Literary Techniques In The Awakening

Not only does Chopin use Edna and Adele’s views to contrast them, but also physically describes them as opposites. Edna is described as a sticking woman that is captivating “Mrs. Pontellier’s eyes were quick and bright; they were a yellowish brown, about the color of

Chopin especially reveals the growth of Edna’s inner identity through her increasingly conflicting interactions with her husband

Chopin uses revealing details to display a triumphant tone about independence to prove that in order to be truly satisfied in life, one must discover what they are really capable of and gain independence and individuality on their own. In the beginning of the story, Edna Pontellier struggles to find freedom in her life. She seems to be held back by her unsteady marriage with her husband, Léonce, and does not feel truthfully pleased with herself. She is rather unsure about her life and the people that she is surrounded by daily. “Every step she took toward relieving herself of obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual. She began to look with her own eyes; to see and to apprehend the deeper undercurrents of life. No longer was she content to "feed upon opinion" when her own soul had invited her” (Chopin 94). Edna starts to enjoy her new life without her husband around. This specific movement towards freedom and individuality appears to be slightly unavoidable in Edna’s case, particularly because her husband has been away in New York for a while. However, she quickly adjusts to doing things on her

In the iconic debated novel “The Awakening”, Kate Chopin’s novel takes place in the Victorian Era, which is in the 19th- century, similarly the novel was published in 1899. Edna is depicted as a woman longing for more, a woman who was looking for more than just a life of complacency and living in the eyes of society. The story uses Edna to exemplify the expectations of women during this era. For example, a woman’s expression of independence was considered immoral. Edna was expected to conform to the expectations of society but the story reveals Edna’s desires which longed for independence in a state of societal dominance. Throughout The Awakening, Chopin’s most significant symbol,

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.

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.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is a fictional book about people who are going to Canterbury to receive the blessings of St. Thomas Becket. The Host suggests that to make a journey pleasant, every member has to tell a story and the person who tells the best story will get free dinner paid by the other members. The Host decides to accompany other members to Canterbury and serves as the judge of the Tale. A relationship is usually seen between a teller of a tale and the tale that he or she decides to share. The Pardoner, The Merchant, and the Wife of Bath use their feelings and experience to teach the lessons in the tale. Merchant has poor and second-rate views on marriage whereas Pardoner commits lot of sins and frauds and Wife of Bath wants womens to have control over their life.

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.

Not trusting instincts is a central issue found in this short story. Billy notices that something is unusual about the boarding house he decides to stay at. For example, Billy signs into the sign in book and notices that there are only two names there he slightly recognizes. Dahl writes, “ ‘I’m almost positive it was in the newspapers I saw them’…” (4). Billy notices that it is a little strange that only two people have been here in the past two years. He feels confused and nervous but does not do anything about it. Because of this, Billy Weaver makes the problem worse because he can say something about it, but he decides not to. This shows that Billy has to trust himself. Billy Weaver does not know this lady very well, so he can easily trust

Romanticism put a lot of influence on changing, and in the novel Edna is influenced by art to transform herself. As the book progresses Edna learns to do what she wants even if it defied normal social guidelines for women. Chopin makes this easy to see when she says, “But when she was there beside the sea, absolutely alone, she stood naked in the open air…” (Chopin 124).

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.

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

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.

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.

“They told of dripping stone walls in uninhabited castles and of ivy-clad monastery ruins by moonlight, of locked inner rooms and secret dungeons, dank charnel houses and overgrown graveyards, of footsteps creaking upon staircases and fingers tapping at casements, of howlings and shriekings, groanings and scuttlings and the clanking of chains, of hooded monks and headless horseman, swirling mists and sudden winds, insubstantial specters and sheeted creatures, vampires and bloodhounds, bats and rats and spiders, of men found at dawn and women turned white-haired and raving lunatic, and of vanished corpses and curses upon heirs” (Susan Hill). In this quote Susan Hill is describing gothic architecture found in one of her stories. The dark dungeons and dank charnel houses directly points to the gothic genre.