Two women on two different paths to self-enlightenment but both paths end in a realization that one cannot simply focus on oneself, life is intertwined as in Victorian society or the jungles of the Congo. Edna, in The Awakening discovers that she cannot live outside of society’s norms; whereas, Orleanna of The Poisonwood Bible learns how deep seeded guilt can spark self-awareness.
While The Awakening’s Edna develops into the beginnings of a self-actualized woman by understanding her deep inner self and finally develops into a a version of herself most disillusioned; whereas, Orelanna Price from The Poisonwood Bible becomes enlightened after experiencing the death of a child and understanding how years of submissiveness brought her to a personal awareness after being psychologically numb.
Both women lived repressed lives, one rich, one poor, one enslaved to society and marriage and the other, enslaved by Christianity and marriage. Edna, a Victorian era woman who is already different in the beginning of the novel from other “mother-women”, “the mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any …show more content…
Edna’s development transforms quickly in three stages; whereas, Orleanna’s self-actualization is in response to the death of her child. Chopin uses personification, especially of the sea to illustrate Edna’s awakening ,“The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude” (Chopin, 14, 108). She begins her awakening in the sea and ultimately ends her awakening in the sea. The sea is vast and seemingly endless just as is self-discovery. Edna could have stopped her search at a superficial level of understanding but she, “She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before” (Chopin,
While The Awakening’s Edna develops into the beginnings of a self-actualized woman by understanding her deep inner self and finally develops into a a version of herself most disillusioned; whereas, Orelanna Price from The Poisonwood Bible becomes enlightened after experiencing the death of a child and understanding how years of submissiveness brought her to a personal awareness after being psychologically numb.
Both women lived repressed lives, one rich, one poor, one enslaved to society and marriage and the other, enslaved by Christianity and marriage. Edna, a Victorian era woman who is already different in the beginning of the novel from other “mother-women”, “the mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any …show more content…
Edna’s development transforms quickly in three stages; whereas, Orleanna’s self-actualization is in response to the death of her child. Chopin uses personification, especially of the sea to illustrate Edna’s awakening ,“The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude” (Chopin, 14, 108). She begins her awakening in the sea and ultimately ends her awakening in the sea. The sea is vast and seemingly endless just as is self-discovery. Edna could have stopped her search at a superficial level of understanding but she, “She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before” (Chopin,