"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. All along the white beach, up and down, there was no living thing in sight. A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water." Chapter XXXIX
Edna Pontellier, a woman no longer certain of who she is. A woman no longer sure of her position in life, of who she is supposed to be. Edna Pontellier is a woman trapped in the bounds of her society, her culture, her time. She is confined in a box that possesses no boundaries. The limits placed on her are as finite as the horizon. The closer you come to the edge, the clearer it is that the end is just a little bit further.
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 abysses of solitude. All along the white
beach, up and down, there was no living thing in sight. A
bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling,
fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water.
Pg 770, Chapter XXXIX
The sea, this "water of the Gulf," is the deepest, most mysterious place Edna has ever explored. Until now, Edna had lived her life on the "white beach," a perfectly virginal island of blind men leading even more blind women. But Edna dips her toes into the dark waters and now she wishes to leave the island and swim out to a better place; or soar overhe...
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...e and felt my shoulder blades, to see if my wings were strong . . . `The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wing. It is a strong spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth.' " Ch. XXVII, pg 745.
Unfortunately, Edna's wings are not strong, and she has swum out much too far to return back to the white beach. She swam "were no woman had swum before.", and she never made it back to the land. "A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water." There is a simplicity in these words that bring to life the unaffectedness of nature in a stark comparison to humanity and civilization. Edna is now a bird flying above, attempting to get somewhere else. However, she is broken now and cannot go any farther.
The Importance of Setting in The Awakening Setting is a key element in Chopin's novel, The Awakening To the novel's main character, Edna Pontellier, house is not home. Edna was not herself when enclosed behind the walls of the Pontellier mansion. Instead, she was another person entirely-- someone she would like to forget. Similarly, Edna takes on a different identity in her vacation setting in Grand Isle, in her independent home in New Orleans, and in just about every other environment that she inhabits.
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.
The author shows the reader the sea just as the sailor does as death, but more than death
In Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh shares her thoughts on relationships, love, inner peace, and contentment. During her vacation by the sea to relax and detach herself from the hectic outside world, Lindbergh masterfully provides insights to a reader of any age or gender. Her poetic and flowing style allows the reader to easily absorb the themes from her meditations. She warns against the pitfalls of modern life because of what she calls hectic rhythm, as opposed to a more fluid and natural primeval rhythm. By removing herself from the outside world, she is able to look at life, love, and relationships from a different perspective. Also, she allows the natural world to help her make connections. She provides advice on how to treat our relationships with other people, and our ever evolving relationship with the outside world.
“Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her” as she swims in the sea. When Edna learns how to swim she feels the power that she has in controlling herself without obeying anyone. Her action of teaching herself how to swim and “want to swim where no woman swam before” symbolizes empowerment, independence and freedom. The sea represents baptizing and rebirth which baptized Edna and awakened her. Even though it was the sea who awakened Edna’s self-awareness, but it was also the sea where Edna commit suicide.
The Awakening was a very exciting and motivating story. It contains some of the key motivational themes that launched the women’s movement. It was incredible to see how women were not only oppressed, but how they had become so accustomed to it, that they were nearly oblivious to the oppression. The one woman, Edna Pontellier, who dared to have her own feelings was looked upon as being mentally ill. The pressure was so great, that in the end, the only way that she felt she could be truly free was to take her own life. In this paper I am going to concentrate on the characters central in Edna’s life and her relationships with them.
The first words of the book convey a parrot that spoke “a language which nobody understood”, and Edna’s husband “had the privilege of quitting [the parrot] when [it] ceased to be entertaining” (11). In the same light, Edna speaks of and wishes for a life that nobody apprehends. Her husband also possesses the moral, objectifying liberty to quiet Edna when she did not provide leisure, as one can turn off a song once it grows into a tedious nuisance. A further exemplification comes about when Old Monsieur Farival, a man, “insisted upon having [a] bird. . . consigned to regions of darkness” due to its shrieking outside (42). As a repercussion, the parrot “offered no more interruption to the entertainment” (42). The recurrence of the parrot evolves Edna’s state of stagnance as a consequence of being put to a halt by others despite her endeavor of breaking free. Ultimately, as Edna edges out towards the water to her death, a bird is depicted with “a broken wing” and is “beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water” (159). This recurrence parallels the beaten bird to a suffering Edna. She has “despondency [that] came upon her there in the wakeful night” that never alleviates (159). Dejection is put to action when Edna wanders out into the water, “the shore. . . far behind her” (159). Motif of birds articulates her suicide by its association with
...Chopin’s character, Edna Pontellier, serves as a reminder that if a suburban housewife can seize and transform her destiny so too can the rest of womankind.
Edna Pontellier separates from her submissive life to pursue freedom, independence, and love with another man. She strives for freedom so that she can uncover her hidden persona. Independence and love fall into the same faction. Edna wants independence from her husband so she can find someone who will give her the support she needs. All of these aspects contribute to the growth of a new and improved life. She wishes to fit in and pursue her goals. However, in the end, she chooses freedom over everything else. Jumping into the water, thinking about Robert, Leonce, and her children, Edna surrenders to the ocean. Ironically, the ocean is a symbol of freedom. Many people say that “Edna was the precursor of the modern era American woman…” (Musere). She is the inspiration to other women all over the world.
guess by the men drinking in the background that he is using it to buy
The setting Edna is in directly affects her temperament and awakening: Grand Isle provides her with a sense of freedom; New Orleans, restriction; the “pigeon house”, relief from social constraints. While at Grand Isle, Edna feels more freedom than she does at her conventional home in New Orleans. Instead of “Mrs. Pontellier… remaining in the drawing room the entire afternoon receiving visitors” (Chopin 84), Edna has the freedom to wander and spend time with Robert, rather than being restricted to staying at home while she is at Grand Isle. While sailing across the bay to the Cheniere Caminada, “Edna felt as if she were being borne away from some anchorage which had held her fast, whos chains had been looseining – had snapped the night before” (Chopin 58). The Cheniere Caminada at Grand Isle gives Edna an outlet from the social constraints she is under at home and at the cottage at Grand Isle. As Edna is sailing away she can feel the “anchorage” fall away: the social oppression, the gender roles, and the monotonous life all disappear; the same feeling and sense of awakening she gets when she sleeps for “one hundred years” (Chopin 63). New Orleans brings Edna back into reality – oppression, society, and depression clouds her mind as she is living a life she doesn’t want to live. New Orleans is the bastion of social rules, of realis...
There I stand on the Atlantic Ocean beach in Daytona, Florida. It’s 7:49 A.M, June 28, 2015. I feel my size ten feet sink into the frosty sand. With my board in my left arm, and sand covering my body, I seize my direction towards the blue ocean. As I halt at the base of the monumental ocean, I gaze in both directions, not a life in sight. I feel at peace, solitude, in my own meager world. As the crisp ocean mist wipes my sand replete face, I bounce into the ocean with my board under my body, cruising into the profound blue sea.
"She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before." Edna wants to defy
Throughout the story the ocean represented Edna's constant struggle for self-realization and independence. From her first flow of emotion on the beach to her last breath of life in the sea, the ocean beckons her. The voice of the sea lures her onward in her journey toward liberation and empowerment.
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...