The Sea In Kate Chopin's The Awakening
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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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Women during Edna’s time were supposed to be dedicated to their husbands and children, however, Edna yearned for her own independence, and as a result of wanting her own independence Edna knew that she was seen as a terrible person. For instance Edna wanted to “…try to determine what character of a woman I am; for, candidly, I don't know. By all the codes which I am acquainted with, I am a devilishly wicked specimen of the sex. But some way I can't convince myself that I am. I must think about it" (27.4).
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2)First Swim Through the conch shell , Edna’s craving to break from the limiting island of society . Continually using the imagery of the sea as
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The other reason makes Edna realize her own self is swimming, as if a release to her. Refer to what she said in the novel, to beyond other women, it can express that her aspiration on being alternative and get rid of the constraint from the society. Also that is the first body contact with Robert, she find herself in the ocean, and there is the place she longing, also aware of the freedom. Robert, is a boy she falls in love with, yet she aware of that, if she marries to Robert, her future just same as now, she will lose her freedom.
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Before the start of Edna’s awakening, she was different from other women at Grand Isle; she held a sense of a deep internal life, one that did not revolve around expected domestic
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Edna spends her final moments walking alongside the shore, naked and at her most vulnerable. Chopin personifies the water to emphasize the intimacy of this moment, describing the sea’s voice as “seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude” (175). Just like her despair, the noise of the ocean surrounds Edna completely, asking her to come closer. It isn’t a surprise as to why the ocean appeals so much to Edna, due to its vastness and its promise of escape from reality, just like when she first discovered her swimming ability and swam as far away from shore as possible. It’s only when she looks back at the shore and remembers her duty to her family that her swimming falters, and
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The author used the symbol of the sea to represent Edna’s awakening and orienting her world towards herself, by having the awakening there in the first place, and then later taking her life back as a last resort. At the beginning of the story, Edna first begins to have stirred feelings when she learns to swim. In an essay written by Jagielska, Anna Marie, and Małgorzata Godlewska, the text states, “The novel offers an explanation to Edna’s attitude suggesting her attempts to counteract the stereotypes about women: ‘She [Edna] wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before’ [Chopin, 1976, p. 32]”(Jagielska, Anna Marie, Małgorzata Godlewska 67). The sea allows Edna to resist the expectations that women have in
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The ocean, and by extension swimming, serve to symbolize liberation and the pursuit of that thereof. Edna grew up as a respectable woman in Kentucky, a landlocked state with no land connection to the ocean. After settling into marriage with Léonce Pontellier, she moves out to coastal Louisiana and spends summers out in Grand Isle, surrounded by ocean. Grand Isle is where Edna meets Robert, and where she experiences her awakening. While there, Edna begins learning to swim, and as she learns to control the water she in turn discovers that she has agency over her own body.
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In the story “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin there are many examples of symbolism present. The main symbol is the parrot owned by Madame Lebrun, “A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door.” This is symbolic of Edna’s life, much like the birds caged up literally, she is caged up by society’s views of the married woman. Just as the bird have the ability to use their wings to fly, Edna has the ability to be free in relationships and not be tied down by a man. Also, just like the bird is literally caged, Edna is caged in the relationship with her husband even though she wants to be with Robert.
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Edna describes the sea as if it is a romantic partner, and looks to it as a way to get away from the life she is actually living. As a large body of water, the sea may represent rebirth for Edna, especially when she learns to swim. Character Development: Edna Pontellier Edna is a very dynamic character, who goes through a great deal of development throughout the story.
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If it were not for the vacationing at Grand Isle, Edna would not have the ocean to empower her. The setting of the sea taught Edna to gain control.
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Kate Chopin conveys the feelings and internal conflict of Edna Pontellier through using the ocean as a symbol of Edna’s awakening and rebirth, and birds as symbols of how women felt trapped by gender roles during this time. These symbols convey the overbearing and oppressive standards women were held to throughout the nineteenth
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The Awakening is a novel written by Kate Chopin that follows a woman named Edna Pontellier on her journey to self-awareness. Edna lived a comfortable lifestyle with her husband and two children in Louisiana during the 19th century. Despite obtaining all aspects to a perfect life, Edna became dissatisfied after meeting Robert Lebrun in Grand Isle. Robert sparked a desire for unlawful lust as well as a yearning for independence in a society full of conformed standards. Edna was unable to handle the pressures associated with achieving personal freedom which ultimately led to her death.
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Chopin represents Edna’s journey of her awakening through the symbol of birds. Within the first paragraph of the novel the mention of Madame Lebrun's "green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage” is presented to the reader (Chopin 1). The parrot lacks communication with the world and is only able to voice few words: “ The parrot could speak a little Spanish, and also a language which nobody understood" (Chopin1). It warns its listeners crying “Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en!
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This socially constructed identity is the first of the many that Edna grapples with in the text. It is the identity of women within the time period of the text. In the words of Dix, Edna’s identity is meant to be that of a typical American wife who will control the home, children and entertain socially yet remain obedient to her working husband (146). ‘Looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property’ (Chopin 4). The
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