The Importance of the Sea in The Awakening Essay -- Chopin Awakening

The Importance of the Sea in The Awakening Throughout her novel, The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses symbolism and imagery to portray the important characters emergence into a state of spiritual awareness. The image that appears the most throughout the novel is that of the sea. Chopin uses the sea to symbolize freedom, freedom from others and freedom to be ones self (Martin 58). The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, wants that freedom, and with images of the sea, Chopin shows Ednas waken desire to be free and her ultimate achievement of that freedom. Ednas awakening begins with her vacation to the beach. There, she meets Robert Lebrun and develops an intense infatuation for him, an infatuation similar to those which she had in her youth and gave up when she married. The aflame feelings beginning to overwhelm her are both confusing and exciting. They lead to Edna beginning to ponder what her life is like and what she is like as a person. The spell of the sea influences these feelings which invite the soul . . . to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation (Chopin 57). Edna begins to fall under the seas spell and begins to evaluate her feelings about the life that she has. During the summer of Ednas awakening, the seas 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 quiet in swimming which gives her the feeling of freedom. The narrator tells us that as she swims, she seems to be reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself (Chopin 74). She sees the freedom t... ...ms out into the ocean for the final time, she finds her ultimate freedom. In the end, the sea symbolizes freedom for Edna. It will never treat her as a possession like her husband has for so umteen years. It will not demand all of her time and attention as her children do . It will never abandon her as Robert does. It will enfold her in its soft, tightlipped embrace (Chopin 176) and allow her to experience the vast array of feelings that her life has forbidden her to do. The sea will allow her to be free. Works Cited and Consulted Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 1899. The Complete Works of Kate Chopin. Ed. Per Seyersted. he-goat Rouge Louisiana State UP, 1969. 881-1000. Martin, Wendy, ed. New Essays on the Awakening. Cambridge Cambridge UP, 1988. Showalter, Elaine. Tradition and the Female Talent The Awakening as a Solitary Book. 1993