings for Edna are-and reminding us, again, of Madame Ratignolle's caution to Robert in Chapter VIII. Is Alc�e Arobin, like Robert, one of those men who mislead women? For her part, Edna experiences feelings of guilt regarding her near infidelity. But she feels she has been unfaithful, not to her husband, but to Robert.
The Awakening Study Guide (Choose to Continue)
- The Awakening
- Novel Summary
- Novel Summary: Part 1
- Novel Summary: Part 2
- Novel Summary: Part 3
- Novel Summary: Part 4
- Novel Summary: Part 5
- Novel Summary: Part 6
- Novel Summary: Part 7
- Novel Summary: Part 8
- Novel Summary: Part 9
- Novel Summary: Part 10
- Novel Summary: Part 11
- Novel Summary: Part 12
- Novel Summary: Part 13
- Novel Summary: Part 14
- Novel Summary: Part 15
- Novel Summary: Part 16
- Novel Summary: Part 17
- Novel Summary: Part 18
- Novel Summary: Part 19
- Novel Summary: Part 20
- Novel Summary: Part 21
- Novel Summary: Part 22
- Novel Summary: Part 23
- Novel Summary: Part 24
- Novel Summary: Part 25
- Novel Summary: Part 26
- Novel Summary: Part 27
- Novel Summary: Part 28
- Novel Summary: Part 29
- Novel Summary: Part 30
- Novel Summary: Part 31
- Novel Summary: Part 32
- Novel Summary: Part 33
- Novel Summary: Part 34
- Novel Summary: Part 35
- Novel Summary: Part 36
- Novel Summary: Part 37
- Novel Summary: Part 38
- Novel Summary: Part 39
- Character Profiles
- Metaphor Analysis
- Theme Analysis
- Top Ten Quotes
- Biography: Kate Chopin
Top Novelguides
Apology A Christmas Carol A Clean Well Lighted Place A Clockwork Orange A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court A Doll's House A Farewell To Arms A Hope in the Unseen A Lost Lady A Man For All Seasons A Midsummer Night's Dream A Modest Proposal A Passage to India A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man A Raisin in the Sun A Room With a View A Separate Peace A Streetcar Named Desire A Tale of Two Cities A Thousand Splendid Suns A Tree Grows In Brooklyn A Walk to Remember A Wrinkle In Time Absalom-Absalom Across Five Aprils Adam Bede Adventures of Augie March Agamemnon Alas Babylon Alice in Wonderland All My Sons All Quiet on the Western Front All the Kings Men All the Pretty Horses All's Well That Ends Well An American Tragedy An Enemy of the People And Then There Were None Angela's Ashes Animal Farm Anna Karenina Anthem Antigone Sophocles Antigone Antony and Cleopatra April Morning Aristotles Ethics Aristotle's Poetics Arms and the Man Around the World in Eighty Days____________________________________
Top Novelguides
Quotes By Topic
Quote of the dayReports & Essays
The Awakening Study Guide (Choose to Continue)
- The Awakening
- Novel Summary
- Novel Summary: Part 1
- Novel Summary: Part 2
- Novel Summary: Part 3
- Novel Summary: Part 4
- Novel Summary: Part 5
- Novel Summary: Part 6
- Novel Summary: Part 7
- Novel Summary: Part 8
- Novel Summary: Part 9
- Novel Summary: Part 10
- Novel Summary: Part 11
- Novel Summary: Part 12
- Novel Summary: Part 13
- Novel Summary: Part 14
- Novel Summary: Part 15
- Novel Summary: Part 16
- Novel Summary: Part 17
- Novel Summary: Part 18
- Novel Summary: Part 19
- Novel Summary: Part 20
- Novel Summary: Part 21
- Novel Summary: Part 22
- Novel Summary: Part 23
- Novel Summary: Part 24
- Novel Summary: Part 25
- Novel Summary: Part 26
- Novel Summary: Part 27
- Novel Summary: Part 28
- Novel Summary: Part 29
- Novel Summary: Part 30
- Novel Summary: Part 31
- Novel Summary: Part 32
- Novel Summary: Part 33
- Novel Summary: Part 34
- Novel Summary: Part 35
- Novel Summary: Part 36
- Novel Summary: Part 37
- Novel Summary: Part 38
- Novel Summary: Part 39
- Character Profiles
- Metaphor Analysis
- Theme Analysis
- Top Ten Quotes
- Biography: Kate Chopin
The Awakening Study Guide
Choose to Continue- The Awakening
- Novel Summary
- Part 1
- Part 2
- Part 3
- Part 4
- Part 5
- Part 6
- Part 7
- Part 8
- Part 9
- Part 10
- Part 11
- Part 12
- Part 13
- Part 14
- Part 15
- Part 16
- Part 17
- Part 18
- Part 19
- Part 20
- Part 21
- Part 22
- Part 23
- Part 24
- Part 25
- Part 26
- Part 27
- Part 28
- Part 29
- Part 30
- Part 31
- Part 32
- Part 33
- Part 34
- Part 35
- Part 36
- Part 37
- Part 38
- Part 39
- Character Profiles
- Metaphor Analysis
- Theme Analysis
- Top Ten Quotes
- Kate Chopin
Our Networks