Wednesday, October 17, 2007

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Freedom
A Thematic Analysis of The Awakening by Kate Chopin
By: Conrad Collins














“She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim out, where no woman had swum before” (Chopin, Cover) The central theme of the Awakening is immediately apparent. It is a story of a woman who wishes for freedom from her encompassing circumstances. Freedom from the ties of womanhood that bound all women in the late 1800s. Freedom to be able to express herself in the way that she pleased. Freedom to explore her passions in their purest form.

The conflict of The Awakening is the direct opposition to her freedom by way of others inability to understand the main character, Edna Pontellier. Her best friend, Adele, represented to Edna the womanhood that she was tied to. “Think of the children, Edna. Oh think of the children. Remember them!” (Chopin 182) even as the book nears climax, Adele thinks differently from Edna so much that Edna believes she doesn’t her.

Edna feels restricted by her supposed duties to her husband and children. She finds no passion in their presence, fond of them as she is. Down to the last, she thinks that “They were a part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul.” (Chopin 190)

Edna attempts to express her freedom, or rather bring it into being, through the mediums of art and sexuality. Her affairs while Mr. Pontellier is away make her feel alive and free and full of the passion she so desires. “She liked dabbling. She felt in it satisfaction of a kind which no other employment afforded her.” (Chopin, 22) Edna also takes pride in her art and find solace in painting as a means of expression.

However, as Edna attempts to find her freedom, she only digs herself into solitude. For people to be together, all must make sacrifices, and Edna finds herself impaired by these choices. “I love you. Good-by-- because I love you.“ (Chopin 185) The ultimate sum of all the pressuring solitude from Edna’s attempts at freedom comes forth when even her true love, Robert, will not be with her. “He did not know; he did not understand.” (Chopin 190) With this declaration, Edna has decided that her freedom repels any other person, meaning that she could only be free by being dead.

In the end, Edna achieves freedom by escaping all who oppress her. Even her fear of the ocean - a restraint which she had once suffered - had been broken. As Mademoiselle Reisz told her, “to succeed, the artist must possess the courageous soul. The soul that dares and defies,” (Chopin 106) and, taking these words to heart, Edna ultimately defies all inhibitions and attains freedom.