Read the following passage from Kate Chopin's novel *The Awakening* (1899).
(1) Edna Pontellier could not have told why she was crying. Such tears
(2) as she shed were not uncommon in her married life. They were of
(3) a familiar house, where she had lived for years. They were a part
(4) of the quiet, the darkness, the evening, and the moist wind.
(5) She did not weep for any particular thing. Léonce’s behavior was
(6) not unusual; it was what she had grown accustomed to. He had
(7) gone to his club, had returned, had spoken to her, and she had
(8) not answered. He had gone to bed, and she had sat on the porch
(9) under the stars, feeling a vague, heavy weight of oppression.
(10) It was not a condition of misery; she was not miserable.
(11) Rather, she felt a certain satisfaction in the tears, which
(12) seemed to wash away the dust of daily life and leave her
(13) refreshed. She was beginning to realize her position in the
(14) universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an
(15) individual to the world within and about her. This may seem
(16) a very simple matter, but it is a complex one. She did not
(17) analyze it. She only felt it. She was beginning to realize that
(18) her existence was not merely a series of domestic duties, but
(19) a space where her own desires could exist. Yet this realization
(20) brought with it a profound sense of isolation. The world she
(21) inhabited was too small for the self she was discovering,
(22) yet she could not imagine another. She sat there, the tears
(23) flowing, while the sea whispered in the distance, its voice
(24) both inviting and mournful, echoing the internal division
(25) that she was powerless to resolve.
(26) Her husband’s voice called to her from the bedroom, asking
(27) why she remained outside in the damp air, his tone expressing
(28) a customary mixture of concern and irritation. The call,
(29) which once would have prompted immediate compliance, now
(30) seemed to come from a vast distance, representing a life
(31) she was rapidly outgrowing but remained bound to.
Based on the passage, which of the following best describes the source of Edna Pontellier's internal conflict?
- Aresentment toward her husband's specific actions on that night and a desire for him to apologize
- Bconscious plan to rebel against the author's critique of late nineteenth-century marriage structures
- emerging consciousness of herself as an individual and the constraining reality of her social and domestic existenceAnswer
- Dsatisfaction with her current domestic duties and a fear of the physical dangers associated with the open sea
- Esubmission to her husband's immediate authority and her total acceptance of his view of her role