The Awakening Final Essay. The novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin chronicles the spiritual journey of a young

Transcription

1 Huntley 1 Michelle Huntley Mr. Mendelsohn AP English Lit 4 February 2014 The Awakening Final Essay The novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin chronicles the spiritual journey of a young woman, Edna Pontellier, whose search for an ideal womb in such poignant symbols as the ocean, swimming, the moon, and sleeping brings her to fully realize her eternal quest for personal identity and independence in a cold, unforgiving universe. In the first throes of Edna s spiritual journey, she is alerted to the voice of the sea, which calls to her, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring (25). This signifies that the sea is an ever-present force, lapping at the edges of Edna s subconscious in seductive waves. Much like dreams, which are but brief journeys into the depths of one s subconscious, initiate reversions to a realm of pure suspended thought, Edna s time spent in the sea mimics time spent in the womb. The sensation of the sea is compared to the touch of a lover or a mother, enfolding the body in its close embrace (25). The womblike qualities of the sea speak to Edna s longing to be surrounded by love and warmth. The idea that the sea serves as a maternal figure, beckoning to Edna, calling for her presence in its endless, cavernous uterus is reinforced by its frequent mentioning throughout the book, attributed with a seductive odor (23) and an everlasting voice (15); its children the water oaks (10) and yellow chamomile (10) follow their mother, the life-sustaining powers of the ocean s water, far off into the horizon. When Edna ventures to the sea for the last time, she stand[s] naked under the sky, like some new-born creature

2 Huntley 2 (160). She returns to the seas as if in a new body, in a familiar world that [she] ha[s] never known before (160). The sea invites Edna to wander in abysses of solitude for eternity, instead of just for a spell (160, 25). It tempts her through foamy crusts that [coil] back like slow, white serpents (43), much like the serpent of the Bible who tempts Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. The sea promises understanding for Edna in this time of confusion and contradictory impulses (24). It promises to help her find herself and become lost in mazes of inward contemplation (25). As Adele and Edna venture to the beach, just the two of them, they follow a long, sandy path bordered by a sporadic and tangled growth (26). This walk bears similarities to the walk of Adam and Eve through the Garden of Eden, which will inevitably end in their corruption and the dissolution of paradise. However, as Edna ventures farther and farther towards the sea, towards understanding and eventually her doom, Adele is left behind, caught in the throes of childbirth and consumption. They both eventually leave paradise, but in opposite directions Edna out towards the horizon, and Adele back to the security of her family and friends, who reside in the dark cave of society. For Edna, the act of swimming serves as an escape and brings her closer to her ideal womb. She is transformed when she is immersed in the ocean water, such as when she learns to swim and a feeling of exultation over[takes] her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul (43). In the sea, Edna asserts her independence, growing daring and reckless and swimming far from the shore (43). As she journeys closer to the horizon, traversing that realm of space and solitude, she brings herself closer to infinity, reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself (44). It seems to her that the sea not only has no end, but at some point melds with the expanse of the sky, two infinities fusing together. As Edna becomes immersed in the sea, she is assailed by the heavy perfume of Nature: the damp, new-plowed earth, the sea smell, and the field of white

3 Huntley 3 blossoms (43). These strange, rare odors signify the experiencing of a new world of sensuality (43). Edna s experience with the sea is based around her realizing new sensations of touch and smell, her awareness of the touch of the sea, its soft, close embrace and its soft and languorous breeze (23). By immersing herself in theses sensations, Edna transforms herself into a new being. Edna recalls a moment from her childhood when she traversed [an] ocean of waving grass and became passionately enamored of a dignified and sad-eyed cavalry officer (30). The cavalry officer melted imperceptibly out of her existence (30), just as she knew Robert would melt out of her existence, leaving her alone (159). She traverses the blue-grass meadow much like she traverses the sea, believing it ha[s] no beginning and no end (160). As she suspends in the sea, alone and far from the shore, she balances herself as if needing no one to keep her lifted. In this way, she fulfills her identity as an everlasting, indestructible spiritual being, existing without question and without given purpose. Her awareness of Robert s fate to eventually disappear from her existence shows her awareness of the ending of all things, coinciding with her realizing of her position in the universe as a human being (24). Before she succumbs to the sea, she looks out over the horizon and sees the endless bounds of the universe, with the myriad lights of the cosmos dancing upon the water in the form of the million lights of the sun (160). As Edna dives into the sea, she embarks on a journey as endless and boundless as the universe itself. The moon resides in the domain of the sea, hovering about it, using it as a bed. The moon itself is a deity. It rules over the realm of the spiritual that exists at night, where phantom ships speed upon the water and misty spirit forms [prowl] in the shadows and among the reeds (59). Edna s first realization of her unhappiness with her life happens during the night, when an indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being (16). It is as if the moon, upon seeing her enter its realm,

4 Huntley 4 fixed on that hidden crumb in her mind and enlarged it. This signifies the importance of the moon as a beacon of understanding, shining light into darkened realms and revealing hidden secrets. Edna herself is much like the moon. This mood which darkened and clouded her reserve, as it is said, like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul s summer day, similar to how clouds will cast a shadow over the moon, blocking its light and confusing those who rely on it to guide their way (16). Throughout the night, it strives to descend into its dark abyss, to return to the celestial mother that reflects the stars. If the sea is a womb, then the moon could be an egg, ready to burst open in the ocean s fertile depths and contribute to its abundance of live thriving continuously. And since the moon fertilizes the sea during the night, the sun must come up during the day to incubate it. When Edna approaches the sea at the end of the novel, she believes that the sun is hot enough to have warmed to very depths of the ocean (159), yet the water remains cold. She only notices that the sun was hot as she walks down the beach (159). It is as if she is there to fertilize the sea herself and become incubated by the sun. As she descends into the sea s watery depths, she fills the role of the moon, sinking deeper and deeper to make room for the sun. Her body will give life to the creatures of the deep, sustaining generations to come. She will rest perpetually under the waves, like a shimmering reflection of the moon frozen upon the surface. As the moon illuminates the night, Edna s spiritual awakening in the story illuminates the dark realm of dreams. She begins to be overtake[n] by the physical need for sleep, to undergo an initiation to another world (49). She must journey from the delicious, grotesque, impossible dream of her former reality and revert back to a realm of reassurances and comfort (49). She feels helpless and yielding when overtaken by sleep, like a fetus reliant on its mother when in the womb (49). At this time, during the stillest hour of the night, the moon is descending towards the horizon and turns from silver to copper in the sleeping sky (49). Here,

5 Huntley 5 the moon is close to exiting its domain and entering the domain of the sun. It swivels like one s eye scanning the back of an eyelid while one sleeps dreaming, signifying the dawning of a new mind-state upon the sea of consciousness, just as the sun signifies a new day by arriving on the edges of the ocean. As the moon gathers light and warmth as it ventures closer to the sun and sinks into the earth to transform in the sun, sleeping transforms into awakening. On the night that Edna does not sleep after finding Robert s note, she realizes that Robert was one of the few ties keeping her tethered to this world and now it has been severed. As she mechanically walks down the beach to end her life, she concludes that she had done all the thinking which was necessary when she lay awake upon the sofa all morning (159). This signifies that there is only one last tie to sever that of her own life. Edna s realization of her orientation in the universe led to her awareness of the frivolity of society and of her Nature-given freedom to emotion. Much like how her search for the ideal womb through swimming and sleeping signifies her desire to escape the stresses and oppressions of her society, her death at the end of the novel signifies her desire to liberate her soul from the hindrance of her body. Through Edna s search for spiritual understanding, Kate Chopin presents a detailed portrayal of this complicated, stark character. It reveals the author s personal beliefs about spirituality, infinity and the nature of our existence.

6 Huntley 6 Works Cited Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, Print.