Since the creation of society, the concept that men are superior to women has been considered a definite truth, and still is to a degree today. The fight for women’s equality has made significant progress but, not enough to completely erase the gender roles society places upon people. At the turn of the 19th century, feminism, or the women rights movement, gradually began to become more popular among women. Kate Chopin, in her work, “The Awakening”, masterfully demonstrates her views concerning feminism through her protagonist, Edna Pontellier. “The Awakening”, set in Louisiana during the end of the 19th century, depicts what resulted from women thinking independently of men by utilizing symbolism through birds and the sea. Edna lives
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For Edna, she only feels free when she is away from her husband and able to live her life independently from any influence. While Edna is sailing to Cheniere Caminada, she has an intense feeling of freedom, “as if she were being borne away from some anchorage which had held her fast, whose chains had been loosening…leaving her free to drift whithersoever she chose…” (Chopin, 34). The anchorage that Edna feels herself trying to escape is the marriage between her and Leonce that holds her down. She wants to be free and the only place she feels this freedom is on the open sea. In the sea, Edna feels “daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no women had swum before” (Chopin, 27). Once again, Chopin is demonstrating Edna’s longing to escape her marriage with Leonce by “swimming far out” and going “where no women had swum before” by abandoning her marriage and female responsibilities. Eventually, Edna feels a glimmer of freedom by being allowed to move into a different house than Leonce. Before she moves into her new house, she is asked, “When do you go to the pigeon house?” (Chopin, 85). Chopin continues to enforce the point that Edna is like a trapped bird. Her moving into a “pigeon house” portrays that she is similar to that of a caged animal with no escape. Edna, only to soon realize that there is no true escape from marriage, listens to “the voice of the sea…inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude” (Chopin, 115). Edna finds escape from her despair by giving herself to the sea. The only way she can leave the marriage that makes her feel like a caged bird is to give into the freedom of death that the sea
For Edna, she only feels free when she is away from her husband and able to live her life independently from any influence. While Edna is sailing to Cheniere Caminada, she has an intense feeling of freedom, “as if she were being borne away from some anchorage which had held her fast, whose chains had been loosening…leaving her free to drift whithersoever she chose…” (Chopin, 34). The anchorage that Edna feels herself trying to escape is the marriage between her and Leonce that holds her down. She wants to be free and the only place she feels this freedom is on the open sea. In the sea, Edna feels “daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no women had swum before” (Chopin, 27). Once again, Chopin is demonstrating Edna’s longing to escape her marriage with Leonce by “swimming far out” and going “where no women had swum before” by abandoning her marriage and female responsibilities. Eventually, Edna feels a glimmer of freedom by being allowed to move into a different house than Leonce. Before she moves into her new house, she is asked, “When do you go to the pigeon house?” (Chopin, 85). Chopin continues to enforce the point that Edna is like a trapped bird. Her moving into a “pigeon house” portrays that she is similar to that of a caged animal with no escape. Edna, only to soon realize that there is no true escape from marriage, listens to “the voice of the sea…inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude” (Chopin, 115). Edna finds escape from her despair by giving herself to the sea. The only way she can leave the marriage that makes her feel like a caged bird is to give into the freedom of death that the sea