The Awakening (Ch. 15-19)

Edna is informed that Robert is going to Mexico. She was surprised that after all their time together, he hadn't mentioned this to her. Robert visits her and she expresses her disapproval. Edna asks him to write to her and is disappointed in his reply of "I will, thank you, Good-by" because she expected him to be more empathetic. She's experiencing infatuation like she did when she was younger.
Edna thinks about Robert a lot and "Robert's going had some way taken the brightness, the color, the meaning out of everything. The conditions of her life were in no way changed, but her whole existence was dulled, like a faded garment which seems to be no longer worth wearing." Robert sent a letter to his mother and Edna feels jealous that he had written to his mother and not her. Mr.Pontellier saw Robert in New Orleans before he left, and Edna questions him about it. She says her feelings for Robert are nothing like her feelings for her husband and that she's used to keeping her emotions and thoughts to herself. Edna tries to describe her ownership of her emotions to Madame Ratignolle by saying she'd give up the unessential for her children, but she would never give herself. Madame Ratignolle doesn't understand.
Mr.Pontellier is angry with Edna for not fullfilling her social duties, which negatively impacts him. He leaves dinner and goes out. Edna finishes her meal alone and then goes to her room and paces, where she tries to crush her wedding ring and throws a vase, shattering it.
Mr.Pontellier asks Edna to meet him in town, but she declines and looks at her sketches instead. She tries to work, but isn't in the mood, so she walks to Madame Ratignolle's. Although Edna thinks that her praise valueless, it ended up having value. Edna feels depressed when she leaves because she realizes "the little glimpse of domestic harmony" was "not a condition of life which fitted her." Edna stopped doing most of what her husband requested of her and he began to wonder if there was something wrong with her. She asked him to leave her alone and he did. Some days she was happy to be alive and others she was not.