Many writings include central messages or themes that can apply to people’s lives today. A theme may be stated directly or indirectly in a literary work. A theme differs from the topic or subject of a literary work. Instead, it involves a statement or opinion about the topic. In the novels Beowulf and The Awakening, the author uses themes that may be relatable to people’s lives. In addition, there are a significant amount of relatable themes to my personal life from literary works. Both authors use foreshadowing to create themes in their works. The two novels include themes, such as discovering your identity, performing heroic deeds, and having reputation.
Beowulf’s task was to establish an identity so legendary that his fame lives on after…show more content… I participate in sports in order to make my dad proud. The Awakening was written by Kate Chopin on April 22nd, 1899. The Awakening explores Edna’s desire to find and live fully within her true self. Her fidelity to that purpose causes friction with her friends and family, and also conflicts with the dominant values of her time. Chopin says, “She let her mind wander back over her stay at Grand Isle; and she tried to discover wherein this summer had been different from any and every other summer of her life. She could only realize that she herself--her present self--was in some way different from the other self. That she was seeing with different eyes and making the acquaintance of new conditions in herself that colored and changed her environment, she did not yet suspect” (The Awakening 45-46). Edna notices she is changing, but does not notice how it affects the way she visions the world. In other words, she is to a moderate extent unaware of the identity changes she has endured. Chopin states, “Mrs. Pontellier's mind was quite at rest concerning the present material needs of her children, and she could not see the use of anticipating and making winter night garments the subject of her summer meditations. But she did not want to appear unamiable and uninterested, so she had brought forth newspapers, which she spread upon the floor of the gallery, and under Madame Ratignolle's directions she had cut a pattern of the impervious garment” (The Awakening 13). Edna pretends to have an interest in sewing clothes for her children, but she just wants to make a vigorous impression on Adele. The presence of the lady in black behind the young lovers foreshadows the gloomy end will come to Edna and Robert. At the end of The Awakening, Edna Pontellier commits suicide because she realizes that her true identity is irreconcilable with