The Awakening Symbolism

Words: 164
Pages: 1

The conflicted protagonist of Kate Chopin’s novella The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, struggles to satisfy her true desires of living as an independent woman throughout the novella. This is due to the restricted rights of women in 1800s, expecting women to carry forth the duties of a mother and an obedient wife. Chopin illustrates Edna’s desire for liberty from the confinements of society through images of the ocean, representing the freedom and escape she is chasing. The “sonorous murmur” (19) of the ocean tide “inviting [Edna] to wander for a spell in the abysses of solitude” (20) displays the gradual increase in the protagonist’s wishes, that which is heightened by the interactions between the protagonist and the sea. As Chopin develops the