Symbolism In The Awakening

Kate Chopin, an American Women Writer, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She had a strong liking for literature and reading since she was young. In 1870 she married Oscar Chopin, the son of a prominent Creole family from Louisiana. After her husband died, in 1889 Chopin began writing fiction, an activity that enabled her to develop and express her strong views on women, sex, and marriage while simultaneously supporting her family. She was fond of using local language to describe the life of Creole and Acadian, so she was called the local colorist. In her writing, she was much interested in the problems of women's status and she tried to disclose the life of women frankly and sincerely. She portrayed two types of totally different women in her writing. They are the traditional women and the new women. In her masterpiece The Awakening, we have the chance to read these two kinds of women. But the immediate response to the novel after its publishing was overwhelmingly negative. It aroused great hostility among contemporary reviewers because it traced the psychological and sexual awakening of a young woman. The norms and values preached by Chopin in the novel were in serious conflict with the traditional ones. However, fifty years later, with the development of politics, economy and culture, some critics began to make a new assessment of Kate Chopin's writing, and they thought that she was a forerunner of women's literature and that she was entitled to an honored position in American literary history.In the author's opinion, The Awakening is a novel of symbolism; within each narrative segment there is often a central and powerful symbol that serves to add meaning to the text and to underline some subtle point Chopin is making. Understanding the meaning of these symbols is vital to a full appreciation of the story. This paper illustrates the symbolism in The Awakening from four aspects: the symbolic implications of the title, the symbolism of setting, the symbolism of figures and the symbolism of activities.Chapter one explores the five awakenings of Edna Pontellier as the title suggests She awakens from pursuing the spiritual life to her awakening of sexuality. After her awakening of sexuality, she realizes her right to free love that leads to the conflicts between her selfhood and her motherhood and wifehood, and finally she realizes the sex-control on her. In the process of awakening, she begins to understand the world within and about her. She starts to realize her personal requirements about her life. Finally she could not stand the constraints both natural and social and finds herself relieved in the sea.Chapter Two is devoted to those places and settings that affect Edna in her process of awakening. Grand Isle is the place where Edna awakens. There the sea is seductive to the awakening of Edna. New Orleans is the bastion of societal rules, of realistic life and duties. Kentucky, for Edna is simply New Orleans in a different place, rigid with rules and full of unhappy memories. After her awakening, she finds "a room oh her own" and moves to the pigeon house that belongs to her. While it does provide her with independence and isolation, allowing her to progress in her sexual awakening and to escape the gilded cage that Léonce's house constituted, Edna finds herself cooped anew.In Chapter Three, the author focuses her attention on those figures both human and inhuman that plays an important role in molding this new woman. First are those people who affect Edna. Adele Ratignolle is an excellent example of a mother-woman who unconditionally and willingly effaces herself for her husband and children. She symbolizes a good woman of all traits and merits in the traditional sense. Mademoiselle Reisz is a contrast to her. She is a woman completely alone. She devotes herself solely to art. They represent two extremes of life pattern, which are both impossible for Edna to follow. In Edna's life, there are three men. Her husband, Leonce, wants a "mother-woman". Robert Lebrun offers her ro...