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Edna Pontellier's The Awakening

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The beginning of the feminist movement in the 1900’s, sparked much attention from those who lived at this time. The changes in attitude brought forth from the feminist movement made many men feel threatened and uncomfortable. In 1899, Kate Chopin published the feminist novel, The Awakening, which created much controversy. The protagonist of the story, Edna Pontellier, emerges from her own “awakening,” and gains her own independence from breaking away from society. However, her struggle with herself and society overtakes her and Edna’s sudden awakening ends in tragedy. In Kate Chopin’s debated novel, The Awakening, the author utilizes the symbol of the sea to represent the rebirth of Edna’s soul and her escape from society. Throughout the …show more content…

The path to the sea, “was no inconsiderable one, consisting as it did of a long, sandy path…” (27). The pathway to the water symbolizes her hardships and obstacles Edna fights throughout the time of her awakening. The sea is a space of immeasurable possibility. It can be either a void of menace or, splendor and strength. Weighing heavy on her, Edna feels both the void of menace and her growing strength. The scene of Edna’s rebirth, leaves the reader with the infinite possibility of ways the story could conclude. However, in the end, Edna finally escapes society completely. When Edna swims out in the water for the first time Chopin gives the reader insight to Edna’s freedom and strength. However, Chopin foreshadows Edna’s tragic death when Edna feels a sense of loneliness and she begins “to lose herself,” (48). Edna will lose herself to the seductive voice of the sea. Edna even sees “a quick vision of death” (48) at this time. She has been reborn, although, even her rebirth could not stop the pain she felt. Waves in the ocean eventually come to an end and crash. The crashing down of the waves in the sea signify the downfall of Edna’s awakening. The very last time Edna swims out in the sea, she repeats the same words, “The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.” (189). Edna’s sensuous tone gives her peace. Edna knows her death is near and she is not scared. The sea is a vast, mysterious place. The water gets deeper and deeper as one swims further out into the depths of the sea, being unaware of the creatures lurking beneath their feet. Just as Edna goes on with her life, she goes deeper into her awakening. In The Awakening, Edna did not want to be confined to society’s rules, she wanted to determine her own fate. Edna therefore, ends her own life in the water of Grand Isle in which her rebirth and awakening had

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As Edna is walking into the sea, Kate Chopin expands on the setting and states, “The water was chill, but she walked on. The water was deep, but she lifted her white body and reached out with a long sweeping stroke” (176). The emphasis is placed on the water, explaining how it affected Edna. Kate Chopin utilizes anaphora to accentuate the choices Edna makes and how it defines the meaning of becoming aware and conscious of one’s self wellbeing over others. Furthermore, Kate Chopin continues with, “She went on and on.

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However, Edna’s excitement concerning the ocean soon turns to dread, beginning with when she experiences “ a certain ungovernable dread” and “a quick vision of death” while swimming, leaving her paralyzed in fear for a moment (Chopin 47- 48). Ultimately, Edna returns to the sea one final time at the end of the novel, overcome with a sense of despair as a result of her societal duress. Again, Chopin writes: “The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace” (Chopin 189). Though the description is the exact same, the connotation of the sea from Edna’s perspective has completely shifted. Specifically, the sea represents an end to the despair that has plagued Edna throughout the novel.

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The ocean – a constant symbol in The Awakening – started Edna’s rebirth. When she relaxed on the beach on Grand Isle, the water constantly seduced the main character. Her liberating thoughts originated when Edna first visited the beach with Robert Lebrun, and she began to “realize her position in the universe… and recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her” (Chopin, 13). Along with Edna’s thoughts, a significant scene was Edna’s first swim in the ocean.

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In the book the Awakening, the protagonist Edna Pontellier surrendered in the most serious ways, death. From the beginning to the end Edna changed how she acted. When her true character came to the surface Edna decided to surrender. When Edna surrenders and kills herself I believe that it was an act of triumph and that it was her way of finally being free.

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Additionally, the protagonist claims that the touch of the sea is “sensuous” in its “soft, close embrace.” This further repeating of the ‘s’ sound also shows that the sea is alluring her into entering. The author creates the sea to seem calm and peaceful, making nobody know the true violent nature of it. This is an awakening because the protagonist enters the sea, which represents a baptism, and never leaves. She instead stays and recalls all her memories, but realizes she does not want to live them anymore, and rather live her own life.

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Edna’s relationship with Robert is clearly what ignited Edna’s decisions to deviate from societal norms, not that Edna’s thoughts and ideologies truly belong nor morphed with her peers for her time. In the final section of The Awakening, Edna had several significant decisions that ultimately determined that she would not be controlled by societal expectations. I appeared to me, that chapter XXIII seemed to be the heaviest chapter for Edna’s mental and emotional changes. Edna in this chapter diverts more and more from the idealistic societal expectations associated with being a mother and wife. Edna becomes extremely relatable in terms of human frustration to readers, she is frustrated with Adele’s unwillingness to accept her passion for art

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In the novel, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the author uses water as a symbol to function as both rebirth and death to reveal the reasons why Edna Pontellier leads such a drury life. Water’s constant appearances in The Awakening signifies Mrs. Pontellier’s constant death and rebirth. The water is significant because is symbolizes two different ideas simultaneously. At the beginning of the novel, Mrs. Pontellier is terrified of the water however she wishes that she was not and she longs to swim. Mrs. Pontellier’s fear of the water symbolizes her fear of two

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Reading very descriptive accounts of intimate feelings and thoughts continually engages the audience. When swimming for the first time by herself, Edna ruminates about the water and the peacefulness, “She turned her face seaward to gather in an impression of space and solitude, which the vast expanse of water, meeting and melting with the moonlit sky, conveyed to her excited fancy” (37). Her thoughts about her first time swimming on her own intertwine with the physical sensations that she felt. However, the reader supports her and wants her to realize the her own strengths to swim, and live, on her own. This moment energizes the reader and makes he or she want to continue the novel to inquire if Edna actually attains her independence.

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Of husband and wife, brother and sister, friend and friend, or any other relationship that is formed in one's life, the bond between mother and child is the strongest. Throughout The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, Edna's children, by their very existence, serve as chains that keep her from pursuing her own goals and desires, as she is bound to them by her motherly duties. Edna's feelings of bondage by her children force her to remove herself from an innately meaningful relationship, in an attempt to elsewhere find meaning. This backwards mindset leads to Edna's eventual downfall, where, even then, she could not understand what she let go. Her stagnant thinking throughout the book reveals that she never had an "awakening", and she was doomed to

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The Awakening by Kate Chopin, is a highly acclaimed and controversial classic which is widely accepted as a big cornerstone for the women's movement. It can be said that such piece of literature helped lay some of the foundations for the political theory of feminism, and it suggested and inspired many women to seek their equality. This is mainly because the book itself explores the physical, emotional and mental state of Edna Pontellier, whose goal was to step out of the boundaries of a stereotypical Victorian wife. The main conflict of the narrative could be explained as an internal struggle, in which the protagonist begins a process to seek her desires, her inner self and even love. Those reasons alone are enough evidence to imply that The Awakening's plot is themed around an internal chain of discoveries and realizations.

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Adele has her sewing and Madame Reisz has her piano playing. One day, Edna agrees to go swimming with Robert. This experience awakens something inside her. She realizes swimming in the sea is some kind of escape for her. She can forget about all her responsibilities as a wife and a mother for a little while and just focus on herself.

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In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses gender roles to show that society is oppressive. During the time period that the novel was written, gender roles were very strict and they controlled all aspects of society. In fact, Jennifer Gray wrote, when discussing the impacts of gender roles, that “The hegemonic institutions of nineteenth-century society required women to be objects in marriage and in motherhood, existing as vessels of maternity and sexuality, with little opportunity for individuality” (53). The Awakening is a novel about Edna Pontellier's attempt to break free of the role she has been forced to assume by society through a spiritual, sexual and psychological awakening. Edna is a well off woman in society.

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As Edna becomes more comfortable in the water, she also becomes more in touch with her own emotions. One particular night, Edna is able to swim farther into the ocean than she ever had before - the same night when she realizes her own distaste with her marriage and her role in society. Chopin writes that while Edna was in the water, “a feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul (Chopin 27)”. This

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This passage is where Edna’s “awakening” begins in the text as she starts to go against the role of an obedient housewife. She realizes that she does not want to be a meek woman who obeys her husband without question and in light of this change, she starts to cry. Chopin uses similes to capture how empty Edna feels inside due to how her husband treats her. She feels trapped not only by her husband, but by society as Chopin shows that it is her “Fate.” Chopin's attention to water in the background of this scene is meant to be a symbol which shows how Edna strives to be a free like the ocean instead of being hidden by

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Within the novel, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Madame Ratignolle’s character possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast the characteristics and behavior of Edna Pontellier. Despite being close friends within the novel, Adele and Edna have contrasting views and behaviors that illuminate the theme of female freedom and the tradition of female submission and male domination. Madame Ratignolle and Edna Pontellier are close friends, but their views toward raising children differ fundamentally. Madame Ratignolle would sacrifice her identity to devote herself entirely to her children, household, and husband, whereas Edna would not. Besides their views towards raising children, how they raise their children also differs.

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