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Critical analysis of the awakening kate chopin
The awakening kate chopin subjects and symbols
Kate Chopin’S The Awakening
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The Importance of the Sea in The Awakening
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.
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.
During the summer of Edna's awakening, the sea's influence increases as she learns how to swim, an event which holds much more significance that her fellow vacationers realize. “To her friends, she has accomplished a simple feat; to Edna, she has accomplished a miracle” (Showalter 114). She has found a peace and tranquility in swimming which gives her the feeling of freedom. The narrator tells us that as she swims, "she seem[s] to be reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself" (Chopin 74). She sees the freedom t...
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...ms out into the ocean for the final time, she finds her ultimate freedom.
In the end, the sea symbolizes freedom for Edna. It will never treat her as a possession like her husband has for so many years. It will not demand all of her time and attention as her children do. It will never abandon her as Robert does. It will enfold her "in its soft, close embrace" (Chopin 176) and allow her to experience the vast array of feelings that her life has forbidden her to do. The sea will allow her to be free.
Works Cited and Consulted
Chopin, Kate. "The Awakening." 1899. The Complete Works of Kate Chopin. Ed. Per Seyersted. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1969. 881-1000.
Martin, Wendy, ed. New Essays on the Awakening. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988.
Showalter, Elaine. "Tradition and the Female Talent: The Awakening as a Solitary Book." 1993
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening takes place in the late 19th century, in Grande Isle off the coast of Louisiana. The author writes about the main character, Edna Pontellier, to express her empowering quality of life. Edna is a working housewife,and yearns for social freedom. On a quest of self discovery, Edna meets Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, falls in and out of love,and eventually ends up taking her own life. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening shows how the main character Edna Pontellier has been trapped for so many years and has no freedom, yet Edna finally “awakens” after so long to her own power and her ability to be free.
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
“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.
Kate Chopin's The Awakening begins set in Grande Isle which is the summer get-away for a few families of New Orleans "upper-class". It is a community of cottages owned by the Lebrun family. Edna Pontellier and her husband Leonce summer there with there two children. This is the setting where Edna also develops a close relationship with Robert Lebrun. He is one of Madame Lebrun's sons who helps her run the cottages for the Pontellier's and the Ratingnolle's. 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.
The Indians were being confined to crowed reservations that were poorly run, had scarce game, alcohol was plentiful, the soil was poor, and the ancient religious practices were prohibited. The Indians were not happy that they had been kicked off there land and were now forced to live on a reservation. The Indians then began to Ghost Dance a form of religion it is said that if the Indians were to do this trance like dance the country would be cleansed of white intruders. Also dead ancestors and slaughtered buffalo would return and the old ways would be reborn in a fruitful land. Once the Bureau of Indian affairs noticed what was going on they began to fear this new religion would lead to warfare. The white peoplewere scared that this new dance was a war dance. They called for army protection. Army was called in to try to curbed this new religion before it could start a war.
...instead, she chooses to succumb to death (Boren 181). On the other hand, choosing the solitude of the sea is a triumph of Edna’s artistic soul. In life, there is no real solitude; Edna fearlessly swims out to face the solitude of death.
...e Awakening." 1899. The Complete Works of Kate Chopin. Ed. Per Seyersted. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1969. 881-1000.
The imagery of the ocean at Grand Isle and its attributes symbolize a force calling her to confront her internal struggles, and find freedom. Chopin uses the imagery of the ocean to represent the innate force within her soul that is calling to her. "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 a maze of inward contemplation." (p.14) Through nature and its power, Edna, begins to find freedom in her soul and then returns to a life in the city where reside the conflicts that surround her. Edna grew up on a Mississippi plantation, where life was simple, happy, and peaceful. The images of nature, which serve as a symbol for freedom of the soul, appear when she speaks of this existence. In the novel, she remembers a simpler life when she was a child, engulfed in nature and free: "The hot wind beating in my face made me think - without any connection that I can trace - of a summer day in Kentucky, of a meadow that seemed as big as the ocean to the very little girl walking through the grass, which was higher than her waist.
In the novel, “the ocean symbolizes Edna's "awakening" to a life filled with freedom and independence” (Nickerson). On a hot summer evening Robert and Edna go bathing. Although Edna does not wish to go and initially declines his offer, something inside is compelling her to go down to the water. It is there in the seductive ocean that Edna's awakening begins.
...ressing the Issue at Wounded Knee." Wild West 23.4 (2010): 28-36. History Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
In Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, the protagonist Enda Pontellier experiences internal conflict as she journeys to her self-discovery. As she becomes aware of her supressed being within society and distances herself away in solitude, Enda is able to discover her essential self. Symbols and imagery such as the sea and the birds along with the physical setting of the novel, are constantly repeated in Chopin’s novel in order to demonstrate Enda’s progression to discovering her essential self and ultimately her spiritual awakening.
“Living with Burn Trauma,” an online article, states that “human skin is the largest organ of the body.” It provides many functions which assist humans to survive. What happens if this vital organ is destroyed? This is a question with which thousands of Americans are challenged annually. In the United States alone, 4,000 people die in burn accidents or from complications of burn injuries (“Prevention”). One common misconception is that burn victims have all come into contact with flames. Burns result from fires, electricity, hot liquids, chemicals, and even ultraviolet rays. Seeking medical attention for a proper diagnosis is critical to ensuring quality treatment and management of burns. Burn Centers have been established to help patients adapt to life after burns, which can be a great challenge. In today’s society, hospitals and medical professionals can treat burn victims, but the best remedy for burns is prevention.
For second degree burns, it goes a little deeper than the epidermis. With this being said, when the burn damages the cells on the next layer known as the dermis, they are a little more severe than the first degree burn. It causes blistering and a more eye noticing redness to the burn the the first degree does. It also causes more pain. Second degree runs heal rather quickly within about two to three weeks without scarring but with skin pigment changes in some cases. This degree can cause the body to reject nutrients and make the senses more sensitive to temperature and touch. On the other hand, third degrees burns are a different story. This is the most severe and damaging type of burn. Many would believe you if you were to say that this degree causes the most pain since its extending through all layers of your skin, but that's not the case. Since third degree burns go through all three layers of your skin, it is very likely that the burn will cause your nerves to be damaged causing you to not feel any pain at all. This is the reason why it is the most severe, because once your nerves are damaged, they will not recover. These types of burns cause the skin to change colors such as a
In comparison to other works such as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn wherein the title succinctly tells what the story shall contain, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening represents a work whose title can only be fully understood after the incorporation of the themes and content into the reader’s mind, which can only be incorporated by reading the novel itself. The title, The Awakening, paints a vague mental picture for the reader at first and does not fully portray what content the novel will possess. After thorough reading of the novel, one can understand that the title represents the main character, Edna Pontellier’s, sexual awakening and metaphorical resurrection that takes place in the plot as opposed to not having a clue on what the plot will be about.