Those who have finished the book know that Edna dies by drowning. Her suicide leaves questions like, what happens to her children? What happens to her husband? What happens to the rest of the characters? But the biggest one is possibly, why? Why did she kill herself?
It is shown in the novel that Edna's suicide was not premeditated, but an act of impulse. "She was not thinking of these things when she walked down to the beach." (Chopin 155). As she continues to go farther and farther into the water, she decides that this is what she'll do. Although I don't agree with her final actions, seeing as how I was especially curious as to what she would do with her life, one can understand how she arrived at that point. The author demonstrates that the reason possibly lies within her family and Robert. "There was no one thing in the world that she desired. There was no human being whom she wanted near her except Robert; and she even realized that the day when he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of her existence, leaving her alone. The children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul's slavery for the rest of her days." (Chopin 155). It's important to take note that she does not directly state that her children are part of what causes her to make her decision. It's what they represent. It's what they remind her of: that she has been "fitted" for this role and nothing else.
As for Robert, Edna acknowledges that whatever relationship she could've had with him would have been short-lived and potentially kept under wraps. Edna also acknowledges that the one thing she desires, Robert, is one of the things she can't ever possibly have. Edna Pontellier was a lot of things, but she wasn't clueless. In the most basic terms, she was trapped and she knew that's how she would've stayed. She may have made progress by moving out of her house and allowing herself to love Robert, but she was most likely never going to be able to proudly walk down the street, with her head held high. How could she, when she knew she could not have the right to love Robert? To be free? To live as she pleases? And so the end of Edna Pontellier came about, with subtlety and without hesitation.
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Robert and Edna's suicide (Not Robert and Edna, more like Robert, and Edna's suicide) :^D
The Awakening Post #4
After reading the Awakening, by Kate Chopin, I had many thoughts and opinions. My opinion of Edna had changed the most throughout the novel. At first, I did feel bad for her and wanted her to seek her happiness. But, as I continued reading, she became too selfish. Edna did not care at all about her husband or children. She could have lived the life she had always wanted but with her children. They did not deserve this. The most selfish act Edna made out of the entire book was when she committed suicide. This ending was a huge shock. After reading an entire novel about Edna fighting for her independent lifestyle, she drowns herself. This was a major disappointment. This also made me, once again, feel bad for her children. She committed suicide because Robert, her true love, had left her and she felt like she had no one. Edna felt alone when she still had family and friends who cared about her. Edna never considered anyone else's feelings throughout the entire novel.
Awakening Review
The Awakening
The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a fiction novel that took place in the late 1800’s in Louisiana.
One theme showcased in The Awakening is love, as Edna was trying to figure out what love meant to her throughout the novel. Within the novel Edna had relationships with three different men, but she only loved one of them. One of the men she didn’t love was her own husband. For example, when asked about her husband, “Mrs. Pontellier was forced to admit that she knew of none better.” (Chopin 9). Her marriage to this man was not her choice. The next man was Mr. Arobin, whom she had a very intimate relationship with. That first time the two kissed, Chopin wrote that it, “...was not love…” (Chopin 113). Edna only liked this man because he fulfilled her desires. However the third man, Robert Lebrun, ultimately won her affections, “because his hair [was] brown and [grew] away from his temples; because he open[ed] and shut his eyes, and his nose [was] a little out of drawing; because he [had] two lips and a square chin, and a little finger which he [couldn’t] straighten from having played baseball too energetically in his youth.” Edna loved him because he was just him.
Another theme found was family. Edna’s relationship with her family was very complicated, and continuously got worse throughout the course of the novel. For example, Edna refused to attend her sister’s wedding, which led to, “...a warm, and almost violent dispute…” (Chopin 96), between her and her father. Another example of the bad relationship she had with her family is the way she explains that, "...[She] would give [her] money, [she] would give [her] life for [her] children; but [she] wouldn't give [herself]” (Chopin 64).
One shortcoming in the novel is the use of foreign words and phrases. They made it impossible to read without having to take a break and look up what each specific word meant to piece together what was going on. For example, the opening dialogue of the novel is, “Allez-vous-en! Allez-vous-en! Sapristi! That’s all right!” (Chopin 1). Not only this, but she would weave in and out of English and French, which made the confusion even more severe. For example, when Robert Lebrun and Mrs. Ratignolle were arguing, he said, “"Tiens!... Voila que Madame Ratignolle est jalouse!" (Chopin 26), and she responded with, "Nonsense! I'm in earnest; I mean what I say. Let Mrs. Pontellier alone." (Chopin 26).
Another shortcoming is the extremely short chapters. This created more chapters to read, which made for a dragged out process of reading. For example, a majority of the chapters are 2-4 pages long such as chapter 1 (Chopin 1-4), chapter 19 (Chopin 76-78), and chapter 27 (Chopin 111-112). The shortest chapter in the book is 28, and it doesn’t even cover a page (Chopin 113). Chopin made a mistake by writing The Awakening like this.
Despite the shortcomings, Chopin made the right choice by having Edna transform into an independent woman. For example, in the beginning when Edna sneaks off to be with Robert she, “...was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being” (Chopin 16). This was only the start of her self realization. By the end of the novel, Edna became completely independent, and decided to end it all by swimming as far out into the ocean as possible. Whilst swimming, “A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before” (Chopin 156) Many women before her would only go so far as their husbands tell them to, but Edna then had full control of what she does, and she was not going to stop for anything or anyone. Edna’s independence inspires readers-- especially women-- not to conform to what their loved ones tell them to do, and to keep doing whatever pleases them.
In summary, The Awakening by Kate Chopin was an outstanding novel, which was an enthralling read that inspired feministic ideals. Though the book had its faults, they were greatly surpassed by Chopin’s ability to write such a relatable and realistic story.
Friday, February 26, 2016
Edna's Escape Through Suicide
The Awakening ends somewhat abruptly as Edna kills herself. She does this to escape all her troubles. The readers can deduce this because in reference to my first blog post, where I concluded that Edna regards the water as a means of escape from being a mother, a wife, and also an outsider in the society, she also commits suicide in water. However, Edna has some seconds thoughts about suicide as she thinks, “Perhaps Doctor Mandelet would have understood if she had seen him—but it was too late…” (Chopin 176). These second thoughts still don’t affect her resolve for escape, showing that she is much stronger than the last time she tried to escape her troubles through water.
Regardless of this, her actions can be considered selfish because she has children. These children will now have to grow up without a mother. Although she wasn’t the best of mothers to them even when she was around, they still need a mother figure. But she thinks solely of herself as she begins to regard her kids as “antagonists… who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul’s slavery for the rest of the rest of her days” (Chopin 175). This is only because she has chosen never to let her children or let anyone else come before herself. She is now finally free.
Realism
In reading the final chapters of The Awakening, it began to feel like less of a novel written by a realist, and more of one written by a romanticist. Edna was finally getting her way and beginning to feel free. She had a private romantic talk with Robert where she says "Now you are here and we shall love each other my Robert.We shall be everything to each other. Nothing else in this world is of any consequence." (Chopin 147) The whole scene seems a bit romanticized and things seem to be going too well for her. However, this was just a setup by Chopin to deliver the dose of realism that would have been missing without it. Edna presumably kills herself by drowning. Many people as I've read do not like this ending. They complain that it's too abrupt and that things were finally starting to work for Edna. BUT THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT REALISM IS ABOUT. This is the same type of realism Chopin uses in The Story of an Hour. I personally found the ending interesting for what it is, and that is a realistic, not-so-happy ending. However, I am curious as to what Mr. Pontillier's and Robert's reaction, respectively, to the news of Edna's death would be. I believe Robert would still move on next summer and pry on another married woman. The Awakening has been an interesting novel, and an excellent example of realism. Maybe this is how Edna went out...
The Awakening Final Post
Edna Pontellier has
transformed immensely throughout The Awakening. As the title suggests, Mrs. Pontellier
had undergone a sort of ‘awakening’. In the beginning of the story, she had
been unaware, almost, of her true wishes and personal desires. Edna Pontellier
was content with her position as the wife and mother of Léonce Pontellier and
his children. Throughout the story and until the very end, she develops more
and more as an individual. She is not just a woman or a wife. She is able to
identify herself and someone who has sexual and nonsexual desire, wants and
needs. After assessing the final chapter of this short story, I have been able
to find many different forms of symbolism and examples in which Edna has
transformed. “All along the white beach, up and down, there was no living thing
in sight. A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling,
fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water.”(Chopin 175) I am sure
that this damaged bird is meant to represent Edna herself. The bird flies and
flies with the broken wing, but finally allows itself to fall, unable to
sustain itself with its preceding injuries. Edna Pontellier, with her life
falling before her, is unable to keep going. She has done so much to identify
as a free-woman, but with her deep despondency, she cannot go on. Edna no
longer has the will to live. In just the next paragraph, Edna is entering the
water and decides to remove her bathing suit for the first time. “But when she
was there beside the sea, absolutely alone, she cast the unpleasant, pricking
garments from her, and for the first time in her life she stood naked in the
open air, at the mercy of the sun, the breeze that beat upon her, and the waves
that invited her. How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky!
how delicious! She felt like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a
familiar world that it had never known.”(Chopin 175) I understand this to be precisely as it states, and more. Kate
Chopin could not have better stated this in any way. Simply, by removing the
bathing suit and allowing the water of the gulf to submerge her body, Edna
Pontellier had allowed herself to become fully conscious. She is awake to the
horrors and beauties of the world around her and of her own self. Edna swims,
further and further into the ocean until she begins to become exhausted. The
story then abruptly, but not surprisingly, ends with her giving in to this exhaustion.
This represents her death, figuratively and spiritually.
Edna's Solitude
It
would appear as though once again Chopin has used birds to represent something
within her novel. This time it seems to represent Edna’s desire to be
independent of her husband and the Creole traditions. “When she heard it there
came before her imagination the figure of a man standing beside a desolate on
the seashore. He was naked. His attitude was one of hopeless resignation as he looked
toward a distant bird winging its flight away from him.” (Chopin 34). This is
the image in Edna’s head as she is listening to one of Mademoiselle Reisz’s
songs being played. Edna knows the real name of the song but chose to call it “Solitude.”
It seems to be that Edna wishes to be the bird and for her husband to be the
man. She wishes to leave behind the culture she has been tied to and the one
who tied her to it. Edna wishes to leave the man with nothing and move on to
follow her own path in life. Edna’s only solitude would be in the fact of
having her own independence.
Edna's Flight
In the book birds are mentioned many many times and towards the end the each appear more and more to have a deeper meaning. For instance the house that Edna moves into becomes the "pigeon house" or how in the beginning of the book the parrot mentioned. I like the idea that even though she is now her own person away from being trapped now she is following what she wants but she went from this night beautiful parrot to now a small dull pigeon. She is told with all the things she talks about, the people she visits all effect her to become the way she is now. The way she is makes her defiantly not a typical tradition of a woman in the book and flying very high. When Edna is asked where she is going to fly in her life, when she replies she says nothing extraordinary. Edna unknowing her character actually does some extraordinary things in her life as though she only thinks she is living her life, her breaking the tradition of everyone else in society she is so very different and not at all ordinary. Unfortunately her warning about the Bird flying wasn't enough Edna's wings soon became very weak and she like all at one point fall down to the earth and become batteries and bruised or maybe even drown.
You don't know what you have until it's gone
Towards the end of The Awakening, Kate Chopin portrays that you don't know what you have until it's gone. In the beginning of the book Edna shows a strong dislike for her children and we don't even know her children's names until page seven but even then it's just one. Towards the end of the book Edna has this new love for her children who she neglected for so long. Chopin writes, "She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them," (page 25). Edna would sometimes care for her children but most of the time she found them more of a problem and in the way. Later, Chopin writes, "It was with a wrench and a pang that Edna left her children... All along the journey homeward their presence lingered with her like the memory of a delicious song," (page 128). After being alone for so long and without her kids, she sees them again and she realizes how much she misses them and loves them. She realizes this from living without them for a while and realizing it's better to have them around even if she wasn't a very good mother to them before. She was excited to spend time with people who were familiar to her rather than the loneliness she had wanted for so long.
Surprise...Not Really
As I start to finish up The Awakening by Kate Chopin some events happened that I was not to surprised about. As we can infer, Edna took her own life in the ocean. To many this is a big surprise and is pretty shocking. But, I was not really shocked when I read this. In the past few parts of The Awakening you can see Mrs. Pontellier get stressed out. Every time she goes to the ocean she feels free and at home. She feels as if this is the only place where she can be herself and not feel the pressure of the society that she lives in. From the beginning of The Awakening I could tell that something drastic like this might happen. I feel like Kate Chopin did a good job of setting up this major event. It was just easy to tell that this was going to happen.
Surprise...Not Really
As I start to finish up The Awakening by Kate Chopin some events happened that I was not to surprised about. As we can infer, Edna took her own life in the ocean. To many this is a big surprise and is pretty shocking. But, I was not really shocked when I read this. In the past few parts of The Awakening you can see Mrs. Pontellier get stressed out. Every time she goes to the ocean she feels free and at home. She feels as if this is the only place where she can be herself and not feel the pressure of the society that she lives in. From the beginning of The Awakening I could tell that something drastic like this might happen. I feel like Kate Chopin did a good job of setting up this major event. It was just easy to tell that this was going to happen.
Although most people are focusing on Edna's death, I want to focus on a real important theme that basically creates the novel, and that theme was Edna's search for her identity. Edna Pontellier was the protagonist of the story, but it was evident that Kate Chopin had the intentions of creating Edna’s character in the image of herself. This is evident because Kate Chopin struggled with the similar problems that Edna faced in the novel. Edna’s main struggle was with her identity in regards to society, and how society saw her as an individual. During this time period, the Feminist Movement was beginning to take place, and many women felt similar to the way she felt. The theme of identity was shown as Edna not being able to discover her own, and this lead to her demise by the end of the story. In Chapter 16, Edna’s identity issue surfaced as a whole; “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself” (Chopin 64). This quote was stating that she was not satisfied with her title as ‘mother’ or ‘wife.’ She felt that a particular portion, namely the ‘essential’ which she argued only belonged to her, and that she would have never given up this portion of her, not even to her children. Another example of Edna’s search for an identity occurred in Chapter 19, when Edna finished conversing with her husband, the author discussed Enda’s feelings, “There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day. She liked then to wander alone into strange and unfamiliar places. She discovered many a sunny, sleepy corner, fashioned to dream in. And she found it good to dream and to be alone and unmolested” (Chopin 78). This quote explained Enda’s deep personal feelings toward the outside world, and demonstrated her experience towards both extreme joy and extreme sadness when dealing with her newly, ‘awakened’ person. Although it is sad to see her go, we can finally say (ironically) that Edna found her personality.
SUPRISE!!!!!!!!
In the novel, the ending threw me and I didn’t see it coming
at all. I did however see symbolism in the ending as Edna was swimming farther
and farther out to sea. She is first swimming away from her responsibilities as
a wife and also as a mother, she is leaving behind the people who care about
her and making herself no longer responsible for her children and the duties of
being a wife. These are the first people that she thinks of as she is swimming
away farther into the vast darkness of the ocean. But then as she is swimming she is washing
away her sins and making herself whole again. She is washing away the lust that
she had for Robert and the disloyalty she had towards her husband, but more
importantly she is washing away her inner thoughts and feelings. “She thought
of Leonce and the children (Chopin 156) .” Then she soon after dies. “She looked into the
distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again. Edna
heard her father’s voice and her sister Margaret’s. She heard the barking of an
old dog that was chained to a sycamore tree. The spurs of the old cavalry
officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and
the musky odor of pinks filled the air (Chopin 157) .”
The Ocean
One of the biggest symbols in the novel is the
ocean. Edna consistently goes into the ocean throughout the story which makes
it obvious that it must be significant. While she walked down the ocean Chopin
stated, “The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering,
clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude,”
(155). Water is used to clean a person, so when Edna goes into the water she is
purifying herself. She knows she has committed bad deeds, but she feels like by
going into the water, she will be forgiven as if it cleanses her. It’s her “Awakening”
Without it being said we can assume she had killed herself in the ocean. It also
shows the ocean as a place of freedom which she wishes she had more of. When she
took her own life, she was giving herself to freedom which is all she ever
wanted. Finally she had what she wanted and escaped the restrictions she had to
live by because of the society.
"...and the musky odor of pinks filled the air."(Chopin 157)
As we all mourn the loss of our protagonist, Edna
Pontellier, we have to ask ourselves, the most basic questions. Why did Edna
smell pink? What made her choose that exact moment to do it? Why did she even
do it in the first place? What exactly was Kate Chopin intending to do with the
death of Edna Pontellier? And why was it so fast? Only a mere paragraph was
enough to kill Edna.
These questions may never be answered, but with a little
research I was able to find some of the keys that may one day unlock what the
ending of the story really meant, because I refuse to believe that Kate Chopin
would just randomly kill off a character for effect, especially a main character
who is the embodiment of everything Kate Chopin stands for.
The color of pink. A delicate color, representing
femininity, tenderness, charm, but there is nothing feminine or charming about
a cold, lifeless body forever lost on the ocean floor. I think Chopin used this
as a sort of “death of gender-roles” type death. Edna would have never stood
for anything less, and I doubt Chopin wouldn’t grant our favorite protagonist
her final request. So in the end, I believe that pink was used for two purposes:
the death of femininity and the irony of something so sweet being associated
with something so terrible.
I found it odd that the death took place in the ocean, and I
only have one theory why: mystery. It is argued as to what the ocean
represents. In some pieces of literature, it is seen as god-like, some see it
as danger, some as safety; some see beautiful sunsets and sunrises in it, while
others see an ugly raging storm. I think the point of it was to obscure Edna’s
death, to rest in peace forever. If her body was ever found, she would be
buried in a dress, one day her coffin would be right by her husbands, her
epitaph reading “here rests a mother and wife.” She would not want that. In the
ocean, she is whoever she pleases, among sea creatures with no societal gender
roles, they would not look upon her dead body with shame, but merely as a piece
of the landscape. In the ocean, she would never be judged again, for the rest
of eternity.
Edna's Goodbye
Before we read The Awakening,
Miss. Lucia said to pay close attention to Chopin's use the ocean because it
symbolizes a major theme. I didn’t understand at first, an ocean is just an
ocean, right? No special symbolism? I mean she did talk about it a lot, but
what did it mean? If you finished the book, it really ties in the novel to
create the perfect about of foreshadowing, as well as the perfect ending. The
last chapter displayed how the ocean represented Edna’s freedom.
The first night Edna went into the
ocean with the group of friends she didn’t go that far onto the beach, so she
stayed back a little with Robert. After that night, she started gasping onto the
idea of freedom, desiring it more than ever before. By the end of the last chapter, when she
walked into the ocean and to never return, that was when she had the freedom
she desired for so long. She knew there was no love in her soul for her
husband, but Robert? She loved him; that is a fact. However, even he did not
understand, “‘Good-bye, because I love you.’ He did not know; he did not understand.
He would never understand,” (Chopin, 57). The line, “He would never understand,”
(Chopin, 57), casts an unnerving feeling, a hint of what she was going to do,
and a glimpse into her mind, that nobody will ever understand her.
The ending threw me off guard quite a bit, I
knew Edna wanted freedom, but I didn’t think she would ever commit suicide. It
bothered me that she left her kids, no child should ever be left without a
mother or a father. However, I’m glad Edna got the freedom she so desperately desired.
Last Blog, finally
Kate Chopin’s method of ending The Awakening
made me livid. Edna, just committing suicide by walking into the ocean and
swimming out, was such a unexciting ending. I was expecting more of a KABOOM, like
an unexpected twist and turn to end it all off. Kate Chopin wrote, “She went on
and on. She remembered the night she swam far out, and recalled the terror that
seized her at the fear of being unable to regain the shore. She did not look
back now, but went on and on.” (Chopin 176) In my opinion, Edna took the easy
way out because she decided to just go and literally “leave”, instead of
helping the people who cared about her the most, especially during tough times.
In a way, her committing suicide was beneficial for her kids because she never
played the role of a mother, the way most mothers would. Even though, the beginning of the book was a
little uneasy to understand, the chapters in between were definitely worth it.
Edna kills herself
The moment Mrs. Pontellier learns to swim, the beginning and ending of her life is apparent. Mrs. Pontellier’s thoughts, emotions, and feelings hit her like a wave out at sea, overwhelming her with “The Awakening” of her spirit. She realizes that she is not just Mrs. Pontellier; she is and always would be Edna. It is important that the reader knows that Edna can swim so her death is portrayed as intentional rather than accidental. Edna sees her life flash before her eyes the moment she learns to swim (Chopin 38). At this time, she is not ready to die. She did not admit her true feelings for Robert yet, the one thing holding her back from suicide. It is ironic that Mr. Pontellier comforted his wife after her near-death experience, saying he was watching her the whole time to assure her safety. In the end, it is Mr. Pontellier who cannot save Edna from the ocean or herself. Edna, on her way to her death, sees “A bird with a broken wing…fluttering…down to the water,” (Chopin 156).
In many ways, this
bird symbolizes Edna herself. Edna was
hurt and damaged, her spirit broken like the bird’s wing. The dying animal was Edna’s dying soul; both were
awaiting the finish of their lives. The Awakening ends abruptly, just like Edna’s
life, leaving the reader to imagine the fate of Robert, Mr. Pontellier, and the
children.
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