Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, is a very artistic and musical work. The novel is filled with references to music and art. In the very first chapter, the Farival twins are playing a duet on the piano. The Ratignolles regularly host musical soirées. Mademoiselle Reisz is a gifted pianist, who often plays for Edna. Edna enjoys music and takes to sketching and painting. Music stimulates her passions. Art provides her with fulfillment and liberation. Her painting, in particular, functions as a symbol of Edna’s fashioning and designing her own life. As Edna awakens to her selfhood, she begins to carve her own destiny amidst the stifling Victorian society. Similarly, as she awakens to art, she begins to create her own distinct style. Her paintings on the canvas represent her strokes of individuality. Edna discovers her personal voice as she finds her artistic voice. Art symbolizes Edna’s self-expression. Art presents an alternative to domesticity. Throughout the novel, Edna’s progression as an artist is chronicled. She begins as a dabbling imitator and progresses to an aspiring artist. However, Edna’s career as an artist comes to end when her life is engulfed by the sea. By comparing Edna to the novel’s two other artists, the reasons for Edna’s fatal decision can be evaluated. Initially, Edna is only an amateur, not an artist. She brought her sketching materials to Grand Isle. She “dabbled” with sketching, “in an unprofessional way” (Chopin 543). Her handling and control of her brushes manifested “natural aptitude” not a “long and close acquaintance with them” (Chopin 543). She does not yet take her art seriously; it is merely a means of pleasure. As Edna begins, her art is restricted only to imitation (Dyer 89). She wishes to sk... ... middle of paper ... ...t her (Chopin 625), but, to Edna, this is the culmination of her artistic endeavors. Primary Source Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 535-625. Print. Secondary Sources Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Views: Kate Chopin. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. Print. Boren, Lynda S., and Sara DeSaussure Davis, eds. Kate Chopin Reconsidered: Beyond the Bayou. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1999. Print. Dyer, Joyce. The Awakening: A Novel of Beginnings. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993. Print. Koloski, Bernard, ed. Approaches to Teaching Chopin's The Awakening. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1988. Print. Wyatt, Neal. "Symbols in "The Awakening"" Virginia Commonwealth University. 1995. Web. 06 Aug. 2010. .
middle of paper ... ... e Awakening." 1899. The Complete Works of Kate Chopin. Ed.
Chopin, Kate. "The Awakening." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 561-652. Print.
Sullivan, Barbara. "Introduction to The Awakening." In The Awakening, ed. Barbara Sullivan. New York: Signet, 1976.
When Edna felt dissatisfied with the life she is given, she pursues other ways in which to live more fully. She attempts painting and enters into an affair with another man. As her desire for freedom grows, she moves out of her husband’s house and tries to live life as she sees fit. She lives a life reflecting her new philosophies towards life, philosophies that are in conflict with that of society. The oppression by man caused Edna to have a social awakening, illuminating the meaning of the novel.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and Selected Short Stories of Kate Chopin. New York: Penguin Books, 1996.
By Edna finding herself in the book she was freeing herself. In the novel Edna finds a new hobby, painting. Painting was her escape from the world, and it made her feel good. In the novel it says that “Mrs. Pontellier had brought her sketching materials, which she sometimes dabbled with in an unprofessional way. She liked the dabbling. She felt in it satisfaction of a kind which no other employment afforded her.”(V pg 15) Chopin explain the feeling that Edna gets while painting. It is a feeling that nothing else give her, and that is why she does it even though she is not good. Painting is what gets Edna through because it is not easy becoming you own person. When thing seem to go left Edna paints. The novel Mr. Pontellier make a comment “’It seems to me the utmost folly for a woman at the head of a household, and the mother of children, to spend in an atelier day which would be better employed contriving for the comfort of her family.’" (XIX pg 62) This comment represent how society worked back then. In responds to his statement Edna just said "I feel like painting,"(XIX pg 62) By her say she wants to go paint after Mr. Pontellier made that comment Chopin is show that Edna is escaping, or freeing herself from society. Most women need some type of escape for themselves. They need something that will get them through the process of becoming free. They need something that will make them feel good when they are
Throughout Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, the main protagonist, experiences multiple awakenings—the process in which Edna becomes aware of her life and the constraints place on it—through her struggles with interior emotional issues regarding her true identity: the confines of marriage vs. her yearning for intense passion and true love. As Edna begins to experience these awakenings she becomes enlightened of who she truly and of what she wants. As a result, Edna breaks away from what society deems acceptable and becomes awakened to the flaws of the many rules and expected behavior that are considered norms of the time. One could argue that Kate Chopin’s purpose in writing about Edna’s inner struggles and enlightenment was to
The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Chopin, Kate. A. The Awakening. New York: Avon, 1972.
When her husband and children are gone, she moves out of the house and purses her own ambitions. She starts painting and feeling happier. “There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day” (Chopin 69). Her sacrifice greatly contributed to her disobedient actions. Since she wanted to be free from a societal rule of a mother-woman that she never wanted to be in, she emphasizes her need for expression of her own passions. Her needs reflect the meaning of the work and other women too. The character of Edna conveys that women are also people who have dreams and desires they want to accomplish and not be pinned down by a stereotype.
Kate Chopin's The Awakening is a literary work full of symbolism. Birds, clothes, houses and other narrative elements are powerful symbols which add meaning to the novel and to the characters. I will analyze the most relevant symbols presented in Chopin's literary work.
Works Cited Franklin, R. F. "The Awakening and the Failure of the Psyche. " American Literature 56 (Summer 1984): 510-526. Platizky, R. "Chopin's Awakening. " Explicator 53 (Winter 1995): 99-102. Seyersted, P. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. A Norton Critical Edition: Kate Chopin: The Awakening. Ed. Margo Culley. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. 3-109.
Koloski, Bernard, ed. Approaches to Teaching Chopin's The Awakening. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1988. Print.
Mademoiselle Reisz is first introduced at a party when she plays the piano for Edna Pontellier. Edna is described as being "very fond of music."(25) Music is described as having a way of "evoking pictures in (Edna’s) mind" and causing her to have visions of naked men, the beach, her children, and many other images, which in turn, she attaches various names to. (25) As Mademoiselle plays, a series of physical changes affect Edna. For example, upon the first chord, Chopin describes it as sending "a keen tremor" (26) down (Edna’s) back, and eventually, the piece moves her to tears. Days later, Mademoiselle Reisz and Edna coincidentally meet, and Mademoiselle invites Edna to visit her in the city. This invitation starts the beginning of a great acquaintanceship.
Bryfonski, Dedria, ed. Women's Issues in Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven, 2012. Print.