Passage #1- Chapter III, paragraph 2-7
"He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in the things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation.
(Edna has no position, almost like a trophy wife. She is the "sole object of his existence", it makes him seem overbearing and controlling by saying "sole")
Mr. Pontellier had forgotten the bonbons and peanuts for the boys. Notwithstanding he loved them very much, and went into the adjoining room where they slept to take a look at them and make sure that they were resting comfortably. The result of his investigation was far from satisfactory. He turned and shifted the youngsters about in bed. One of them began to kick and talk about a basket full of crabs.
(Mr. Pontellier is quite a hard man to please. It seems like he has very high expectations for his children, his wife, and even himself. If they don't reach those expectations they aren't good enough for what he wants)
Mr. Pontellier returned to his wife with the information that Raoul had a high fever and needed looking after. Then he lit a cigar and went and sat near the open door to smoke it.
Mrs. Pontellier was quite sure Raoul had no fever. He had gone to bed perfectly well, she said, and nothing had ailed him all day. Mr. Pontellier was too well acquainted with fever symptoms to be mistaken. He assured her the child was consuming at that moment in the next room.
(What makes his too well known with fever symptoms? Has he been associated with that before? From the passage it seems like he isn't around his children that often, so how would he know?)
He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his brokerage business. He could not be in two places at once; making a living for his family on the street, and staying at home to see that no harm befell them. He talked in a monotonous, insistent way."
(Habitual neglect? Confused by this statement. She takes care of the children all day when he disappears for work and sometimes doesn't return until the next day. That doesn't sound like neglect)
This passage really shows the amount of control that Leonce Pontellier has on Edna. Up until this point in the book, we have seen the temper that he has, but not only temper, impatience. If things aren't the way that Mr. Pontellier likes it than the whole thing needs to be done again because it is unsatisfactory for his taste. The lack of impatience can be seen right in this paragraph, when Mrs. Pontellier states blatantly that Raoul has no such fever, Mr. Pontellier shuts her opinion down instantly saying that he is "too well acquainted with fever symptoms to be mistaken. He assured her the child was consuming at that moment in the next room." It is the man's word against the woman's word in this passage. There is nothing that Edna can do. Her fate is sealed by the day she was born. She was born a woman, and therefore has no real "true" power. Everything that she tries to do, say, refute, or attempt, is shot down and replaced by the more "educated" man. By someone who has more power and more knowledge in every area--even when it comes to children that he is never around.
Red = Annotation
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