In Kate Chopin’s novel “The Awakening,” Edna Pontellier’s suicide is a complex and piteous act that serves as a final awakening for her character. Throughout the novel, Edna is on a journey toward self-discovery and liberation. She struggles with societal expectations, the limitations of being a woman, as well as her own desires for freedom that evolve from the introduction of her character to her eventual suicide. Edna Pontellier’s suicide was her way of putting herself and what she desired over that of the environment around her. She chooses to assert her independence and autonomy through her final act of self-discovery.
In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Edna searches for freedom from society, her reinvention of the circle of female life and the perpetual oppression of women within cultural norms. To start, the beginning of Edna’s awakening and her new life arrives when she successfully swims for the first time, exclaiming, “Think of the time I have lost splashing about like a baby!” (Chopin 40). The interpretation of swimming can be a baptism of sorts.
In ‘The Awakening’ there’s many themes that this story has, the most notable one is how music and art is displayed through emotions and actions. Moments in the story help us understand what Edna is feeling and gives us a better understanding. Some examples is when Robert tells Mademoiselle in a letter to play a song for Edna, when Edna gets upset when Victor starts singing at her dinner party, and Edna’s sketches. One moment is when Robert tells Mademoiselle in a letter to play a song for Edna. During Roberts departure, he sends letters to different people.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a novel about a mother, known as Edna, in the Victorian era who explores who she is and how she is unhappy with her life in high-class society. The novel ends with her admitting defeat and drowning in the ocean at a resort. Furthermore, throughout the novel, there are many signs of symbolism that the author conveys in order to properly illustrate Edna and her emotions. Chopin uses the moon, sea, and birds in order to do so. One symbol Chopin maintains is the moon.
Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, shows a women trying to go against gender norms in the nineteenth-century. The protagonist, Edna, is not the normal nineteenth-century woman. She is more like the normal twenty-first-century woman. For example, she refuses to be a wife and a mother. Throughout the novel, Chopin continues to examine gender relationships.
Over 50 % of all people who die by suicide suffer from major depression. Depression itself is often seen as a growing dilemma in Edna Pontellier's life, as she grows more and more intolerant towards her problems of being enslaved by her children and dominated by men. However, throughout the storyline of The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses the sea and music as symbols to reveal Edna's compelling desires to be free and how one must break away from society to achieve an independent self unit. In effect, these symbols help the reader understand the ultimate surrendering Edna has to undergo to unshackle herself from Victorian reform.
The Sea Inside The ocean serves as a powerful source of inspiration for many; it is often shrouded in myth, mystery, and romanticism, as illustrated by the multitude of poems, literature, and art that focus on it. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the sea serves as a symbol of multiple elements of Edna’s journey as it represents both inward reflection and contemplation, as well as the frightening dangers and liberating rebirth that come with the absolute and expansive freedom that Edna so desperately seeks. Edna spends much of her adult life surrounded by the responsibilities of her demanding domestic and social life, without much time to turn inward or be alone; thus, the expansive abyss of the sea offers her a tempting chance for contemplation and solitude. As Edna spends time along the water at Grand Isle, it invites her to explore “the mazes of inward contemplation”, leading her to reflect on “her position in the universe as a human being” (57).
Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, is the tale of a woman fighting to discover her identity and become the master of herself. Set in southern Louisiana in 1899, The Awakening is the story of Edna Pontellier, a woman of the Victorian era who is torn between settling for her role of wife and mother and being that which she desires most: having to answer to no one but herself. The story revolves around Edna, her husband Leonce who perceives himself to be the owner and caretaker of Edna, and her friend Mademoiselle Reisz who is unburdened by the rules of society, both of whom are instrumental in shaping Edna’s decisions. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses the symbolism of winged creatures to illustrate Edna’s metamorphosis from the property of
Major Symbols and Their Significance Birds: The caged birds in the beginning of The Awakening come to represent Edna and other Victorian women ensnared in socially accepted conventions. The mockingbird and the parrot continuously chatter and whistle, but are soon requested to be removed due to the discomfort they cause, especially to the men. They expect the birds to not be disruptive and to remain silent while they enjoy life and their activities. The mockingbird and parrot are a symbolic parallel to Edna and Mme.
Kate Chopin's The Awakening is a novel full of symbolism; even down to the title. By giving this novel the title, it is great symbolism of what the story will be about. The title gives a vague mental picture for you that cannot be fully understood until the reader has finished reading. It is also full of other symbolisms, such as clothes, houses, birds, swims, and the ocean. All of these elements are powerful and add great meaning to the characters and the novel itself.
Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” despite being an anecdote of a woman’s path of self-discovery, is also an anecdote of a woman’s downfall while on her search for her independence. Chopin uses religion to emphasize Edna’s, the protagonist’s, “sinful” ways in the novel. Without religion in both characters and symbolism the novel would lose its impact on the readers, therefore losing its message. Chopin’s use of religion to emphasize her overall message of independence is best expressed throughout her characters.
Many individuals believe that we live in a perfect environment, without all of the violence or prejudice. The feminist group rejects that idea since the views of women in society is the man’s tool. To fight back this ideal, the people write stories with female protagonists who challenge the social norms, one example being Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. The novella gives life to the motherly Adele Ratignolle, the unconventional Reisz, and the stubborn protagonist Edna Pontellier. Mrs. Pontellier is a rebellious woman trapped in a strict culture who finds freedom during her vacation in Grand Isle.
There are several major themes that can be explored in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, many of which also relate to the societal ideas set forth in the time period of the novel. One of the themes present in this novel is repression. Repression can be defined as “the restraint, prevention, or inhibition of a feeling, quality, or idea.” The repression (or lack thereof) of feelings, thoughts, and desires can be seen throughout the novel in all of Edna’s relationships with the major characters.
In her novel, The Awakening, Kate Chopin captures the interest of readers with the use of symbolism. The storyline details a time when women had strict expectations of what they should and should not do. The main character, Edna Pontellier, has a desire to change the role that society expected of her, but this view is not accepted very well. Throughout the story, Chopin uses symbolism to skillfully progress the theme of how Edna is struggling to change and be independent and happy with her life. Symbolism is specifically utilized throughout the novel with Edna’s houses, birds, the sea, and swimming.
