Overcoming Obstacles In The Awakening

569 Words3 Pages
In the book, the Awakening, Edna Pontellier, a confused twenty-eight year old, undergoes many transformations throughout the story. Starting out with a very limited life, Edna had to overcome these barriers to turn into the independant woman that she became. She had many “awakenings” finding a final product of living away from her husband and children. With each new challenge thrown at her, there was one constant that she always turned to. Whether it was swimming, drowning, or crying, water was her coping mechanism. Edna always looked to some form of water for relief. With each barrier that Edna faced came tears. One of the first things that she always seemed to do was cry. “Edna was sobbing, just as she had wept one midnight at Grand Isle when strange, new voices awoke in her.” The author, Kate Chopin never really explained way this was, but many follow the same first step. It is a way of letting go all of the frustration built up from something. Edna Pontellier would most certainly have a high level of frustration based on the amount of challenges set before her. This could explain her reasoning for tears. Along, with tears came another source of water, the ocean.…show more content…
Normally she would avoid swimming but once, she decided to do just that. “But that night she was like the little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with over-confidence. She could have shouted for joy. She did shout for joy, as with a sweeping stroke or two she lifted her body to the surface of the water.” This experience did not just mean that she was now able to swim. It meant that she had gained control of body and its movements. She had faced the challenge of not truly being in control and won. There was a second time, at the very end of the story, that Edna used the ocean as
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