Awakening1 Essay - 1262 Words

Awakening1 THE AWAKENING The contrast between an urban and a tropical setting represents the awakening that the protagonist experiences in Kate Chopins classic novel, The Awakening. At Grand Isle Edna becomes conscious of her restrictive marriage in a male dominated society. Her awakening originates with her experiences at Grand Isle but fully develops upon her return to the city, where she completes her transformation from her roles as wife and mother to an independent woman. The setting at the beginning of the novel is the Grand Isle, a popular Creole island resort. The reader first sees Edna returning from the beach, with the sea disappearing on the horizon, and the mood of a lazy summer day permeating the scene. This†¦show more content†¦Ednas self-discovery is driven by the voice of the sea which is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude. When she is swimming in the sea, Edna is aware of an intense cleansing and renewing which allows her to find the vast solitude that is within her. When at last she learns to swim on her own, Edna yearns to swim far out, where no woman had swum before. She yearns for greater freedom in a world which she both loves and fears. Her new awakened state leads her to face her husband directly, as an equal. Having shed the persona of lady-wife, she tells her husband, Dont wait for me, while he expects her to accompany him to bed. Her husband is surprised and disturbed by his wifes newly found independence. Furthermore, Edna’s courage in defying her husband does not fade with the tropical morning light when she awakens to discover a new sense of self: She was blindly following . . . alien hands . . . [which] freed her soul of responsibility. Separated form her normal day-to-day self in the city, Edna is lead into a new land of discovery on the exotic Creole island. As the influences of Grand Isle allow her release from the conventions of society, Edna makes a full declaration of female independence, stating that she would never sacrifice herself for her children, or for anyone. She refuses to dedicate her life to a role that she does not fashion, define, or