CHAPTER 35

Summary

Next day, Edna is more confident that she will receive a return visit from Robert. She reads a letter that she has received from L'once, who indicates that he will return in March and that they will travel abroad.

Arobin has also sent a note telling her how much he loved her. Edna chooses not to respond to Arobin. She writes to her husband, but she does not confirm her approval of a trip to Europe. Several days pass, and Robert has not visited, and Edna's growing somberness keeps her confined to the house.

One night she decides to meet Arobin. They decide to take a boat ride and after this romantic trip they return home and become intimate.

This type of liaison is to become more frequent between her and Arobin. She has mixed feelings. Arobin is satisfying her sexual desires, but her love for Robert still remains as strong, but unfulfilled.

Interpretation

Edna is frustrated that she cannot share her life with Robert.

Arobin provides satisfaction for her sexual needs, but she still yearns to share her life with Robert. 

L'once makes a vain attempt to reel his wife in by tempting her with a foreign holiday, again showing his lack of understanding for Edna’s needs. She cannot be satisfied by materialistic needs, she needs to be treated as an individual of worth, not an item of property.