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1 Oh! talk of me if you like, cried Edna, clasping her hands beneath her head;
2 but let me think of something else while you do.
3 Im jealous of your thoughts tonight. Theyre making you a little kinder than
4 usual; but some way I feel as if they were wandering, as if they were not here with
5 me. She only looked at him and smiled. His eyes were very near. He leaned upon the
6 lounge with an arm extended across her, while the other hand still rested upon her
7 hair. They continued silently to look into each others eyes. When he leaned forward
8 and kissed her, she clasped his head, holding his lips to hers.
9 It was the first kiss of her life to which her nature had really responded. It was
10 a flaming torch that kindled desire.
11 Edna cried a little that night after Arobin left her. It was only one phase of the
12 multitudinous emotions which had assailed her. There was with her an overwhelming
13 feeling of irresponsibility. There was the shock of the unexpected and the
14 unaccustomed. There was her husbands reproach looking at her from the external
15 things around her which he had provided for her external existence. There was
16 Roberts reproach making itself felt by a quicker, fiercer, more overpowering love,
17 which had awakened within her toward him. Above all, there was understanding. She
18 felt as if a mist had been lifted from her eyes, enabling her to took upon and
19 comprehend the significance of life, that monster made up of beauty and brutality. But
20 among the conflicting sensations which assailed her, there was neither shame nor
21 remorse. There was a dull pang of regret because it was not the kiss of love which had
22 inflamed her, because it was not love which had held this cup of life to her lips.

This passage belongs to Kate Chopins The Awakening (1899). In this specific
fragment it is explained how Edna, the main character, feels towards her kiss to her lover,
Arobin. Just before this kiss, Edna had been alone in the horse races with Arobin. Moreover,
she had moved to a house of herself just few days ago, leaving away his husband and children Commented [Office1]: HER HUSBAND
in her old home. Edna is having an affair with Arobin at the same time that she is married with
Leonc and she loves Robert.
Throughout the passage, we can realise how Edna feels towards that kiss. For the first
time her nature had really responded. It was a flaming torch that kindled desire. What Edna
really felt was passion, but not love, as it is stated at the end of the passage when the author
says it was not love which had held this cup of life to her lips. Who Edna really loved was
Robert, and this extract also deals with that and how the main character is worried about what
her real lover could think about that kiss (Roberts reproach [], more overpowering love,).
Nevertheless, Edna fulfills the gap that Robert leaves when he goes to Mexico by spending
time with Alce.
In addition, it is also mentioned that Edna takes into account her husbands reaction
towards that kiss; he would feel reproach as he is not aware of Ednas feelings, as stated in
lines 14-15. What Edna had suffered was an awakening, a clear path towards
understanding. She transforms from being a manipulated and nave woman to being really
concerned and responsible about her life and decisions. As the author says, now, Edna
comprehended the significance of life, because he had been blind before; blind by beauty
and brutality. This change was socially frowned upon, because women were supposed to
take care of children and stay in the domestic sphere of life while men were in charge of
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socializing. Edna breaks all those stigmas; she does what she wants to. She is kissing Arobin
and she does not regret it (lines 20-21 neither shame nor remorse.)
This novel was really polemic at that time since it broke all the bounds regarding
women correct behavior. It is considered the first feminist novel which proposed a new
personality for women. The main character of the novel is not conformed with the image of
women at that time and this way Edna does not belong to this world and she dies at the end,
being considered a heroine and an example to follow by all women around the world.

GOOD COMMENTARY. I WOULD WELCOME A FEW MORE EXAMPLES, BUT THATS OK