The Influence of the Sea in The Awakening Essay - 2156 Words

The Influence of the Sea in The Awakening In Kate Chopins novel, The Awakening, the female protagonist, Edna Pontellier, learns about the world. Unfortunately for Edna, the world is defined in terms of love and marriage. This female awakening is really an awakening to limitations (Bloom 43). If read as a suicide, then Edna’s last swim is a consequence of her awakening to the limitations of her femaleness in a male-dominant society. But on a metaphysical level, The Awakenings final scene can be seen as Ednas ultimate gesture in trying to grasp the essence of her being. This essay will show that Ednas spiritual journey both begins and ends in the sea.. In the early chapters, Edna is referred to only as Mrs.†¦show more content†¦The sea, in this case, symbolizes samsara, the cyclical rebirths of existence, and is a product of ignorance and the failure to recognize the impermanent nature of things. On the other shore lies another rebirth. And it is by the sea that Kate Chopin first pulls Edna out from the narrative and gives her an ego by referring to her by her given name and, after walking through a sea of grass, recounts Ednas previous love interests—the cavalry officer, a young gentleman, and the tragedian—attachments of previous reincarnations. In other words, Ednas self is born here by inward contemplation, with the aid of the seductive odor and sonorous murmur of the sea and its loving but imperative entreaty (Chopin 56-7). The objects of her previous attachments were men, or perhaps her desire for the men of her past. In Ednas present lifetime on Grand Isle, her attachment is to Robert Lebrun, who draws Ednas ego to its fullest from Chopins narrative and makes Ednas suffering more intense and tangible. Shortly after the reader meets Robert Lebrun and realizes that Edna Pontellier is strangely drawn to the young man (Chopin 56)—the seed of Ednas attachment is thus planted—Chopin prepares a series ofShow MoreRelated The Importance of the Sea in The Awakening Essay830 Words   |  4 PagesImportance of the Sea in The Awakening      Ã‚   Throughout her novel, The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses symbolism and imagery to portray the main characters emergence into a state of spiritual awareness. The image that appears the most throughout the novel is that of the sea. â€Å"Chopin uses the sea to symbolize freedom, freedom from others and freedom to be ones self† (Martin 58). The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, wants that freedom, and with images of the sea, Chopin shows Ednas awakening desire to beRead More The Transformation of Edna Pontellier in The Awakening Essay950 Words   |  4 Pagessomething, anything: she did not know what† (Chopin). 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