The Awakening

2 Pages 490 Words

Tortuous Freedom

The Awakening by Kate Chopin opens with the brash squawking of a parrot. “Go away! Go away! For god’s sake! That’s alright!” Although these opening words are few and may seem to have little significance, they come to represent the role Edna plays in society and the transformation she undergoes in her awakening. Edna’s awakening completely reshapes her thoughts, opinions and lifestyle, which eventually prove to be intoxicating and dreadful.

At age 28 Edna comes to realize she is an individual. This marks the beginning of her awakening from a dream to life’s reality that is represented through many the choices she makes. Edna doesn’t comply with requests from Leonce, refusing to go to New York with him. She befriends both Mademoiselles Reisz and Ratignolle and proceeds to have an affair with Alcee Arobin while Robert was in New York. “Every step she took toward relieving herself of obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual.” While Edna used her actions to grow personally, they eventually leave her in great distress, as she continues to love Robert, but he leaves her, leaving just a note reading, “I love you, goodbye, because I love you.”

Edna’s solitude is intoxicating as it causes her to be unperceptive to other’s views. Mademoiselle Reisz says to Edna, “The bird that would soar above the level of plain tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth.” This is a message that can be interpreted as a forewarning of the events at the end of the novel; Edna sees the bird flutter and fall into the sea just shortly before she herself swims out too far and drowns/commits suicide. Edna, however, does not comprehend Mademoiselle Reisz’s warning and is determined to eliminate any aspects of a typical housewife in her life, and “fly free”.

Absolute freedom is what Edna really des...