Kate Chopin's The Awakening is a novel full of symbolism; even down to the title. By giving this novel the title, it is great symbolism of what the story will be about. The title gives a vague mental picture for you that cannot be fully understood until the reader has finished reading. It is also full of other symbolisms, such as clothes, houses, birds, swims, and the ocean. All of these elements are powerful and add great meaning to the characters and the novel itself. After finishing, The Awakening, the reader will understand that the title is about the main character, Edna Pontellier, and her sexual awakening and her figurative rebirth. One of the first images of symbolism in The Awakening is birds, and they are evident and narrative from …show more content…
These houses are her home in New Orleans with her family, the vacation house in Grand Isle, the ‘pigeon house’, and the house on Cheniere Caminada where she falls asleep (Wyatt). These houses are symbols to represents different phases Edna goes through in her awakening. The house in Grand Isle is full of symbolisms for domesticity. Pianos, children, women, and porches are possessions of the domesticity. This is the first place we are visited with Edna, and she is constricted within this cage of Creole roles of wife and mother. The house on Cheniere Caminada where Edna falls asleep represents the change Edna is experiencing in her awakening. It is also a home where the women can go to escape (Wyatt). This is the house where Edna obtains the knowledge about her own body and soul. The New Orleans house is the representation of cultural rules and life duties. Edna is required to be the perfect hostess, specifically by her husband. However, she does not like this role and the rules and attempts to flee from this cultural cage to her ‘pigeon house.’ Ultimately, Edna does not feel “at home” anywhere. Death seems to be the only thing that can offer a real home to her. The feelings of relief, freedom, and
She experiences a symbolic rebirth, an awakening. The happiness soon comes to an end as Robert realizes they've become too close and leaves the island. Edna suddenly becoming depressed befriends Madame Ratinolle and Mademoiselle
Edna Pontellier was only seen as a “valuable piece of property which [had] suffered some damaged” to her husband Mr. Pontellier (BOOK). One can also see that “The Awakening” also focused on the sexual desires of women, identity, and self-discovery Edna, a character in “The Awakening” experienced her awakening by discovering her identity in her own self. “The Awakening” attempts to tell the story a woman who wants to find herself while lusting. Later, at the end of the story, one discovers that since Edna Pontellier could not fully find her peace, and freedom she ultimately decides to commit suicide. Through this “The Awakening” shows that although women were oppressed, they also had empowerment.
She even committed suicide due to the fact of how badly she needed to free herself from the Creole lifestyle. Edna, a remarkable lady in a sense, rebelled against the norms of society to openly be herself. People like Edna, or people brave enough to take a chance to change societal norms, come rare to find, especially during the late 1800’s. Edna never agreed to anything she did not want, after the marriage to Leonce, and was quite straight-forward with her desires. Edna, ideally, is a great role model to look up to in today’s world for filling that brave, young woman role to not let society shape her, despite the few occurrences she had intimate moments with multiple men or her carelessness towards her children.
She was constantly confronted with thoughts and feelings that sought to pull her away from her typical life with the promise of a new start. For instance, the thought of her children pleased her, yet the free and independent lifestyle Mademoiselle Reisz lived pulled at Edna. Her flippant personality leads Madame Ratignolle to tell her she seems “like a child” and is concerned about her new adjustment to the pigeon house (101). Edna, being constantly surrounded by various opinions, is overwhelmed by the pressure she feels from her husband, children, and society which leads to her suicide. The day she walked down to the sea “[a]ll along the white beach, up and down, there was no living thing in sight” yet just before Edna surrenders her life to the water “a bird with a broken wing” appears “circling disabled down, down to the water” (120).
Chopin is widely known for the support of female independence and self-fulfillment, and in her most influential and famous work, The Awakening, she depicts Edna’s desire to explore and find her true self, which was often condemned in Chopin's time period as it was against societal standards. In Chopin’s writing, she incorporates plentiful amounts of figurative languages to portray Edna’s rebellion which include symbolism, foreshadowing, and juxtaposition. Out of the many methods Chopin used to depict Edna’s rebellion, the sea was a very prominent allegory to represent her freedom, rebirth, and her escape from expectations in society. The sea helps Edna achieve her desires and pushes her to see the potential to fill her life with excitement
Kate Chopin's The Great Awakening explains how Edna Pontellier, an everyday woman of the nineteenth century, opens up and explores herself. A majority of the important characters in her story are the men in Edna's life. Men like Leonce, Robert, and Alcee all are key pieces to her awakening. They all influence Edna in their own ways. Leonce Pontellier is a controlling husband and an all around materialistic man.
When she comes back from the island, this new outlook on life clashes with her husband’s old world values, and he endeavors to stop what he sees as utter madness. At one point, a family doctor recommends to Léonce that Edna spend time at her ancestral home, far away from the water, to return her behavior to what he knows as normal. Edna expresses a dislike of and actively avoids certain parts of society, but cannot fully separate herself from the motherly duties forced onto her by traditional gender roles, unlike her muse Mademoiselle Reisz. These duties, ultimately, prove to be the fetters that cause Edna to sink downward, and lead her to end her life in the same ocean where it truly
The title, The Awakening, signifies the self-realization of Edna Pontellier and her own personal awakening. Edna’s character undergoes a dramatic lifestyle and spiritual change. She begins the novel as the typical old fashioned housewife that is expected to look and act a certain way. Edna was a respectable housewife who yearns for a social, spiritual, and sexual awakening
This means she has to move into a much smaller house, where she is alone. While this may seem like a huge sacrifice for most people, she doesn’t view it in this way. The oppression of her values that was inflicted upon in both that house and by her relationship her relationship with her husband meant that to Edna, leaving that house and situation was liberating and as if she had busted out of a
This novel, The Awakening, is about a woman named Edna Pontellier learns to think of herself as an independent human being. Also, Edna Pontellier refuses to obey against the social norms by leaving her husband Leónce Pontellier and having an affair with Robert Lebrun. Kate Chopin describes societal expectations and the battle of fitting the mold of motherhood in the Awakening by how Edna Pontellier and Adele Ratignolle contribute to their family in different ways. Edna Pontellier’s attitude toward motherhood is that she is not a perfect mother-women. Adele Ratignolle’s attitude toward motherhood is that she is a perfect mother-women.
The Awakening written by Kate Chopin, is a novella about a woman named Edna, who desires to be an independent woman and break free from the typical 1800’s mold of society. Allusions are used to show how the characters behave and are affected by their surroundings and emotions. Throughout the story, Chopin uses them to connect the characters to the plot and make each scenario recognizable to the reader. “The foamy wavelets curled up to her white feet, and coiled like serpents about her ankles. She walked out.
Thesis- In The Awakening, Kate Chopin utilizes symbolic imagery to illustrate Edna’s inability to truly break from society, perpetuating her circular growth. 1)Hammock Scene Portraying Edna’s weakening resolve during her first attempts to break from society, the poster illustrates a breaking rope. Constantly limiting by society, she has experienced oppressed her entire life, causing a deep desire to escape to form an identity.
Birds are gifted with the extraordinary ability to fly. Their wings propel them above the ground and over people below. They are able to view the world from an angle that no one else gets to see. This is what makes birds and wings such powerful symbols in literature. These symbols characterize characters, move the plot and develop one more of the book’s ideas.
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is a piece of fiction written in the nineteenth century. The protagonist Edna is a controversial character, Edna rebels against many nineteenth - century traditions, but her close friend Adele was a perfect example in terms of a role of a woman, mother and wife at that time. Chopin uses contrast characters to highlight the difference between Adele and Edna. Although they are both married women in the nineteenth century, they also exhibit many different views about what a mother role should be.
In this state she acts upon her own desires, sexually and emotionally. She is able to express her true identity and finally finds the courage to make the changes she deems as necessary. Her interactions with Robert and Alcée intensify, which please her sexually and emotionally. She feels no ties with Léonce whatsoever, and does not worry or care too much about him. Edna eventually travels back to Grand Isle’s waters and stands “naked in the open air, at the mercy of the sun, the breeze that beat upon her, and the waves that invited her.”