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

The Voice of the Sea in The Awakening Many different symbols were employ in Kate Chopins The Awakening to illustrate the underlying themes and internal conflict of the characters. adept constant and re-emerging symbol is the sea. The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to jockey for a spell in abysses of solitude to lose itself in mazes of inwards contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace (Chopin 25). In the novel, the ocean symbolizes Ednas awakening to a manner filled with freedom and independence (Nickerson). On a hot pass evening Robert and Edna go bathing. Although Edna does not wish to go and initially declines his offer, something inner is compelling her to go down to the water. It is there in the seductive ocean that Ednas awakening begins. A certain light was beginning to dawn indistinctly within her... s he was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being and to recognize her relations as an item-by-item to the world within and about her (Chopin 25). That warm ocean environment is in direct contrast to the responsibilities and rules of the cold, hard city. And it is there in that relaxed and forgiving ambience that Edna can explore her new found freedoms. While relaxing on the beach with Mrs. Ratignolle, the sight of the endless ocean brings back memories from Ednas childhood. She suddenly recalls a summer day in Kentucky and a meadow that seemed as large-scale as the ocean to the very little girl...and I felt as if I must walk on forever without coming to th... ... on, intellection of the bluegrass meadow...believing that it had no beginning and no end (Chopin 190). It is there in the ocean that she prototypic realizes her physical, mental, and emotional potential. It is only natural that the water, which has seduced her with its sound reclaims her. throughout the story the ocean represented Ednas constant struggle for self-realization and independence. From her first flow of emotion on the beach to her last breath of brio in the sea, the ocean beckons her. The voice of the sea lures her onward in her excursion toward liberation and empowerment. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Kate Chopin. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 1993 Bedford Books, New York. Nickerson, Meagan. Romanticism in The Awakening, The Kate Chopin Project. America On-line. February 2000.