Use of Nature in Chopin's Awakening and Langston Hughes' Poems

2013 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: critical analysis of the awakening by kate chopin

Langston Hughes and Kate Chopin use nature in several dimensions to demonstrate the powerful struggles and burdens of human life. Throughout Kate Chopin's The Awakening and several of Langston Hughes' poems, the sweeping imagery of the beauty and power of nature demonstrates the struggles the characters confront, and their eventual freedom from those struggles. Nature and freedom coexist, and the characters eventually learn to find freedom from the confines of society, oneself, and finally freedom within one's soul. The use of nature for this purpose brings the characters and speakers in Chopin's and Hughes' works to life, and the reader feels the life and freedom of those characters.

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 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.

Show More
Related

  • Edna's Struggle for Power in Chopin's The Awakening

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kate Chopin's The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother living in the upper crust of New Orleans in the 1890s. It depicts her journey as her standing shifts from one of entrapment to one of empowerment. As the story begins, Edna is blessed with wealth and the pleasure of an affluent lifestyle. She is a woman of leisure, excepting only in social obligations. This endowment, however, is hindered greatly by her gender.

    Read More

  • Emotional Expectations For Women In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    1994 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is a story about a well to do young woman, Edna Pontellier, who lives with her family in Louisiana during the late 1890’s. Set in a variety of scenes, it follows Edna as she engages on a personal journey of increasing autonomy, continually seeking both greater happiness and greater personal independence in the hope of leading a more meaningful and fulfilling life. In so doing, the novel portrays societal expectations for women in the post-war South during the late 1800’s, and shows the difficulties they faced if they refused to conform. The place of women in society can be seen in the way that the women in the novel act and speak, particularly in regards to their husbands and children, but also to others in general.

    Read More

  • Black Death of the Middle Ages

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    It's hard to imagine just how frightening life was in the Middle Ages during the Black Death. By the time the disease ran its course, it had killed a minimum of about one third of the population in Europe and there’s a good possibility that it had killed even more. It is quiet an understatement to say that the plague was very brutal. There were hundreds upon thousands of people dying each day. In rankings of how bad the Black Plague actually was, it is number one and has gone down to be the worst plague to every hit anywhere in all of the world. It caused several catastrophes over the time that it went on. Many other than just the three most crucial; population loss, loss in the church overall and economic disruption.

    Read More

  • Internal Conflict In The Awakening

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Awakening

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Edna began to feel like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities oppressing into her soul.” (Pg. 42) In Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening the constant boundaries and restrictions placed on Edna Pontellier by society will lead to her struggle for freedom and her ultimate suicide. Her husband Leonce Pontellier, the current women of society, and the Grand Isle make it evident that Edna is trapped in a patriarchal society.

    Read More

  • The Black Death

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    Graveyards were full, medicine failed, parents abandoned ill children and in just six months, millions had died. It was the beginning of the Black Death. It was a deadly plague that spread through Europe and Asia from the mid 1330’s -50’s. The cause of death for twenty million people, the survivors thought it was God’s anger at something they had done and, therefore, the end of the world. In Venice, ninety thousand died and in Florence, half the population. There were three types of the plague. The Bubonic plague was the most common, the Pneumonic Plague was less common and the Septicaemic Plague was the most deadly and rarest of them all.

    Read More

  • How Does Kate Chopin Use Characterization In The Awakening

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In the Media

    483 Words  | 1 Pages

    Stereotypes play an important role in today's society and particularly in Propaganda. According to the Webster's Dictionary stereotyping is defined as a fixed conventional notion or conception of an individual or group of people, heldby a number of people. Stereotypes can be basic or complex generalizations which people apply to individuals or groups based on their appearance, behaviour and beliefs. Stereotypes are found everywhere. Though our world seems to be improving in many ways it seems almost impossible to liberate it from stereotypes.

    Read More

  • The Significance of Art in Chopin's The Awakening

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edna seeks occupational freedom in art, but lacks sufficient courage to become a true artist. As Edna awakens to her selfhood and sensuality, she also awakens to art. Originally, Edna “dabbled” with sketching “in an unprofessional way” (Chopin 543). She could only imitate, although poorly (Dyer 89). She attempts to sketch Adèle Ratignolle, but the picture “bore no resemblance” to its subject. After her awakening experience in Grand Isle, Edna begins to view her art as an occupation (Dyer 85). She tells Mademoiselle Reisz that she is “becoming an artist” (Chopin 584). Women traditionally viewed art as a hobby, but to Edna, it was much more important than that. Painting symbolizes Edna’s independence; through art, she breaks free from her society’s mold.

    Read More

  • The Awakening

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Awakening by Kate Chopin was considered very shocking when it was first published because of the "sexual awakening" of the main character, Edna Pontellier, and her unconventional behavior. Chopin moved to New Orleans after her marriage and lived there for twelve years until the death of her husband. She returned to St. Louis where she began writing. She used her knowledge of Louisiana and Creole culture to create wonderful descriptions of local color, and she incorporated French phrases used by the Creoles. The Awakening begins at Grade Isle, a vacation spot of wealthy Creoles from New Orleans. Edna is there with her two sons and her husband Leonce who comes and goes because of business. Edna is not Creole, but her husband is. She has never felt like she fits in with their lifestyle. Edna has always done what is expected of a woman, including marrying a man she did not love. He regards her as a possession rather than an individual. While on vacation, Edna falls in love with Robert Lebrun. She often goes to the beach with him. She begins to realize for the first time, at age 28, that she is an individual. Edna feels like one who awakens gradually from a dream to the reality of life. After this discovery, Edna changes. She disregards her husband's wishes and often ignores her children. She learns to swim which also makes her begin to feel more independent. Edna befriends two women, Mademoiselle Reisz, a pianist, and Madame Ratignolle, a motherly lady. Distressed when Robert leaves for Mexico, Edna often visits Mademoiseel Reisz to whom Robert often writes. Edna continues to disregard the customs of society. Her husband becomes

    Read More

  • The Importance of the Sea in The Awakening

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Mattel Executive Summary

    438 Words  | 1 Pages

    Mattel’s biggest challenge is the inability to adapt their marketing strategy and products to accommodate the constantly changing technological and socioeconomic trends (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). Since the

    Read More

  • Sexual Fulfillment in Chopin's Awakening

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    Society keeps order, allows for advancement, and gives humanity a good face. It also imposes morals, roles, and limits a person's potential development. If someone wishes to reach beyond what society expects of them, they must cast aside social restrictions. Edna Pontellier, in Kate Chopin's The Awakening, feels the urge to cast off the veil society burdens her with and live as she chooses to. The driving factor behind her desire to awaken is her lack of sexual fulfillment. She lives her life following conduct becoming of a woman who marries into the Creole elite of New Orleans. While her husband, Léonce, adores her, she does not truly love him and their relationship appears platonic. Robert, a young paramour, woos Edna and she finds herself with wants and desires. Edna later experiments with a known womanizer named Alceé, and uncovers more passions. While Edna fails to fully come into her own in society, she awakens her sexuality through her experiences with the aforementioned men.

    Read More

  • Marketing Assignment: Charles & Keith Footwear

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    From selling purely ladies’ footwear, Charles and Keith expanded their range of products to include ladies’ bags and accessories in order to cater different demands of the customers. Charles and Keith owns a team of designers that come out with new products regularly and the company has their own R&D team frequently travels to fashion cities to get in touch with the latest design and trend (Singapore Press Holdings, 2009).

    Read More

  • Recruitment And Selection Process Essay

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Job description is a sum up of a job that is in the recruitment, in this description, employees will write down the job title, so applicants will able to understand what the job is about. Also, the department, applicants should know where would they work if they were going to work in that organization. Next i...

    Read More

More about Use of Nature in Chopin's Awakening and Langston Hughes' Poems

Open Document