The tendency toward naturalism is clear enough to enable students to grasp its basic deterministic philosophy, as Edna finds that her life must be lived within socioeconomic and biological boundaries as unyielding as the walls around any penitentiary.
             Throughout The Awakening, Edna bases her actions, not on what is right, but what she feels is natural. She does not consider the consequences of her instinctual, but nevertheless selfish, actions. She gives into her feelings of despondency and hopelessness, abandoning what society believes is right. Boundaries Edna breaks are formed by the society she lives in and the life she made for herself.
             Edna lives in the Creole society, even though she was not originally one of them. The Creoles were a group of European settlers in the New Orleans area. They were all quite wealthy and though they had a certain freedom of expression, some things just were not acceptable. A young Creole, named Robert, becomes infatuated with Edna Pontellier. It was okay for a young man to fancy a married woman, because everyone just thought of it as a joke. Since Edna was not raised in the Creole society she falls for Robert. She has been so depressed all her life that once someone makes her feel special she falls in love, forgetting her obligations to society and her own family. "Robert's going had some way taken the brightness, the color, the meaning out of everything (p.46)." Without Robert around to give her all the attention she needs Edna feels alone. She then finds another to take her mind off of her loneliness, Alcée Arobin. "It was no labor to become intimate with Arobin (p.76)." He also made Edna feel alive, but she herself could not feel alive or happy. She was always dependent upon everyone else to make her life better.
             The second and probably most important boundary was the biological factor. Although she did not lik
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