The first thing that stuck out to me in this reading and continued to stay with me through the rest of it is the passage on pages 12 – 14. Mrs. Pontellier put the kids to bed and after one of them seemed to be getting bad sleep, Mr. Pontellier went to investigate and saw the child had a fever. He then told Mrs. Pontellier that she doesn’t pay enough attention to their kids and neglects them. He is mad that he has to tend to the kids because he works and she doesn’t, so it should be her job to take care of the kids. Mrs. Pontellier then goes to cry by herself and thinks about how common these types of arguments are with her husband.
This particular scene stuck with me for the rest of the reading because Mr. Pontellier clearly wants a traditional wife and she doesn’t seem to want to do those duties. It makes me think about how the trad wife is seemingly making a comeback in society. Many social media influencers are romanticizing this lifestyle and making it very appealing to impressionable young women. While there are definitely some women who would have a happy life never working and only devoting their time to their house, husband, and kids, this lifestyle is not suited for many women. It is very hard and can be very draining, which is something these influencers don’t portray. One of the main influencers that I think of with this is Nara Smith.
She’s a 23 year old woman who posts TikTok videos of her cooking. She has 4 kids and she makes this trad wife lifestyle look easy. She always posts herself cooking the most elaborate meals, with her hair and makeup done and flawless, and in a beautiful outfit. She always has food ready for her husband and never seems to have any issues taking care of her kids. Influencers like this romanticize the trad wife lifestyle, but young people don’t consider how much time and money she has in order to live this lifestyle so effortlessly. For the average person, taking care of children full time, while cooking and doing all the cleaning, is stressful and tiring. At the time “Awakening” was written, women didn’t have a choice and had to live this lifestyle even if it didn’t suit them, which is why we see Mrs. Pontellier having issues taking care of her children. Women do have a choice now, but popular influencers are making the trad wife lifestyle seem much easier than it is. While this lifestyle can be very fulfilling to many, it should be portrayed as real and hard work, not just something that women are expected to do.
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