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Kate chopin the awakening critical essays
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Essay on the awakening by kate chopin
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he focus of this paper will be to examine Kate Chopin’s The Awakening chapter ten, specifically paragraphs five to ten. Throughout The Awakening Edna is constantly fighting with the expectations of society and her desire to be a free woman. As a woman, Edna is expected to be the perfect wife and mother, however she longs to embrace and free her creative self. Because of this battle within herself she shows many of the characteristics of depression. The passage mentioned above is very symbolic of Edna’s fight to overcome her mental illness. The thesis of this paper is that Edna’s yearning to swim is a metaphor for her longing to overcome depression, patriarchal expectations and societal constraints. By taking an in-depth look into the author’s word choice, a parallel can be found between learning to swim and the ability to overcome the depression within. The water mentioned in the passage is symbolic of Edna’s depression, and the fact that she had been trying to learn how to swim shows that she is trying to conquer it. Edna’s inability to swim shows that she was struggling to defeat her depression, however she was actively trying to find help by asking others for assistance. Edna describes that “A certain ungovernable dread hung about her when in the water” (Chopin 73), this shows her fear of succumbing to the depression but also her anxiety to rise above it. By giving in to the depression Edna would accept society’s expectation of her, she would have to become the perfect mother and wife at any cost. Meanwhile, in order for her to rise out of the depression she would have to give in to her desire to be free of these expectations. Before Edna was able to swim, she describes herself as a “tottering, stumbling, clutching chi... ... middle of paper ... ... the water in this passage, and her decision on whether or not to conform to the expectations of society. Her inability to swim in the beginning exhibits how Edna has been conforming to the expectations of society by becoming both a wife and mother, and as a result has developed the depression. Edna was able to defeat her depression, represented by her learning how to swim, by choosing the more solitary path. It can also be seen that Edna’s hold on her depression is very unsteady and wavering, which shows that she might not be able to control it. In the end she was “reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself.”(Chopin 74), which shows that she is unable to contain her creative self within and she is looking for an escape from society. It also represents that she cannot keep control of her depression and that she is also looking for an escape from life.
At the end of the novel, Edna ends her life while she is successful. Edna’s past troubles are behind her and, “She was not thinking of these things when she walked down to the beach. The water of the Gulf stretched out before her, gleaming with the million lights of the sun. The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in the abysses of solitude” (Chopin 189). While Edna walks along the coast, Chopin uses the words “these things” to describe Edna’s past troubles, as they are now irrelevant. Their trivial nature is highlighted with the use of “these” instead of directly naming the issues which signifies Edna’s success in life because she has few worries about her decisions. The water of the gulf symbolizes a fresh and clean start for Edna, so she chooses to go to the Gulf. The light also symbolizes and conveys the idea of new things, like a new day, and the narrator describes the scene as having millions of lights which magnifies and exemplifies Edna’s new life. Edna’s change and struggle with change is described as “the human will is often deeply circumscribed by the inseparability of the lives of men and women from the natural and social worlds they inhabit. The naturalistic novel... frequently introduces determinism as a thread among a complex of themes, whatever the
In Frances Porcher’s response to “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin published in May 1899, she felt as though the book is slightly pathetic. While she believes that one can get absorbed by the principles of the book, she writes that the story makes one feel like “it leaves one sick of human nature and so one feels cui bono!” Furthermore, in Porcher’s analysis, the book “is not a pleasant picture of soul-dissection.” The distress of Edna does not allow one to joyfully engage in the plight that is exhibited. In addition to ugly cross-section, the book makes readers feel, “for the moment, with a little sick feeling, if all women are like the one” that is studied in the book. While it is disheartening to read that women might feel this way about the
Sacrifices can define one’s character; it can either be the highest dignity or the lowest degradation of the value of one’s life. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin implicitly conveys the sacrifice Edna Pontellier makes in the life which provides insight of her character and attributions to her “awakening.” She sacrificed her past of a lively and youthful life and compressed it to a domestic and reserved lifestyle of housewife picturesque. However, she meets multiple acquaintances who help her express her dreams and true identity. Mrs. Pontellier’s sacrifice established her awakening to be defiant and drift away from the societal role of an obedient mother, as well as, highlighting the difference between society’s expectations of women and women’s
Danger and beauty serve as Edna's first outlook on the ocean. Early in her development, Edna observes the ocean only from a distance. Although intrigued by the sea's beauty and enchantment, Edna shows her discomfort in experiencing the water. She felt a "certain ungovernable dread...when in the water, unless there was a hand near by that might reach out and reassure her." (27) Edna does not really understand her `dread' and totally depends on other people to encourage her to get into the water. At this stage of Edna's awakening, she feels insecure not only about the water, but concerning her life in general.
“A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul” implies the tremendous joy that encourages her to shout, as well as underscores the significance of the experience in terms of the greater awakening, for the experience actually does provide Edna with the ability to control her own body and soul for the first time. Her “daring and reckless” behavior, her overestimation of strength, and the desire to “swim far out, where no woman had swum before” all suggest the tragic conclusion that awaits Edna. Whether her awakening leads her to want too much, or her desires are not fully compatible with the society in which she lives, she goes too far in her awakening. Amazed at the ease of her new power, she specifically does not join the other groups of people in the water, but rather goes off to swim alone. Indeed, her own awakening ultimately ends up being solitary, particularly in her refusals to join in social expectations. Here, the water presents her with space and solitude, with the “unlimited in which to lose herself.
Throughout The Awakening, water, the main motif, serves as a catalyst to the metamorphosis of Edna. During the length of the story, Edna goes through a process of changes that coincides with the presence of water. Water serves as a conduit for liberation and empowerment that facilitates the rebirth and even death of Edna. In this essay, I will argue that the motif of water represents the continual transformations that occur within Edna throughout the story. The story opens on the Grand Isle off the coast of Louisiana, completely surrounded by water with the Gulf of Mexico to the South.
Another aspects of the story is that once Edna’s awakening begins to take place, she is on a roller coaster of emotions, from the manic exuberance of listening to music and the sounds of the water, her connection to robert--it’s as though all her senses are opened up. Between times, however, she is really depressed, as though all the color that Chopin imparts so beautifully in the descriptions of the other scenes, has become dull and uninteresting. Then, she is flung into an emotional upheaval when she reads Robert’s letter to Mlle Reisz, as the latter plays Wagner. Clearly, these kinds of emotions cannot be borne by a woman whose cultural structure does not admit the building of her own that it might sustain the weight and number. She is overwhelmed. She must escape, and she does, for her situation now is powerfully reminiscent of the “joy that kills” in “Hour.”
With her mind already gone, Edna's body begins to swim out into the sea, not caring about what lies ahead: "She did not look back now, but went on and on, thinking of the blue-grass meadow that she had traversed when a little child, believing that it had no beginning and no end." (109)
Ranging from caged parrots to the meadow in Kentucky, symbols and settings in The Awakening are prominent and provide a deeper meaning than the text does alone. Throughout The Awakening by Kate Chopin, symbols and setting recur representing Edna’s current progress in her awakening. The reader can interpret these and see a timeline of Edna’s changes and turmoil as she undergoes her changes and awakening.
This short quotation from the end of chapter 6 of Kate Chopin’s the Awakening is crucial to understanding the text as a whole and is also a vital example of foreshadowing. In this part in the novel, Edna, the protagonist, has just refused to go for a swim with Robert. However, the very sight and sound of the sea entices her. The sea here is depicted as an invigorating object that gives Edna life. At the time of this novel, women were not viewed highly by their husbands. They were expected to conform to societal norms and remain subservient. They were not to question their husbands and were always expected to do as they were told. Thus, women of this time were not free. In this novel, it is the sea that makes Edna free. In the sea she loses all restraints and all reservations when she finally goes for a swim later in the novel. Being free in the sea and going for a swim is liberating to her, just like seeking out another man since she isn’t happy in her current marriage. In her marriage she can’t be the woman that all women want to be. While her husband is a good man, she still has to conform to his wishes. Thus she cannot be the person she truly wants to be. In order to be this person, Edna seeks out the company of Robert. By giving the sea these life-giving qualities, Chopin shows the sea as an emancipating force in Edna’s life. It sustains her and seduces her with the offers of freedom. The sea speaks to the soul because of what it offers and enfolds the body in its soft embrace for these same reasons.
In her article, Maria Anastasopoulou writes how ‘’Edna…is an individual who undergoes a change of consciousness that is designated by the concept of the awakening in the title of the novel’’ (19). The novel, as Anastosopoulou continues, is about the ‘’emerging individuality of a woman who refuses to be defined by the prevailing stereotype of passive femininity’’ (20). At the beginning, Chopin writes how her husband looked at Edna ‘’as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage’’ (4). Edna accepts this submissive position, unlike Margaret. She goes about her life rather passively, a subordinate to her husband. Her first awakening into a defiant, back-boned character, begins in chapter three. ‘’It was strange and unfamiliar; it was a mood’’ (15) is how Chopin describes the stirring of her awakening. When she looks out, the sea is described as a ‘’seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamouring, murmuring-‘’ (34) creature. A symbol of her soul, it was now rising. Like Margaret Hale, she had resisted social normal, but, unlike Margaret, Edna was quiet about her beliefs. The more Edna becomes her true self, the more atmospheric the novel becomes. Chopin differs from other novels in the way the novel develops from realism to more of an atmospheric
It serves as the underlying force in her experience, both at the beginning and all throughout. When she first learns to swim it is a result of Robert recommending a plunge (51) and having given her many lessons (52), and he is there with her after her moment of triumph, playing the dutiful friend (54). When he announces plans to leave she is devastated by the bewildering news (79), and for much of the remainder of the novel desperately seeks any news she can catch of him, inquiring of Robert’s mother, Mademoiselle Reisz (whom Robert writes on occasion; 119), and even her own husband (90). Near the end of the novel Edna confesses her love to him and admits to this, saying “I love you, only you, no one but you. It was you who awoke me last summer out of a lifelong stupid dream” (207). And it is this, alas, which brings both her awakening and her very life to an end. Robert returns from Mexico and is on the cusp of acquiescing to her sensuous entreaties to be her man, but experiences a change of heart and refuses to commit adultery with her, telling her that his love for her forbids it (215). It is at this moment, when the final consummation of happiness seems at hand and is then irrevocably thwarted, that her endeavor for independence and being true to herself comes to an end. Having attempted to live by her own desires and dictates, and to achieve happiness with Robert,
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.
Madness is subjective, especially so in a time period where women’s emotions and thoughts were brushed off as unimportant. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin explores the inner life of a woman, lost in the patriarchal world and without anyone who truly understands her. Edna Pontellier’s supposed madness plays a large part in her characterization as a woman who has lost her way. However, Edna’s madness is not truly madness; it stems from a neglectful husband, crushing responsibility to society, and a sense of the complete isolation.
When Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" was published at the end of the 19th Century, many reviewers took issue with what they perceived to be the author's defiance of Victorian proprieties, but it is this very defiance with which has been responsible for the revival in the interest of the novel today. This factor is borne out by Chopin's own words throughout her Preface -- where she indicates that women were not recipients of equal treatment. (Chopin, Preface ) Edna takes her own life at the book's end, not because of remorse over having committed adultery but because she can no longer struggle against the social conventions which deny her fulfillment as a person and as a woman. Like Kate Chopin herself, Edna is an artist and a woman of sensitivity who believes that her identity as a woman involves more than being a wife and mother. It is this very type of independent thinking which was viewed as heretical in a society which sought to deny women any meaningful participation.