Kate Chopin 's The Awakening And Jon Krakauer 's Into The Wild

   Throughout her novel, The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses symbolism and imagery to portray the main character's emergence into a state of spiritual awareness. The image that appears the most throughout the novel is that of the sea. “Chopin uses the sea to symbolize freedom, freedom from others and freedom to be one's self” (Martin 58). The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, wants that freedom, and with images of the sea, Chopin shows Edna's awakening desire to be free and her ultimate achievement of that freedom.

Commonly explored throughout her works, the idea of marriage inhibiting a woman’s freedom is the driving force behind Kate Chopin’s contextual objections to propriety. In particular, The Awakening and “The Story of an Hour” explore the lives of women seeking marital liberation and individuality. Mrs. Chopin, who was raised in a matriarchal household, expresses her opposition to the nineteenth century patriarchal society while using her personal experiences to exemplify her feminist views.

Edna states, “The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude...to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation”(Chopin 17). Chopin utilizes practical uses of water to show Edna’s nonconformity and foreshadows the end of the novel. Kathryn Seidel states, “Edna begins her journey by discovering the limitations of domesticity as exemplified by the confining roles of wife and “mother-woman”; Chopin approached her novel from a background of local color and domestic fiction but with a sense of its limitations”(236). By incorporating swimming and sunbathing, Chopin reveals her underlying theme. Beginning in chapter one with the way Mr.Pontellier looks at his wife as a damaged possession after stating, “You are burnt beyond recognition”(Chopin 5). This shows how women were treated in this time period; therefore, Edna felt the power to break the social norm of objectivity of women. Towards the middle of the book, Edna experiences her first swim. The narrator states, “She turned her face seaward to gather in an impression of space and solitude which the vast expanse of water...as she swam she seemed to be reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself”(Chopin 32). Edna’s first swim symbolizes her awakening moment. As she swims, she feels like she is “reaching out for the unlimited”

During the late nineteenth century, the time of protagonist Edna Pontellier, a woman's place in society was confined to worshipping her children and submitting to her husband. Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, encompasses the frustrations and the triumphs in a woman's life as she attempts to cope with these strict cultural demands. Defying the stereotype of a "mother-woman," Edna battles the pressures of 1899 that command her to be a subdued and devoted housewife. Although Edna's ultimate suicide is a waste of her struggles against an oppressive society, The Awakening supports and encourages feminism as a way for women to obtain sexual freedom, financial independence, and individual identity.

“The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, and inviting the soul to wander for a spell in the abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation." (Chopin 13). Edna was a person that found passion within arts of life, her admiration to her most intimate friend who had the gift of writing, a personal way of expressing, as well as Mademoiselle Reisz who played the piano with a passion that broke tradition for which Edna was the only one to appreciate it, Mademoiselle Reisz music evoked a waking with Edna 's body and soul that could not compare to nothing else - "But the very passions themselves were aroused within her soul, swaying it lashing it as the waves daily beat upon her splendid body. She trembled, she was choking, and the tears blinded her"(Chopin 27). Approximating the end of the summer Edna also nears a personal growth within, she learns to swim, simply ineffable to Edna but ordinary to many other people would not care for its gift, she learned to swim and she went as far into the ocean where no woman had swum before, a point in Edna 's life that prepares her to open herself up for new choices. She choices to find shelter in a man that had aroused herself as a young beautiful woman, she choices to dream and long for Robert Lebrun like the other forbidden men in her childhood, but its only when she returns to her charming home on

Sexual transgression and sexual exploration is one of the most highly talked about topics in today’s society. The path to sexual liberation within society begins with experimentation and exploration, followed by personal acceptance, and finally, although not always, societal acceptance. Although we have come a long way on the path of acceptance of different sexual transgressions, the stories of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Tennessee Williams’ “Vieux Carre,” and Lyle Saxon’s “The Centaur Plays Croquet” show that this type of acceptance has not always been the case. Each story plays an integral role when looking at the steps on the path to societal acceptance. Chopin 's story dives deep into the area of experimentation and exploration, whereas Saxon 's story looks more at the areas of personal acceptance, and Williams ' story lies more along the area of societal acceptance, and whether or not acceptance is always the end result.

Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening depicts sexual affairs, inner struggles, and the conquest of motherhood that most women face today. The conquest of motherhood involves the battle between being a supportive wife and selfless mother. The story revolves around the characters’ dialogue and appearances described beautifully throughout the novel by Kate Chopin. The story is a familiar one that, sadly, most women can relate to: A woman is married without knowing what true love is. Her husband treats her kindly and respectfully; however, views her as a possession more-so than a human being. The husband, caring more about his duties, job, and money, leaves his wife struggling with her domestic responsibilities such as raising a family, being a good mother and wife. Characterization contributes to Edna’s struggles because each character described by Chopin affects the way Edna lives her life. Robert has a passionate effect on her and gives her that temporary confidence and “fire” that she needed in her life. Her husband’s description by Chopin reflects just how neglected and lonely Edna felt. The other Creole women that are explained by Chopin also shows the readers what the “perfect mother or wife” should be. Chopin’s mechanism of using characterization throughout the novel does not reflect the character’s personalities and motifs. However, Kate Chopin uses direct and indirect characterization as the anchor of the novel that supplies the reader with the benefit

The sea was her freedom, her escape from the Edna who submitted for the role of an endearing wife as she finds purchase on her true identity. At the end of the story, Edna once again finds herself next to the sea in search of strength and peace. She felt “like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known” (Chopin 189). The sea allows her to be free, to see the world in the way it was supposed to appear rather than the way society wants it to be seen. She wanted to love who she wanted to love, do as she wanted to do, paint when she wanted to paint, live a life of independence and peaceful freedom where the real her was expressed. Chopin in no way withholds her literary talent as she incorporates such a powerful symbol into her story, expressing Edna’s journey in finding herself and what she stood for in a powerful and successful manner. In the end, Chopin had Edna end her life in the place where it truly began, the sea, to express the penultimate act in discovering herself.. The powerful symbol of freedom and escape represented Edna finding peace and rest in eternal freedom.

Finally, Chopin’s distinction of Mrs. Pontellier in this passage also makes reference towards the representation that she has with a few individuals and society in the story as well. For example, at the end of the passage in chapter six, Chopin provides details that speaks to the type of woman that Mrs. Pontellier is beginning to see herself as. In the passage it reads, “The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.” This statements provides the description of Edna Pontellier in a larger sense as she relates her new outlook on freedom to that of the sea. Here is where she finally notes her true individuality and not just another wife or mother, but that she is free to be whom she wants and take notice of her own desires, wants and needs. One may find that as she describes details of the sea she begins to rouse her thoughts of ownership over herself.

““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. As she swam she seemed to be reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself,” (28 Chopin). The “excited fancy” would be the introspection she is experiencing once again. The sea was used as a metaphor for the rush the awakening provided; a rush that could not be stopped. This is also foreshadowing the ending where Edna, rather than swimming back to the shore from expectation, obligation, or some hope that there was a life for her on the shore, continues on giving herself completely to the rapid

Kate Chopin’s novel, the Awakening, explores many feminist ideologies. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, experiences a gradual yet full-fledged “awakening.” There are many events throughout the story that portray this progression of self-awareness; most of these events revolve around Edna’s relationship with water, especially of her stay at Grand Isle. Chopin captures Edna’s relationship with water through its symbolism of both rebirth and death and the repeated string of gerunds at the beginning and end of the novel.

Freedom. A goal. A liberty. A myth. So many descriptions for a single concept. Yet the main idea is the same: to be free of restrictions, free to be whatever you wish. It is a life necessity, one that was, unfortunately, and still is, restricted throughout history, resulting in many chasing after its acquisition. Humans currently live in a time, in several nations, where freedom is a right, a necessity of life freely given. However, throughout history, freedom has been kept to only a minority, resulting in individuals struggling to change society for freedom to be distributed to the majority of people, a battle that took years, centuries to accomplish. This fight for true autonomy took many forms, both violent and peaceful. Literary works, in particular, have been major agents to this cause, serving as both reminders of those struggles and remembrance to readers of the endeavors those authors sought to accomplish. Two particular works, The Awakening by Kate Chopin and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, spearheaded movements for freedom by tackling the prejudice of gender roles, expressing through their novels’ characters and experiences the arguments for individual freedom and the challenges that must be conquered to achieve those goals for future generations.

Chopin uses The Awakening to show how the power of the sea allows a person (Edna) to understand his or her own meaning to how their life should be lived and why. A person’s freedom is being able to live out his or her interpretation on how life should be lived to the fullest. Before Edna started to discover herself, she was stuck between wanting to explore herself and her desires more fully and the truths about the role of Victorian women. It’s not until the first major event in her awakening in which she finally enables herself to have a deeper, more meaningful form of self-awareness. The baptismal swim in the sea allowed Edna to discover this personal interpretation. At

"The voice of the sea seductive; never ceasing [...] inviting the soul to wander" (Chopin 57) shows how Edna has been unable to adjust to the extravagant lifestyle her Creole husband Leonce has provided and is susceptible to the temptations of a life within herself that is outside of the more strict societal norms she is now being faced with. A

In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses the symbol, the sea, as a way to convey Edna’s newly found strength and empowerment.The sea both demonstrate the transformation of her body and transformation of her mind. Edna’s swiming experience transforms her body during her awakening by overcoming her fears. Learning to swim is an important experience because it shows how she is now able to gain control over her body. The statement, “The voice of the sea speaks to the soul” (Chopin 18), is powerful due to the fact that it represents how Edna undergoes a dramatic change in character. In order to express her innermost desires, she has to go from listening and acting upon the influences of society, to following her own mind. The sea is also seen as a “seductive” voice that "invit[es] the soul to wander”(Chopin 25). The sea and its limitless potential invites Edna deep into thought about life. These play a large part in understanding Edna’s personal transformation from a quiet and fearful girl to an empowered and independent