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. Here the protagonist Edna and her family often stay for summer vacations. The Grand Isle separated by other landmasses by water represents the independence and solitude the body of water provides in comparison to the other settings of the story such as, New Orleans. It is here on the Isle that Edna begins to discover her independence. The waters around the Isle have seduced Edna during her stay. “The Gulf, whose sonorous murmur reached her like a loving but imperative entreaty” (Chopin 32). Even from the land in the safety of her summer home, the sea has enticed and attracts her towards it.
The presence and embrace of the sea is a constant acquaintance to Edna. In contrast, her husband frequents the club and children who are unattended by her. The continual presence of the sea allows Edna to reflect on her life such as seeing her image on the surface of water.
“The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.
The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body ...
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...he presence of water as the motif in this story facilitates these transformations for Edna. On the Grand Isle, the constant presence of the ocean begins a metamorphosis within Edna that alters her perspective of herself in relation to others. She begins to fulfill her desires and abandon her responsibilities as a wife and mother to her family, in order to pursue a life of independence. Allowing her to fulfill her desires to be a painter and be with Robert. Critical moments of self-reflection for Edna occur in the presence of the ocean. It is at the ocean where she first realizes her desire to be independent. Also the empowering force of the ocean allows Edna to be a dictator of her fate. She ultimately decides to take her life and be free from other’s wants and expectations from her. The water was the catalyst that allowed Edna to be liberated and obtain her desires.
The passage of The Awakening which truly marks Edna Pontellier’s new manner of thought regarding her life revolves around her remembrance of a day of her childhood in Kentucky. She describes the scene to Madame Ratigonelle as the two women sit on the beach one summer day. The passage opens with a description of the sea and the sky on that particular day. This day and its components are expressed in lethargic terms such as “idly” and “motionless” and suggested a scene of calm sleep. Such a depiction establishes an image of serenity and tranquility, in other words the calm before the storm which derives from Edna’s “awakening.”
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 “The Awakening,'; the conflicting directions of oppression versus free will illuminate the meanings of social awakening and overcoming tyranny. Awakening from the slumber of patriarchal social convention, Edna must rouse herself from the life of dullness she has always lived.
As her interest in the ocean rises and the fear lowers, Edna begins to feel a sensual connection to the sea and its wonders. As Edna is progressing in her life, her senses begin to come alive out of curiosity and desire to understand this mystery of nature. Edna is first drawn to the ocean and the sight "made a delicious picture that I wanted to just sit and look at." (16) The two combined senses of taste and sight seem to pull Edna in the direction of her fear. As she creeps closer to t...
“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.
She loves to have her “senses stirred,” and her imaginative desires enact these sensations for her when the objects of the desires themselves cannot. Consequently, Edna realizes early in her own life that she is not satisfied with her role as a mother enslaved to humdrum domestic life with a husband to match. However, she does not consciously realize and choose to pursue her own desire for an exciting, passionate, courageous lover until after the novel opens upon one summer vacation at Grand Isle.
...pport of Mr. Pontellier, her children, Madame Ratignolle, Robert, Madame Reisz, and her father. While Edna sees support for herself in these roles the way the other characters see them, she does not believe that she has their support for herself as an individual, apart from these roles, or as a person defining these roles for herself. As she takes her final walk down to the beach, the sea continues to call to her soul: “The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude” (654). The sea has helped Edna see into her innermost being and the transformational journey has helped her realize that she wants to fulfill her roles in life as an autonomous individual. But because Edna feels that she cannot achieve her goals, she succumbs to that which is closest to her innermost being, the sea.
The book begins and ends with Edna and her attraction to the water. Throughout the story, water plays a symbolic part in the unfolding of Edna and her relationship to Robert and also her awakening to a new outlook on life along with an independence that takes her away from her family and the socially constraining life in which she no longer can see herself a part of. Edna and Robert are at the beach enjoying each others company. They quickly return to the cottage where Leonce is, and he talks to them. They have had a good time down by the water and Leonce, being the proper business man that he is, does not understand why Robert would rather spend his time chatting with his wife than attending to other things.
Although the words are almost fifty years old, Gift from the Sea still speaks powerfully about humanity. Using metaphors of different kinds of shells she finds on the beach, she talks about solitude and the distracted lives we lead. Along the way, she shares meditations about life that are simple yet profound. She advocates a simple life that cuts out the excesses – the things that clutter and complicate our lives. “Simplification of outward life is not enough. It is merely the outside. But I am starting with the outside. I am looking at the outside of my life – the shell. The complete answer is not to be found on the outside, in an outward mode of living. This is only a technique, a road to grace. The final answer, I know, is always inside.” In her explanation of simplification, she explains that there are two types of rhythm – hectic and primeval. Hectic rhythm is when someone is une...
...tionship she had until she was left with literally no reason to live. Throughout the novella, she breaks social conventions, which damages her reputation and her relationships with her friends, husband, and children. Through Edna’s thoughts and actions, numerous gender issues and expectations are displayed within The Awakening because she serves as a direct representation of feminist ideals, social changes, and a revolution to come.
The setting Edna is in directly affects her temperament and awakening: Grand Isle provides her with a sense of freedom; New Orleans, restriction; the “pigeon house”, relief from social constraints. While at Grand Isle, Edna feels more freedom than she does at her conventional home in New Orleans. Instead of “Mrs. Pontellier… remaining in the drawing room the entire afternoon receiving visitors” (Chopin 84), Edna has the freedom to wander and spend time with Robert, rather than being restricted to staying at home while she is at Grand Isle. While sailing across the bay to the Cheniere Caminada, “Edna felt as if she were being borne away from some anchorage which had held her fast, whos chains had been looseining – had snapped the night before” (Chopin 58). The Cheniere Caminada at Grand Isle gives Edna an outlet from the social constraints she is under at home and at the cottage at Grand Isle. As Edna is sailing away she can feel the “anchorage” fall away: the social oppression, the gender roles, and the monotonous life all disappear; the same feeling and sense of awakening she gets when she sleeps for “one hundred years” (Chopin 63). New Orleans brings Edna back into reality – oppression, society, and depression clouds her mind as she is living a life she doesn’t want to live. New Orleans is the bastion of social rules, of realis...
Nature, in the works of Chopin and Hughes serves as a powerful symbol that represents the struggle of the human soul towards freedom, the anguish of that struggle, and the joy when that freedom is finally reached. In The Awakening, the protagonist Edna Pontellier undergoes a metamorphosis. She lives in Creole society, a society that restricts sexuality, especially for women of the time. Edna is bound by the confines of a loveless marriage, unfulfilled, unhappy, and closed in like a caged bird. During her summer at Grand Isle she is confronted with herself in her truest nature, and finds herself swept away by passion and love for someone she cannot have, Robert Lebrun.
The time Edna spends in water is a suspension of space and time; this is her first attempt at realizing Robert's impermanence. In a strange way, Edna is taking her self as an object of meditation, where at the extremity of self absorption, she should be able to see through her own selflessness. "As she swam she seemed to be reaching for the unlimited in which to lose herself[emphasis added]" (Chopin 74). Edna has left her earthly existence on the shore and looked forward to a new existence, with the "unlimited", or nirvana as a tantalizing prize on the other shore. Her mistake lies in looking back.
Edna's awakening begins with her vacation to the beach. There, she meets Robert Lebrun and develops an intense infatuation for him, an infatuation similar to those which she had in her youth and gave up when she married. The passionate feelings beginning to overwhelm her are both confusing and exciting. They lead to Edna beginning to ponder what her life is like and what she is like as a person. The spell of the sea influences these feelings which invite "the soul . . . to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation" (Chopin 57). Edna begins to fall under the sea's spell and begins to evaluate her feelings about the life that she has.
Leithauser’s seahorse is used not as an example of ocean life (as the poem may initially suggest), but as a symbol for an item, large or small, that we can look to in our lives to “give us release” from our everyday concerns. Some clear examples of this throughout the poem reside in the fifth stanza with the lines “mailed male” and “turreted, nonsynchronous/ eyes”. In these lines, Leithauser uses diction to convey the theme of whimsical otherworldliness by likening the seahorse’s eyes and body to the chain-male of a knight and the stone turrets of a medieval castle. With these sentences, Leithauser whisks the reader away from the aquatic world of the ocean and into the age of knights and castles. When I am working strenuously to achieve a goal or complete a project, such as drafting a position paper for Model United Nations or completing a complicated experiment in Science class, poems such as “Seahorses” can act as a bridge from the constraining world of reality to a realm of imagination and relaxation. This ability to transport the reader is a central pillar to the overall success of the poem, for although everyone wishes for it, no life is entirely free from labor and stress, and as a result, almost every reader of “Seahorses” can connect deeply with it. This ability to connect with virtually any reader, along with its intricate toolbox of literary devices and themes, has made “Seahorses” one of my favorite