ipl-logo

Sea Symbolism In The Awakening

1120 Words5 Pages

Over the years, numerous covers of Kate Chopin 's novel, The Awakening, have been created since the novel was originally published in 1899. The covers differ in appearance and each cover reflects its own important symbols and themes that are portrayed in The Awakening. However, some are more effective than others and allow for a deeper insight into the novel. For example, Enriched Classics’ cover with a bird in the cage and Edna gazing out into the wilderness, provides insight into the symbol of the birds and Edna’s desire for freedom and escape. This cover allows for better understanding of the novel than Rafi Romaya’s cover of a seashell. Although a seashell can be connected to the novel in some ways, it does not hint to as many themes and …show more content…

The island is in the Gulf of Mexico and thus is surrounded by the warm, gulf sea. Throughout the novel, Edna is always around the sea and she constantly finds herself drawn to its allure. She feels that the seductive voice of the sea calls to her, and as if the “touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace” (Chopin 13). The sea’s lure continuously pulls at her until she gives into its temptation. When Edna decides to go into the sea, there is a spark inside her and she is awakened. Edna has her first realization of her innermost desires, both intellectually and sexually. In the cover, she is out far into the sea, away from the beach. This can represent the first time she is able to swim. Edna strays far from land and although she is frightened at first, she discovers a feeling she has never felt before: freedom. “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” (27). For the first time, she challenges herself, and she is able to do something she was not able to previously do. Learning to swim is Edna’s first step in her journey to challenge and defy society. The cover of the novel is effective because the picture of Edna emerged in water alludes to the fact that she is connected to the sea and finds her awakening in the

Show More
Related
363 Words | 2 Pages

She experiences a symbolic rebirth, an awakening. The happiness soon comes to an end as Robert realizes they've become too close and leaves the island. Edna suddenly becoming depressed befriends Madame Ratinolle and Mademoiselle

Read More
687 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
794 Words | 4 Pages

Edna Pontellier possessed something rich and unworthy. Edna’s disregard for the individuals and society’s opinion did not force her to remain oppressed in the parrot’s cage nor become reluctant to the ocean. Edna’s heroic individualism liberated the chains that plagued her from flying and swimming into freedom and the discovery of Edna’s identity. All individuals experience various sorts of transitions in their life, whether it’s emotionally, physically, or mentally. It was Edna Pontellier’s journey of a thousand miles, new experiences and beginnings that led to the benefit of self- rule and sovereignty.

Read More
467 Words | 2 Pages

Her ability to swim starts in chapter 10, and ironically Edna’s happiness then eventually leads to her bismal ending in chapter 39. Another interesting example is Edna’s relationships with Arobin and Robert, where Edna chooses to act rebellious and choose her own terms for two affair-like relationships. Either case, Edna felt “as if a mist had been lifted from her eyes, enabling her to took upon and comprehend the significance of life, that monster made up of beauty and brutality” (Chopin 84). Her relationships tore her emotions apart, but in the process angered and falsely strengthened her; this is an example of the “masking” of her characteristics. In reality, Robert and Arobin

Read More
591 Words | 3 Pages

Its murmurs sparked her repressed thirst for passion that she quickly quelled as she fell into the embrace of the waves and allowed “the voice of the sea speak to [her] soul.” Soon Edna subconsciously dived into the pleasures of freedom and

Read More
1386 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
1283 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
1171 Words | 5 Pages

Her frequent vacations to the island, like her frequent dips into the ocean, begin to spark a personal change within the woman. A Creole man, Robert, shows Edna a new dimension of feelings she never knew she lived without, and she begins to look through life through a new lens. Having been awakened for the first time, she sees injustice and mistreatment where she saw none before. Chopin uses Edna’s new observations and reactions to the culture around her to illustrate the myriad ways women were marginalized. In an ironic twist, the white woman from Kentucky proves to be more liberated than her more traditional husband, who grew up

Read More
746 Words | 3 Pages

The title, The Awakening, signifies the self-realization of Edna Pontellier and her own personal awakening. Edna’s character undergoes a dramatic lifestyle and spiritual change. She begins the novel as the typical old fashioned housewife that is expected to look and act a certain way. Edna was a respectable housewife who yearns for a social, spiritual, and sexual awakening

Read More
160 Words | 1 Pages

While seemingly calm and beautiful, the ocean possesses danger that could entice one into pursuing a false utopian state of being. Edna’s inability to distinguish the danger and the beauty of the ocean ultimately leads her behave irrationally and chooses to end her life in the end. The idea of pursuing one’s goal through rationale mean is not only significant within the novel but also relevant to our daily lives. In real life, people sometimes feel discontented with their social status and economic condition. While some people are motivated to take concrete action to improve their living conditions, some make unrealistic goals and seek to find an immediate way to success.

Read More
925 Words | 4 Pages

In the 1800’s, the societal niche of married women was clearly defined: they were meant to devote every aspect of their lives to their husbands and children. Edna Pontellier, the protagonist in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, struggles to adhere to these standards, and eventually rebels against them. The harsh standards placed on Edna and other women in the novel are like the cages around the metaphorical birds Chopin uses to represent them. Edna's unhappiness in her societal role is realized in the ocean, which symbolizes this awakening and her attempt to escape the gender roles of the nineteenth century.

Read More
697 Words | 3 Pages

In “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, the city setting helped to establish the theme of freedom in the novel. Through symbolism and juxtaposition, Chopin displayed the importance of setting to the work as a whole. Through the settings of New Orleans and Grand Isle, the feelings and ideas of Edna Pontellier became known, and the thematic meaning of the novel was established. The city setting in “The Awakening” helped to establish the theme of freedom by representing just the opposite.

Read More
1315 Words | 6 Pages

Chopin’s focuses were to show through these objects and literary symbols, the social injustices that women were going through. “The Awakening” begins with a parrot in a cage, which is supposed to be a representation of women of that time period. Just like parrots, women were annoying and were only displayed for their beauty. Moreover, women were trapped in cages which caused them to not be free. Since women were not free they remained trapped and imposed to the roles that society had labeled and stereotyped them to be.

Read More
919 Words | 4 Pages

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was written at the end of the nineteenth century, where many roles for women began to change; therefore, the it appears to have been a turning point for females (“The Role of the Wife and Mother”). These changes in female roles were mostly due to the actions of women themselves, motivated by their desires to break away from the limits imposed on their gender The nineteenth century was a critical point in time for women, in regards to their roles in society (“The Role of the Wife and Mother”). In The Awakening, Edna goes through noteworthy changes in the course of the novel, which reconstructs her into a woman who goes against societal ideals regarding motherhood and marriage . In the 1890s, motherhood was viewed

Read More
1298 Words | 6 Pages

The ocean… The sound of the waves applauding and hugging the shore. The internal sounds of the body out in the world’s biggest swimming pool. The echo of my sister’s laughter. The salty smell so strong that one can taste it dancing on ones taste buds.

Read More

More about Sea Symbolism In The Awakening

Related Topics

Open Document