"The Awakening" Kate Chopin, need reference in book?

Question

Can anyone show me the pages where kate chopin mentions about pair of lovers and a lady in black (frequently together)

Also this question what role is played by the tragedian and cavalry officer? I just want in this question where in the book was mentioned about the tragedian and cavalry officer

Answer 1

The lady in black is first mentioned in Chapter I.  Mr. Portlier is surveying the cottages when he notices that a lady in black is walking demurely up and down, with her beads (468).  In this example the rosary beads suggest that the lady in black is religious.  I believe that this character is a symbol of religion.  While everyone else is relaxing, she is busy praying.  It is also worth noting that there are several passages which suggest that Edna is rebelling from her religious upbringing.  For example, just after we meet the lovers, Edna shares a memory with Madame Ratignolle.  She describes herself walking through a meadow as a young girl.  She says, "Likely as not it was Sunday... and I was running away from prayers, from the Presbyterian service, read in a spirit of gloom by my father that chills me yet to think of it" (480).  Similar to the description of her fathers service, the lady in black is serious and serene.  After that day at the beach Chopin describes the lady in black as follows: "[she], creeping behind [the lovers], looked a trifle paler and more jaded than usual"(483).  The lady in black's representation of religion is not one of heaven or angles, but instead, her image resembles death.

The lovers however, represent something entirely different.  I believe that Chopin uses the lovers to contrast the relationship between Edna and her husband.  The first time the lovers are mentioned is just shortly after we've learned that Mr. Portlier is "the best husband in the world," although Edna is "forced to admit that she knew of none better" (472).  Edna and Madame Ragingly are at the beach when they notice the lovers.  Chopin writes, "Two young lovers were exchanging their hearts' yearnings beneath the children's tent, which they had found unoccupied"(479).  This is the beginning of Edna's awakening.  The lovers are young, beautiful, and hopeful to the future.   Chopin may have decided not to fully developed the lovers because they are in the infatuation stage of love, which is fleeting.  I believe that this is the implication of Robert's answering "of course not" to Marquita's asking him if the two lovers are married (494).  They represent the beginning of Edna's relationship with her husband, a fantasy which did not turn out the way she had hoped.