Awakening in Edna Notes

 

 

Symbols of Edna NOTES

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

 

The Gulf of Mexico

learning to swim/swimming

piano/Mademoisille Reisz's piano playing

Pigeon House

her artwork

disgarding her bathing suit

her being looked upon as a possession by her husband

swimming the distance in the beginning of the book

ocean

her statement that she would die for her family   but not give up herself for them

walking

 

The awakening process in Edna:

 

p. 14     her beginning state

p. 16     what she was not

p. 18     she feels out of place

p. 22     Edna "tries herself on" Adele--tries to be her?

p. 25     she begins to follow her heart rather than her mind

p. 26     what Edna is--dual nature, lover of beauty

p. 29     Edna runs--water, wind, grass, religion

p. 33     Edna split--faced with reality

p. 35     Edna is "not one of us"

p. 44     Edna is ready to hear the truth

p. 48     Edna swims--"reaching out for the unlimited in which

               to lose herself

p. 49-51  Edna feels emotion, Robert understands, she discovers

               "desire"

p. 53     Edna asserts herself--she "awakens"

p. 55     Edna follows her instincts, her heart

p. 62     After leaving church, she awakens from nap to a new

               world and new self

p. 79-80  Feeling for Robert new, tells Adele that she would

               die for children but not live for them

p. 87     Edna throws off her wedding ring, tries to crush

               it (later accepts it back)

p. 92     Edna offers to paint Adele's picture someday

p. 94     Edna curious about "life's delirium"

p. 96-97  Edna is casting off public image and feeling extreme

               highs and lows of emotion

p. 107    Edna cries as she did when she heard Reisz' music

p. 110    Edna tells Leonce that weddings are lamentable

p. 116-7  Dr. observes new life in Edna

p. 126    Edna is ready for life to happen

p. 129    Admits fidelity for, love for Robert

p. 133    Edna only belongs to self

p. 135    Edna delights in telling Reisz of her love for Robert

p. 138    Reisz feels Edna's "wings"

p. 139    Edna takes off--she kisses Arobin and loves Robert

p. 140    Edna begins to fall--regrets her intimacy with Arobin

p. 150    The "last" dinner is spoiled by Victor's reminder of

               Robert's song

p. 153    Edna "snaps."

p. 156    Edna forsakes convention completely

p. 158    Her children delight her for only a brief moment

p. 160    Adele warns of the danger Edna is in alone

p. 163    "the same glance which had penetrated to the sleeping

               places of her soul and awakened them"

p. 173    Edna feels no meaning in her life

p. 175    Edna's reason melts at the sight of Robert--she still

               loves

p. 177    Edna finds that Robert loves her but we discover that

               he does not understand--he would "own" her as

               Leonce does

p. 184    Think of the children--Edna admits that her children

               should have a right to impose upon her--but

               disregards this responsibility

p. 189    Children are antagonists, Robert would someday leave--

               the water was her only way to escape loneliness.