Literary Techniques In The Awakening

The reader thinks Edna might just be frustrated with her husband. As the novel shifts to New Orleans, it is clear that she has changed. Edna starts to feel motivated to take action. Finally the setting comes back to Grand Isle, and it is the climax of Edna’s awakening. It is also where she drowns herself. Nobody know for sure whether it was intentional or not since Chopin said, “Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions”(Chopin 58).

In Chapter 8, Madame Ratignolle pulls Robert aside and asks him to leave Edna alone. She explains that Edna,” Is not one of us; she is not like us. She might make the unfortunate blunder of taking you seriously.” Chopin’s use of repetition in Adele’s dialogue puts emphasis on Edna’s uniqueness and labels her as an outcast. Adele sees Edna drifting further and further away from the social norms of their accustomed society and wishes to stop her before its too late. Chopin also uses this scene to foreshadow Robert’s unwillingness to commit to Edna as he brushes off Madame Ratignolle’s warning, seeing his relationship with Edna as a fling rather than being the passionate lover Edna craves.

Later on in the novel, Edna speaks about how Mademoiselle Reisz checks her shoulder blades for strength because “the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings” (Chopin 79). While many characters shut Reisz off because of how strange she is, Edna visits her because of their unspoken, mutual understanding of the significance of the potential power and precedence that her true, inner identity could hold if she let it fly free. At the end of the novel, Chopin describes a “bird with a broken wing” who circles “disabled down, down to the water” (108) to reflect how the strength of Edna’s inner identity breaks her because her spirit is too weak to maintain her desires alongside her realization that she could never be truly happy again in this time of unbreaking oppression and possession. Elz notes that if Edna continues to live that she will always be moving from relationship to relationship to satisfy her true desires, even though - in contrast - she wishes for her existence to not be defined by her relationships with men. “Like the mockingbird,” Elz continues, Edna “insists on her way” and therefore refuses to accept the roles society pushes on her and, in result, commits suicide as her inner identity wins and proves that she can not be controlled (20).

The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, is the story of a woman who is seeking freedom. Edna Pontellier feels confined in her role as mother and wife and finds freedom in her romantic interest, Robert Lebrun. Although she views Robert as her liberator, he is the ultimate cause of her demise. Edna sees Robert as an image of freedom, which brings her to rebel against her role in society. This pursuit of freedom, however, causes her death. Chopin uses many images to clarify the relationship between Robert and Edna and to show that Robert is the cause of both her freedom and her destruction.

The humanly gift of imagination is a unique power within that subconsciously is a locomotor to both the body and spirit to a person 's individual Elysium. It goes far and beyond our cognition into an exuberant fantasy molded by our wants and desires, reaching untamed worlds. Turning imagination into realism is denounced as an impossible being, but it 's in fact the awakening to our lucid dreaming. Edna Pontellier is a woman with a heart that soared beyond the horizons into a limitless world, forced into cage by the inevitable way of life. Kate Chopin through the beautifully sculpted novel “The Awakening” condemned Edna with a mindset beyond her years, finding meaning through her unsocial actions shunned by the eyes of others. Edna used her

Edna’s suicide was victory of self-expression. Edna undergoes a gradual awakening process in which portrays not to only her newly established independence from the constraints of her husband, but also her ability to go against the social norms of society in order to individually express herself. Her suicide encompases the question and critique of living life through the perspective of society such as being responsible for taking care of the kids, cleaning the house, and entertaining any guests that the husband may have over anytime. In the first couple of capters, the novel is quick to emphasize the gerneralized roles kthat are placed onto females, making it apparent that fe,ales are expected to successfully fulfil these roles. For example, Leonce enters home after being out and stated one of the kids had a fever. Edna was certain the child had no fever but Leonce belittles her capability as a mother for indifference with him. “If it was not a mother’s place to look after the children, whose on earth was it?” (27capac).

In Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, she writes about a woman’s desire to find and live fully within her true self during the 1890s in Louisiana. The woman, Edna Pontellier, is trying to find herself in the masculine society of Louisiana, leading her to cause friction with friends, family and the Creole society. Edna begins to feel a change; she begins to feel like a whole person with wants, interests and desires. She learns that she is not comfortable with being a wife and mother. The imagery of the parrot in the cage in Chopin’s novel is being compared to Edna because it represents Edna’s unspoken feelings and imprisonment. The sense of unspoken feelings and imprisonment of Edna causes her to put her own needs before her family. As Edna finds herself trying to satisfy the Creole society, she begins to feel isolated and confused. Through Edna’s trace of freedom, she begins to undergo a transformation of self, slowly straying away from society, and taking control over her own actions and beliefs. Through obstacles to Edna’s freedom, she learns that she does have control of her own body. The symbolism of the birds and the sea is used to symbolize Edna’s struggle for independence.

In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening a wife and a mother of two, Edna Pontellier, discovers her desires as a woman to live life to the fullest extent and to find her true self. Eventually, her discovery leads to friction between friends, family, and the dominant values of society. Through Chopin's use of Author’s craft and literary elements, the readers have a clear comprehension as to what the author is conveying.

Edna Pontellier spends some time with her children and feels quite lonesome once they leave. “She carried away with her the sound of their voices and the touch of their cheeks. All along the journey homeward their presence lingered with her like the memory of a delicious song. But by the time she had regained the city the song no longer echoed in her soul. She was again alone” (Chopin 95). Edna is evidently becoming more independent as the story progresses. Although a somber tone is portrayed from this quote, the author is trying to establish a more triumphant tone through Edna’s thoughts. Chopin is revealing Edna’s inner self by describing how she feels when her children leave. The specific word choice that the author chooses is specifically unique and helps portray the triumphant tone by showing that Edna is becoming happier as she becomes more independent. Although Edna feels alone, the author’s triumphant tone shows that she is gaining her identity as an individual as she is separated from her peers and family. The children in the story represent an obligation, which Edna feels she could do without. Through the triumphant tone, the author clearly implies that Edna would rather be alone than to be obligated to taking care of her kids. The specific

Throughout The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin, the main character, Edna Pontellier showed signs of a growing depression. There are certain events that hasten this, events which eventually lead her to suicide.

The First Awakening began as an idea of evangelical minister Theodore Frelinghuysen, however, didn’t begin to impact society until many itinerant preachers such as Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards began traveling throughout New England preaching against church hierarchies telling people what to do and having their relationships with God. Both the First and Second Awakenings reflected changes in religious belief, and as ministers preached different theologies than those of the past significant social changes caused an increase in religious passion and brought a revival to Christian thinking.

Symbolism in both narrations helped the reader along the story as well. They were used to describe the characters feelings and/or were used to represent the characters themselves. In The Awakening, birds were described several times throughout the story. These birds were used to represent Enda’s state of mind or what may happen to her next in the story. For example, the parrot was used to symbolize Enda’s feeling that she is misunderstood.

The Awakening was a very exciting and motivating story. It contains some of the key motivational themes that launched the women’s movement. It was incredible to see how women were not only oppressed, but how they had become so accustomed to it, that they were nearly oblivious to the oppression. The one woman, Edna Pontellier, who dared to have her own feelings was looked upon as being mentally ill. The pressure was so great, that in the end, the only way that she felt she could be truly free was to take her own life.  In this paper I am going to concentrate on the characters central in Edna’s life and her relationships with them.

On the contrary, Adele viewed motherhood and being a wife as the single handedly most important role in a woman’s life. When Edna was distressed she wanted to do something to fix the problem where on the other hand Adele would simply use the piano to sooth her soul and relax herself in order to overcome the anger that is at that time bypassing her.

However, Edna's suicide leaves many readers unsatisfied and disappointed. Almost everyone has their own interpretation of the ending. Edna's suicide represents her final attempt to fully escape.(Rosowski 46) She escapes her children, her lovers, and most important, time and change (Rosowski 47). As she swims out to sea and death, Edna's mind returns to her childhood dreams of limitlessness. In this sense, the sea symbolizes her dreams to have her youth back because "it had no beginning and no end."(Rosowski 58). Edna imagines herself walking through the Kentucky meadows that she remembered from many years ago. Edna died, but in a way she had created her own limitless awakening.