The Role Of The Sea In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the proper Creole woman Edna Pontellier moves increasingly away from the social norms of obedience and submission for women, as a mother or a wife; she seeks her freedom by asserting her independence- rather than being a popular and devoted caged bird to her husband and sons, she begins several love affairs and embarks on an artistic, hedonistic lifestyle. However, at the end of the novel, she is unable to convince her love Robert Lebrun to follow her path towards apparent immorality any longer, feels that she has abandoned her children, and goes instead to the sea where the novel begins. There, she sheds her clothing, and is reborn into the sea, where she swims away from shore until she drowns. This suicide is the ultimate reinforcement for the themes of the novel, as Edna seeks the only true freedom from society, and realizes the true nature of her existence.

To better display the setting of Edna’s death, Chopin writes “[t]he touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.” (Chopin 176). Throughout the novel, the sea is used as a motif of freedom, as Edna first realizes her potential while overcoming her fear of swimming, and often finds respite from the demands of her husband while near its waters. By drowning herself, Edna is then submitting completely to the freedom and power granted to her in the

For Edna to do so, abandoning the holdings of her Catholic faith, the advice of her closest friend, the expectations for her gender, and her hope of finding happiness, is itself an act of rebellion; its implications form a vital part of Chopin’s message. Edna’s death scene, as a desperate leap towards freedom, and a statement about the truth of Edna’s existence, forces the reader to understand the restrictive power of the expectations for women, and the reality of their