KATE CHOPIN'S “THE AWAKENING”

Symbolism in Kate Chopin's “The Awakening”

Symbolism in Kate Chopin's “The Awakening”

Introduction

Kate Chopin's tale, The Awakening gets described as a novel which depicts the true nature of love and relationships. The most important message that it convey is the importance of how individual chooses to live his or her life. The backdrop of “The Awakening” is set in 19th Century's Creole society of the New Orleans area. Come critics review it as having close connections with the French work Maupassant and Flaubert. The novel illustrates the story about a woman's quest for freedom to her mortal life. Her awakening leads to the mishaps of life, where her family is suffering.

Symbolism in Novel

Within each narrative sentences of The Awakening lies the symbolism with a central and power imagination. The novel “The Awakening” is a depiction of relationships, love and desires of freedom in forms of symbolism. Edna has illustrated her sense of feelings and emotions in terms of symbolism. The critical analysis lies in the deducing the meaning from the symbols. The dressing, setups, tones; attitudes are the key elements for the symbolism of 19th century.

In the novel, Edna Pontellier got introduced in the novel as a confined and not literally open to society. Symbolically the authors regarded as a House woman of 19th century, where women were confined to do house oriented work. There is literature associated with the every object and figure and symbol radiance in females terms.

Water

The most powerful symbol of the story, where Edna found her final awakening, is the ocean of Grand Isle (McCoy, 1997). Ocean or the sea is regarded as one of the most commanding inherent powers. It is also seen as the symbol of escape and freedom for Edna. She visualized that if she can cope up with the hardships and the ...