Essay on Use of Symbolism in Chopin’s The Awakening

Edna's feelings of despondency fade as the sea's spell reaches out for her again. The narrator points out that "[the] voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in

This is the point in the story where Edna starts listening to her voices inside her gives into her inner desires. She continues to struggle with the fact that she married out of convenience and she has two sons that she really does not want to mother as well as the fact that she loves being an artist. In chapter x, Edna goes to the sea only to realize that all her swimming lesson had finally paid off that summer and she was swimming. Chopin describes this even like a baby finally getting enough confidence to walk and the baby walks realizing its own strength and power. While swimming, she soon gets tired and has quick feeling overcome her of the possibility of drowning but quickly swims back to shore. She has conquered her greatest fear and now feels like a new woman that is no longer afraid of her true feelings. Edna’s affair with Robert continues and he eventually leaves Grand Isle and her and her family returns home.

For Edna, swimming represents freedom. When she learns to swim, "A feeling of exultation [overtakes] her, as if some power of significant import [has] been given her to control the working of her body and her soul" (73). Because Robert is the one who teaches her how to swim, he is seen as her liberator. She fears the water, just as she fears freedom. When she does taste freedom, she desires more of it. This is paralleled when she learns to swim. "She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before" (73). Robert aids in her independence, but

During the first swim, being too distant from the shore would cause a “flash of terror” on Edna. Her first “quick vision of death” makes her hurry back to her waiting husband and friends. It is interesting to notice that on the night of her awakening, she is overwhelmed with a vision of death, but at the novel's end, she has a vision of life's beginning, she “heard her father’s voice and her sister Margaret’s. She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree”. She is taken back to her

Several passages in The Awakening struck me because of their similar imagery—a bird, wings, and nudity. The first passage I looked at is in Chapter 9 where Edna Pontellier has a vision of a naked man “standing beside a desolate rock” (47) on a beach who is watching a bird fly away. This image was evoked by a one particular piece that Mme Ratignolle plays which Edna significantly calls “Solitude. ” Apparently Edna frequently envisions certain images while listening to music: “Musical strains, well rendered, had a way of evoking pictures in her mind” (47). Listening to this piece Edna envisions a solitary, naked man with an “attitude […] of hopeless resignation” (47). This scene presents solitude

Waves crashed into the small hull, her tiny voice being drowned out by the sound of it. Between the lighting flashes, she sees the two adults race along the boat, securing belongings that had come loose. Her brother sits near her, frightened and crying, yet somehow comforting as her tiny hands cling to his fur. The rain whipped around them, blown about by fierce winds, and she covered her head to protect against the stinging droplets. Another crack echoed in her ears, but this one was not accompanied by thunder. Water rushed over her feet as the hull bent into strange new shapes around her. Another crash of lightning revealed nothing but the now illuminated night sky, roiling with the dark clouds of the storm. Then the cold overwhelmed her, the current dragging her away from her sibling and under the water. Spinning recklessly, she flailed in the depths until the darkness set in, mercifully quieting

Edna’s awakening allows the two distinct female models of society to become clear, and her awakening causes her to feel unable to conform to either model. Edna’s arousal is that which opens her eyes to see her potential apart from her current life. Spending time in Grand Isle unveils a new

Due this conflict with her husband, Edna moves closer to the sin of adultery. She begins to have a passionate relationship with a man named Robert Lebrun. He devotes himself to being Edna’s swim teacher. Edna has the courage to go into the ocean and learn how to swim, which can also represent the courage to break the role of a devoted wife and begin an affair with a younger man. During the beginning of her awakening, “The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude”(13).The sea seems to symblolize Edna’s empowerment,and control over her own body as she has courage to swim. However, it is also where Edna takes her own life because her desires will never truly be fulfilled. Her love affair with Robert tempts her to give her into her own sexuality and desires which begins in the sea. This goes against women submissive role in

““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

The journey of Edna’s awakened self mirrors the narrative of her first swim in the ocean. The experience begins suddenly, and Edna is swept up in the joy of it. She continues, oblivious to her direction or position. She loses track of those around her, and is lost in the sensation. Suddenly, she realizes that she cannot sustain herself; she is out too far, and does not know what to do. This is the point Edna is at after Robert’s rejection. This feeling is what leads her to go back to the ocean at the end, and swim out until her physical condition mirrors her spiritual

An active ingredient in Edna’s awakening is the ocean: “The stress of everyday life melts away, and your whole self benefits” (Balance). Edna begins to find a sense of self confidence in herself as she realizes and accepts the fact she is different than society’s expectations. The ocean is Edna’s comfort spot; the only place she feels happiness and support. When Edna learns to swim, it signifies her independence. She has begun to think and listen to herself at this point about what she likes and wants. Chopin describes Edna’s first swim: “She turned her face seaward and 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,” (Chapter 10). Her description of ‘reaching out for the unlimited’ expresses her awakening and being in touch with her freedom and independence. With this independence, Edna realizes her house does not feel like a home, she is not happy in her marriage, and she is very artistic and different from the rest. Even though Edna begins to feel her own true feelings, she also knows it is forbidden for a woman to express herself in such ways she is beginning to find in herself. This realization brings Edna to believe she will never be able to fit in with the rest of the people in her society; therefore, never being able to express her full

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.

Realism in literature is basically the successor to romanticism. It first took off and gained footing in 19th century France. The literary style is a more straightforward and realistic style of writing in comparison to romanticism which was all about exaggeration and symbolism. Realism is often interchangeable with naturalism and branches out into regionalism which is interchangeable with local color. This type of writing is responsible for one of the greatest era of literary works.

Although she was just attempting to swim alone, she saw this experience as a great failure because the fear or “encounter with death” prevented her from moving forward with the goal that she set for herself. The frustration that stemmed from this experience carried to that night where she asserted herself to her husband by defying his wishes. Her assertion was her first experience of freedom from oppression.

"the restrained animation that played over her face and fluttered between her shining eyes and the barely noticeable smile that curved her red lips. It was as if a surplus of something so overflowed her being that it expressed itself beyond her will, now in