Edna Pontellier's Symbolism In The Awakening

395 Words2 Pages
Captivating, capricious, and childish, Edna Pontellier, a wealthy mother-woman, embarks on an arduous quest to find herself and her role in society. In the bustling city of New Orleans, Edna finds herself bored with her homogenous and mundane lifestyle as a mother-woman. Edna craves for a change that excites her soul. In Chopin’s controversial novel, The Awakening, she uses the symbolism of the helpless bird and the sea to emphasize the meaning of the work as a whole: Edna’s longing to express her individuality and freedom in a society that praises conformity. The novel starts off describing a bird trapped in a cage; Chopin uses parallel structure and symbolism to show how Edna is the bird, trapped in the cage, trying to resist society’s hypocritical morals which imprison her. Edna refuses to give herself to society and strives for independence. However, her wings were not strong enough to face the judgements of society, and as she walks out to the sea she sees "A bird with a broken wing . . . beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling, disabled, down, down to…show more content…
The enticing “sound of the sensuous sea” captures Edna’s attention from the beginning and “speaks to the soul,” forcing Edna to fight against society’s “prejudice and tradition.” At first, the sea was a frightening enigma to Edna, but later becomes a place of sanctuary and solace. Edna’s infatuation with the sea continues throughout the novel and is shown through Chopin’s elegant language, which seems to flow like waves in the sea. The persistent sea pushes Edna to discover who she is as an individual in the world, “inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.” These two metaphors reveal the perils of both inward and outward contemplation. Ironically, the same sea which awakens and inspires a self-discovery within Edna, also leads to her
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    revolution. (Walder, p.257) Paradoxically, Edna’s awakening is cumulative and complex as she experiences a powerful, emotional and physical awakening and becomes enlightened to her inner-self. The omniscient narrator describes the process as “Mrs Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the world as a human being, and to recognise her relations as an individual to the world within and about her.” (Chopin, p.16) Peculiarly, Edna’s sexual awakening is comparable to animals in that her sexual impulses

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