Patricia S. Yaegar argues that The Awakening must be viewed through a linguistic lens. She says that “Edna inhabits a world of limited linguistic possibilities… for interpreting and re-organizing her feelings, and therefore of limited possibilities for action” (200, Yaegar). Edna tries to leave this limited location and “explore feelings which lie outside the prescribed social code” (200, Yaegar), but fails because she can’t think of herself existing outside of the systems of language of which she is a part. Yaegar looks to Chopin’s representations of the “voice of the sea” and the “multi-voiced babble of the parrot” (204, Yaegar) as evidence of the missing or displaced vocality that Edna experiences throughout the novel. She argues that Edna,
…show more content…
As Madsen correctly asserts in her psychoanalytic reading of The Awakening, Edna’s childhood was irreparably altered by the early loss of her mother. When Edna’s father, the “rigid and unflinching” Presbyterian minister offered her little emotional intimacy as a child, Edna responded by “liv[ing] her own life within herself” (57, Chopin). Because she never learned as a child how to have a close relationship with another person, she never seeks out those kind of relationships as an adult. This results in Edna feeling like an outsider, even within friendships and her marriage. As her friend Adele says, “she is not one of [them], she is not like [them]” (64, Chopin). Edna’s difficulty with emotional intimacy leads her to seek alternatives to genuine connection. Her relationship with Robert, as correctly asserted by Ryan, is “like an obsession… with an intensity which fill[s] her with an incomprehensible longing” (105, Chopin). Despite the intensity of their relationship, it lacks substance. Edna specifically married her husband because “no trace of passion or excessive and fictitious warmth colored her affection” (62, Chopin). She repeats the kinds of relationships she’s had in the past. Edna’s cold marriage mirrors her relationship with her unaffectionate father. Both relationships leave her feeling unfulfilled, as do her shallow relationships with Robert and Arobin. Yaeger’s strictly
As Madsen correctly asserts in her psychoanalytic reading of The Awakening, Edna’s childhood was irreparably altered by the early loss of her mother. When Edna’s father, the “rigid and unflinching” Presbyterian minister offered her little emotional intimacy as a child, Edna responded by “liv[ing] her own life within herself” (57, Chopin). Because she never learned as a child how to have a close relationship with another person, she never seeks out those kind of relationships as an adult. This results in Edna feeling like an outsider, even within friendships and her marriage. As her friend Adele says, “she is not one of [them], she is not like [them]” (64, Chopin). Edna’s difficulty with emotional intimacy leads her to seek alternatives to genuine connection. Her relationship with Robert, as correctly asserted by Ryan, is “like an obsession… with an intensity which fill[s] her with an incomprehensible longing” (105, Chopin). Despite the intensity of their relationship, it lacks substance. Edna specifically married her husband because “no trace of passion or excessive and fictitious warmth colored her affection” (62, Chopin). She repeats the kinds of relationships she’s had in the past. Edna’s cold marriage mirrors her relationship with her unaffectionate father. Both relationships leave her feeling unfulfilled, as do her shallow relationships with Robert and Arobin. Yaeger’s strictly