The Awakening

Du 1! Angela Du Mrs. Morris English IV 06 December 2018 The Sea How did one person fully transform to be an independent human being? In The Awakening written by Kate Chopin, the protagonist Edna Pontellier learns to be an independent human being and rebels against social norms by leaving her husband Leónce and having an affair with Robert. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works, a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning or enlarge literal meaning. The symbol of the sea presents throughout the novel serve to be Edna’s desire for pursuing freedom. The sea particular runs am an important symbol as a meaning of Edna’s awareness of freedom, her awakening of independence and escape. Edna's awakening begins with her path to the sea. The sea is described as seductive. While she walks toward the sea, she begins to ponder what her life is like and what she is like as an independent human being. “The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wonder…to loss itself in mazes of inward contemplation” (Chopin 13). Edna is tempted by the attractive vastness of the sea, she starts to respond to the voice of her inner being at the start of her awakening. She meets Robert on the bean near the ocean and develops an intense infatuation for him. When Edna got married, she gave up on this feeling and became what other people and the society expected her to do. “She threw out her arms as if swimming when she walked, beating the tall grass as one strikes out in the water” (Chopin 16). The passionate feelings beginning to overwhelm her are both confusing and exciting. On the island, as she walks toward the beach, she develops a relationship with the sea which she never felt it before. Edna is confused and does not know what to do with the feeling, “the walk to the beach was no

Du 2! inconsiderable one, consisting as it I’d as a long, sandy path...” (Chopin 67). When Edna walks to the sea, the path is struggling, with her distance becomes closer and closer, she reaches her awakening. It becomes her path to the awakening of her true self. Edna realizes her desire of gaining freedom and independence by learning how to swim in the sea. In the beginning this novel, Edna was afraid of going into the water at first. Then after a number of attempts, Edna finally learned how to swim. The sea was a fear for her because Edna had never tried and she never had freedom before. For the first time, “…she was like the little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who of a sudden realizes its power, and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with overconfidence” (Chopin 37), Edna is in the water and tumbling for some moments, she is like newborn. Edna learns how to swim for the first time, it also was her first time realizing her potential and truly being herself, “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. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before” (Chopin 37). Edna realizes her power by jumping into the sea and learning how to swim, it is a sign that after she has this realization, she begins to transform to pursue things that she wouldn't do before such as disobeying her husband Leónce. This also foreshadows her awakening leads too far that she wants too much freedom which the society can not provide her, therefore, she does not fit into society. The sea represents an escape. The mention of the sea’s sensual and inviting voice presages Edna’s eventual suicide. The sea is never loud, it is quite and whispering. In this novel, sea voice is mentioned several times. “The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace” (Chopin 12). Because the sea gives people such a feeling, Edna is seduced by it and this implies her desire to reach freedom. After Edna abandons her fear of water, Edna becomes closer to the sea. Edna’s summer at Grand Isle has ended, while she leaves the island the sea fades away addressing her freedom fades way like many other literal

Du 3! relationships in her life. Edna becomes more and more into Robert and is overshadowed by her independence, she listens again: “the voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamorous murmuring, inviting the soul to wander into abysses of solitude” (Chopin 134). Edna lets her future be consumed by the water for her self-interest. “The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace. (Chopin 136). It serves as simile as it mentioned earlier in the novel. “Exhaustion was pressing upon and over possessing her. Good-bye, because I love you. He did not know; he did not understand. He would never understand, it was too late; the shore was far behind her, and her strength was gone.” (Chopin 136) Edna believes the sea allows her to be her true self and gets away from norms of this society, but she realizes that no matter what she attempts to do she will always be restrained by society, for she lacks the ability to change the way her life is. After coming to this realization she decides that she will end her life by walking into the sea, at least be free in a literal sense. In The Awakening, the sea serves as a symbol represents Edna’s awakening of her individual human being and her desire of pursuing freedom. First start Edna has her summer vacation on the island where she develops her attraction to Robert, the path she walks toward the beach struggles and there she starts to realize indomitable strength of being free and unrestricted by the society. She learns how to swim, swimming was her fear and it presents her fear of getting out of her restrained self, but her desire of being alone takes over her and she learns how to swim. Edna finally goes too much and she ultimately is seduced by the sea which lures her in, she drowns herself into the freedom sea.

Du 4! Works Cited Chopin, Kate, and Barbara H. Solomon. The Awakening, and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin. New American Library, a Division of Penguin Group (USA), 2005.