Summary: Chapter I
The novel opens on Grand Isle, a summer retreat for the
wealthy French Creoles of New Orleans. Léonce Pontellier, a wealthy
New Orleans businessman of forty, reads his newspaper outside the
Isle’s main guesthouse. Two birds, the pets of the guesthouse’s
proprietor, Madame Lebrun, are making a great deal of noise. The
parrot repeats phrases in English and French while the mockingbird
sings persistently. Hoping to escape the birds’ disruptive chatter,
Léonce retreats into the cottage he has rented. Glancing back at
the main building, Léonce notes that the noise emanating from it
has increased: the Farival twins play the piano, Madame Lebrun gives orders
to two servants, and a lady in black walks back and forth with her
rosary beads in hand. Down by the water-oaks his four- and five-year-old
sons play under the watchful eye of their quadroon (one-quarter
black) nurse.
Léonce smokes a cigar and watches as his wife, Edna, strolls toward
him from the beach, accompanied by the young Robert Lebrun, Mrs.
Lebrun’s son. Léonce notices that his wife is sunburned and scolds
her for swimming during the hottest hours of the day. He returns
the rings he’s been holding for Edna and invites Robert to play
some billiards at Klein’s hotel. Robert declines and stays to talk with
Edna as Léonce walks away.
Summary: Chapter II
Robert and Edna talk without pause, discussing
the sights and people around them. Robert, a clean-shaven, carefree
young man, discusses his plans to seek his fortune in Mexico at
the end of the summer. Edna is handsome and engaging. She talks
about her childhood in Kentucky bluegrass country and her sister’s
upcoming wedding.
Summary: Chapter III
Léonce is in great spirits when he returns from playing
billiards late that evening. He wakes Edna to tell her the news
and gossip from the club, and he is disappointed when she responds
with groggy half-answers. He goes to check on his sons and informs
Edna that Raoul seems to have a fever. She replies that the child
was fine when he went to bed, but Léonce insists that she attend
to him, criticizing Edna for her “habitual neglect of the children.”
After a cursory visit to the boys’ bedroom, Edna returns
to bed, refusing to answer any of her husband’s inquiries. Léonce
soon falls asleep but Edna remains wide awake. She sits on the porch
and weeps quietly as she listens to the sea. Though she has found
herself inexplicably unhappy many times before, she has always felt
comforted by the kindness and devotion of her husband. This particular evening,
however, Edna experiences an unfamiliar oppression. It fills her
“whole being” and keeps her out on the porch until the bugs force
her back inside.
The next morning, Léonce departs for a week-long
business trip. Before he leaves, he gives Edna some spending money
and says good-bye to the small crowd that has gathered to see him
off. From New Orleans, he sends Edna a box of bonbons that she shares
with her friends. All of the ladies declare Léonce the best husband
in the world, and under pressure Edna admits “she kn[ows] of none
better.”
