The Awakening Tone Essay

Nicole Cañete

Billish-4

English 2 Honors

October 15,2014

The Awakening Tone Essay

        Identity is something that people often times take for granted, as well as a woman’s ability to make free decision and being able to live life as they so chose. In the early 19th and 20th century, woman did not have this ability and right, they were caged by their husbands. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin expresses the pointlessness of women fighting for independence through her imagery and details. The author paints a picture of hopelessness through the main character Edna’s disappointment and failures.

        Women who tried to be independent were thought to be delusional, for it was a hopeless fight. “A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water,”(Chopin 115). The bird was used to symbolize the freedom that Edna sought; eventually that bird flew too close to the sun and was hurt because of it. The bird died because it tried to do something that it shouldn’t be able to do, it was only a matter of time before the same thing happened to Edna. The imagery shoes the literal and metaphorical downward spiral that she and the bird took. “’Sometimes I feel this summer as if I were walking through the green meadow again; aimlessly, unthinking and unguided,’” (Chopin 16). “The foamy wavelets curled up to her feet, and coiled like serpents about her ankles. She walked out.The water was chill, but she walked on. The water was deep, but she lifted her white body and reached out with a long, sweeping stroke.” (Chopin 115). The ocean and meadow once described freedom, untamable and unrestricted. Imagery of the crashing waves and wide open sea represented the hope Edna had for independence. The beautiful blue sea would now be her grave. She walked into it without hope, allowing her freedom to kill her. The waves that were seen crashing down, were also Edna’s world crashing.

        Almost everything that Edna had done for freedom would be pointless in the end. “She would, through habit, have yielded his desire; not with any sense of submission or obedience to his compelling wishes but, unthinkingly, as we walk, move, sit, stand, go through the daily treadmill of the life which has been portioned out to us,” (Chopin 31). This detail shows that there was no point in trying to go against the traditional ways. For so long, woman had no say and no independence, after sometime it became their nature. Even Edna sometimes felt the need to summit, to simply do as she was asked because she normally would. Woman had become reserved and easily pushed around; they needed a man to tell them what to do and who to be. “It was with a wrench and pang that Edna left her children. She carried away with her the sound of their voices and touch of their cheeks. All along the journey homeward their presence lingered with her like the memory of a delicious song. But by the time she had regained the city the song no longer echoed in her soul. She was again alone.” (Chopin 95). Even with all her talk of independence and living on her own, Edna still feared being alone. This detail shows that even though she often resented her children, she didn’t want to live without them. Edna also felt this way about the men in her life. When Mr. Pontelleir began to ask too much of her, she looked to Robert, then Arobin. She enjoyed being the center of attention, feeling like she was important. She was also afraid of having no one. She wanted to rely only on herself but she kept defaulting back to another man. The author tries to convey that it simply not in a woman’s nature to be independent. They can try and try, but they will always go back to what they know.