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Before Edna hears Mademoiselle Reisz play the piano, she muses upon the various images that such piano music invokes in her mind. For instance, the narrator states that despite that “the name of the piece was something else, …she (Edna) called it ‘Solitude.’ When she heard it there came before her imagination the figure of a man…naked…His attitude was one of hopeless resignation…” (71). Nevertheless, when Edna actually hears the piano music, it “sent a keen tremor down [her] spinal column” (71). Furthermore, Edna “waited for the material pictures to gather and blaze before her imagination…[yet] she saw no pictures of solitude…But the very passions themselves were aroused within her soul…” (71-72). In this way, Edna seems to try to have preconceived
The relationship Edna has with Mademoiselle Reisz guides her transformation from a wife and mother to a single woman. Reisz acts as a role model for her, someone who does not conform to society’s expectations. Mademoiselle Reisz lives how she wants and accepts both positive and negative consequences of her lifestyle. From the first time Edna sees her play, she admires Mademoiselle Reisz. “The woman, by her divine art, seemed to reach Edna’s spirit and set it free” (623). The music she plays helps calm Edna’s spirit. Mademoiselle Reisz allows Edna to read the letters Robert wrote to her and she supports her in her decision to follow her heart and be with Robert. In doing so, she kindles the passionate flame Edna has for Robert. As Edna wishes t...
Chopin’s Impromptu arouses "the very passions ... within [Edna’s] soul"(p.34). The harmony, fluidity, subtle rhythm and poetic beauty of the Romantic composer make Edna loose herself in the music that stirs her emotions. The art completes, for her, what nature cannot bring to a finish. The exquisite, looping, and often fiery melodies of the Impromptu make a cut in Edna’s mind through the conventional beliefs about people and society. Because she is not a musician, her listening is based on intuition, allowing for a direct apprehension of the music by the soul and leading to a confrontation with the reality itself — the reality of "solitude, of hope, of longing, ... of despair"(p.34). This is the beginning of Edna’s awakening, for such emotions, especially despair, are not an end but a beginning because they take away the excuses and guilts, those toward herself, from which she suffers. This revelation of previously hidden conflicts gives birth to dramatic emotions within Edna. It is so powerful that Edna wonders if she "shall ever be stirred again as...Reisz’s playing moved" her that night (p.38).
In The Awakening, Chopin sets up two characters main characters and a subsidiary female character to serve as foils to Edna. The main characters are Adele Ratignolle, "the bygone heroine of romance" (888), and Mademoiselle Reisz, the musician who devoted her life to music, rather than a man. Edna falls somewhere in between the two, but distinctly recoils with disgust from the type of life her friend Adele leads: "In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman." Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, the two important female principle characters, provide the two different identities Edna associates with. Adele serves as the perfect "mother-woman" in The Awakening, being both married and pregnant, but Edna does not follow Adele's footsteps. For Edna, Adele appears unable to perceive herself as an individual human being. She possesses no sense of herself beyond her role as wife and mother, and therefore Adele exists only in relation to her family, not in relation to herself or the world. Edna desires individuality, and the identity of a mother-woman does not provide that. In contrast to Adele Ratignolle, Mademoiselle Reisz offers Edna an alternative to the role of being yet another mother-woman. Mademoiselle Reisz has in abundance the autonomy that Adele completely lacks. However, Reisz's life lacks love, while Adele abounds in it. Mademoiselle Reisz's loneliness makes clear that an adequate life cannot build altogether upon autonomy. Although she has a secure sense of her own individuality and autonomy, her life lacks love, friendship, or warmth. Later in the novel we are introduced to another character, her name is Mariequita. Mariequita is described as an exotic black-eyed Spanish girl, whom Edna looks upon with affectionate curiosity. Unlike the finely polished heroine, Mariequita walks on "broad and coarse" bare feet, which she does not "strive to hide". This strikes Edna with a refreshing sense of admiration. To her, the girl's soiled feet symbolize naked freedom, unconstrained by the apparel of civilization. Thus, Edna finds her rather beautiful. Mariequita is more like an unrefined version of Edna, that is, her instinctual self. At times, Mariequita ventures to express the thoughts that are secretly buried in Edna's unconscious.
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.
The “Awakening”, part of the “Eyes on the Prize” series, addresses civil rights, or lack thereof, in the 1950’s. The film highlights two individual’s choices to take a stand against the white supremacy, and the ripple effect that acts cause. The first person featured was Mose Wright. His nephew, Emmett Till, was murdered by two white men. They were angered over the fact that Emmett had spoken to two white women in a flirtatious manner. Mose Wright made the decision to testify in court against the white men. This was a very dangerous act on Mose’s behalf. Speaking to, let alone, against the other race could easily cost him his life. At the end of a very long and public trial, the men were found not guilty.
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
She pursued activities that would allow her to become more individualistic, such as painting or art. Chopin decides to have Mrs.Pontellier’s character explore art, so she can address Mrs.Pontellier’s relationship with herself and her struggle to become an expressive artist. Throughout this short period Mrs.Pontellier constantly visits an accomplished female artist, Mademoiselle Reisz, who has abandoned the suppressive ideals of her time. Mademoiselle Reisz remarks, “I do not know you well enough to say. I do not know your talent or your temperament. To be an artist includes much; one must possess many gifts-absolute gifts-which have not been acquired by one’s own effort. And, moreover, to succeed, the artist must possess the courageous soul”(Pg.63). Chopin includes this, to show how Mrs.Pontellier is becoming ambitious and developing personal goals and interests. The significance of this pursuit of creativity is to reveal the importance of becoming her true self, in order to produce her own signature art. The underlying message is that to be an artist, one must have their own style, perspectives, opinions, and self assertiveness. Mrs.Pontellier however, is stuck between being a devoted mother and wife, or an artist who defies the standards upon her. Alongside this, Chopin conveys that with the absence of her husband, she has the opportunity to reflect on who she
From other people’s eyes, Mademoiselle Reisz is exactly an outstanding pianist but also a kind of odd and unsocial. Her words above sound like an inspiration to Edna’s amazing ideas and deep feelings to Robert. Her indifference to other people’s viewpoints also gives Edna the courage to break off the spiritual shackles. In a word, I think Mademoiselle Reisz takes the place of Adele to help Edna change her attitudes to life and emotion. Adele, Mrs. Ratignolle, regards her children and husband as her life, but she is much luckier than Edna because she doesn’t lose her happiness and herself in household life. Edna is “-a sensitive and highly organized woman” (Chopin, 163). Just as the saying goes, character decides destiny.
One form of art which is predominant in The Awakening is piano playing. Piano playing symbolizes a woman’s role in society. In Edna’s society, artistic skill, such as piano playing and sketching, were accomplishments which ladies acquired. They were merely enhancements to their education, not possibilities for occupation. Women artists, whether they were musicians, painters, or writers, had a difficult time being accepted in society (Dyer 86). Kate Chopin presents two women who are foils to Edna: Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz (Koloski 117). Both of these women play the piano; however, their purpose and motivations are vastly different. The way in which they view their piano playing reflects their values.
In William Deresiewicz’s essay, “The End of Solitude,” he describes how technology has made it impossible to be alone. Media, social networking sites, television have so much influence on our mind that our lives revolve around these things. Everyone wants to be recognized, famed and wants to be appreciated by others such that being alone isn’t appealing to them. William Deresiewicz argues that being alone is a vital part of life and everybody should try to achieve that solitude in their lives, but with technology it has become impossible to be alone when we have technology in our pockets. He suggests that solitude is very important to hear God and to hear our inner selves. He compares the eras Romanticism, Modernism and
I can't make it more clear; it's only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me….but a woman who would give her life for her children could do no more than that” (Chopin.64). Both Edna and Adele have contrasting ideas about motherhood. Since Adele’s personality causes no cognitive dissonance she has no idea what Edna means when she says she would not give up herself. But while Adele pitys Edna , Edna is also pitying Adele. Because even though Adele is happy and free of anguish Edna is experiencing she lives in this colorless existence unknowingly following a path society said she must. This is why it’s so hard for Adele to understand Edna: A woman who does not fit that role, does not possess the same domestic harmony, and also is very detached from her family. The anguish and cognitive dissonance that surrounds Edna is due to the fact knows what others want her to be and their inability to understand others may be different. Despite the detachment and isolation Edna will not chop the pieces of herself off that do not fit into the mold and she will not give up
Isolation comes in many forms and prompts self-reflection as well as physical, social, and mental detachment. In the novel, Chopin use isolation to enhance certain aspects of a Edna’s development and change. The isolation and despondency Edna feels throughout her awakening is the main motive behind her committing suicide.
The fact that Edna is an artist is significant, insofar as it allows her to have a sensibility as developed as the author's. Furthermore, Edna is able to find in Mlle. Reisz, who has established herself as a musician, a role model who inspires her in her efforts at independence. Mlle. Reisz, in confiding to Edna that "You are the only one worth playing for," gives evidence of the common bond which the two of them feel as women whose sensibilities are significantly different from those of the common herd. The French heritage which Edna absorbed through her Creole upbringing allowed her, like Kate Chopin herself, to have knowledge or a way of life that represented a challenge to dominant Victorian conventions.
"…Races condemned to 100 years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth." These powerful last words of the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude ring true. The book demonstrates through many examples that human beings cannot exist in isolation. People must be interdependent in order for the race to survive.
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.