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Transcript

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Charlottesville, Va.: U of Virginia Library, 1997. Print.

Symbolism of the Ocean in The Awakening

Significance to MOWAW

The ocean symbolizes freedom and escape and acts as the catalyst for Edna's awakening, allowing her to fully realize her independence and strength as an individual. In the beginning of novel, the ocean is described in a tempting and optimistic manner, and when Edna dives into the waters she is able to realize her power as an individual as she experiences her awakening. At the end of the novel, after Robert leaves her, Edna returns to the ocean once again, losing herself in the depths of the waters as she chooses to control her own destiny rather than live a life in which she has been defeated by patriarchal society.

Jazmin Triplett

Jimmy Cooke

Quote Explanations

"But to her unaccustomed vision the stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome." (28)

The water she has swam past becomes a barrier behind Edna. This barrier is the one that comes from the female constraints placed on her by society. It seems to also foreshadow her death as she chooses not to break through the barrier in the end, or decides she is unable to. It blocks her from society because she is cannot to come to terms with the life she is being forced to lead. It can also be interpreted that he suicide is her choosing to control her own fate, escaping from the constraints of patriarchal society.

"'Oh, come!' he insisted. 'You mustn't miss your bath. Come on. The water must be delicious; it will not hurt you. Come.'" (12)

The ocean serves as a connection between Edna and Robert. It is where the relationship first developed, seemingly innocent at first. She even tries to refuse his offer to go swimming because she is aware some has changed about their visits to the beach. Robert is the one that is coaxing her into the sea, which clearly acts as a symbolic catalyst to her awakening as she realizes her "position in the universe as a human being" (13). Just as he influences her towards the sea, he is also the main reason she strays from her husband.

Biblical Symbolism

  • Water's associations with cleansing and baptism: Rebirth
  • Edna's awakening as a form of rebirth for her
  • "The foamy wavelets curled up to her white feet, and coiled like serpents around her ankles" (115)
  • Serpent as a symbol for temptaion (Genesis)

End

  • "She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again"
  • "She remembered the night she swam far out, and recalled the terror that seized her at the thought of being unable to regain the shore"
  • "The shore was far behind her, and her strength was gone" (116)
  • "The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace" (115)
  • Edna ends her life in the sea; Chopin repeats quotes from earlier in the novel
  • The vastness and freedom of the infinite sea morphs into a blank void that envelops Edna
  • Simultaneous glory/terror of independence
  • Her death is both hopeful and threatening
  • The same ocean that Edna used to discover herself and experience her awakening is now used as her means of suicide
  • Controlling her destiny

Middle

  • "She turned her face seaward to gather in an impression of space and solitude, which the vast expanse of water...as she swam she seemed to be reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself" (28)
  • When Edna enters the ocean, she experiences her awakening as she swims, as she is "reaching out for the unlimited," symbolizing the realization of her freedom and power as an individual
  • Realization of depth of the universe + her place within the universe
  • "But to her unaccustomed vision the stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome" (28)
  • This quote, along with the lines "in which to lose herself," foreshadow Edna's death

Beginning

Claim

  • The sea is described as seductive/tempting
  • "The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude...to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation" (13)
  • "The voice of the sea speaks to the soul" (13)
  • Edna is tempted by the attractive vastness of the sea, is starting to respond to the voice of her inner being at the start of her awakening
  • Childhood in Kentucky
  • "She threw out her arms as if swimming when she walked, beating the tall grass as one strikes out in the water" (16)
  • Remembering freedom of youth
  • "The walk to the beach was no inconsiderable one, consisting as it did a long, sandy path" (14)
  • Foreshadows the difficult path that Edna will face in the novel

The ocean symbolizes freedom and escape and acts as the catalyst for Edna's awakening, allowing her to fully realize her independence and strength as an individual.

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