Edward Rasmani
Period 5
Dialectical Journal
Quotation From the Text
Number
Madame Ratignolle could not [dance], so it
was she who gaily consented to play for the
others. She played very well, keeping
excellent waltz time and infusing an
expression into the strains which was indeed
inspiring.
She was keeping up her music on account of
the children, she said, because she and her
husband both considered it a means of
brightening the home and making it
attractive.
Edna was what she herself called very fond
of music. Musicals strains, well rendered,
had a way of evoking pictures in her mind.
The very first chords which Mademoiselle
Reisz struck upon the piano sent a keen
tremor down Mrs. Pontellier’s spinal column.
She waited for the material pictures which
she thought would gather and blaze before
her imagination. She waited in vain. . . the
very passions themselves were aroused
within her soul, swaying it, lashing it, as the
waves beat upon her splendid body. She
trembled, she was choking, and the tears
blinded her.
Page Response
42 Madame Ratignolle is not a professional
musician, but rather one who sees music as a
hobby and does not devote all her time to it.
Despite this, however, the narrator describes her
playing as wonderful to the masses, aesthetically
pleasing to many. In addition, the narrator also
describes Ratignolle herself as angel-like.
42 Again, we see proof that Madame Ratignolle
sees music and piano-playing as simply a hobby,
taking a backseat to other ‘more important’
matters such as family and child-raising. Her
only motive for playing music in the first place
was to ‘brighten up the household.’
43 According to both Edna and the narrator, Edna is
a music fanatic. This can be seen when she sits
and listens to Ratignolle play her piano ditties,
and is later shown in her reactions to
Mademoiselle Reisz’s playing.
43 This feeling that Mrs. Pontellier experiences is
something which all musicians strive to achieve.
As a musician, we aim to truly captivate and
consistently target the audience’s emotions
through our playing. If the audience is not
affected, then we are not musicians.
43 Again, this feeling of frisson that Mrs. Pontellier
experiences is one that all musicians aim to
recreate. Not only do we aim to paint vivid
images in the listener’s and audience’s minds,
but we wish to appeal to their souls, to
emotionally manipulate them, to really make
them feel the music.