The Awakening (Post #1)
"A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul" (Chopin 73). Edna's first swim symbolizes the beginning of her independence. The accomplishment of overcoming a life long fear made Edna aware of her own self-reliance. Like any venture, the contingencies are made clear when she fears she swam out too far. Edna realizes that with her new found independence she must muster the strength to return to the shore on her own.
Edna continues to test out her new found "power" (Chopin 73) when she defies Léonce for the first time in their marriage. She even rebukes his earlier comments and warns that next time she will not dignify him with a response. "Her will had blazed up" (Chopin 78) in that moment, and she even wondered why she had been so submissive in the past. Though in the end, Edna does end up retiring to her bedroom, her desire for freedom was made apparent for the first time. Furthermore, the swim marks the beginning of Edna and Robert's relationship. The silence the two shared while waiting for Léonce was permeated with the "throbbings of desire" (Chopin 77). It should also be noted that it was Robert who gave Edna swimming lessons, this depicts Robert as the origin for her resulting audacity. Edna not only swam out into the ocean but into the depths of her new found independence.
In public beaches, women would have to change in "bathing machines" that were wheeled out to the edge of the water so that women would not have to walk from the shore to the water in only their bathing suits. The Creoles in "The Awakening" were probably on a private area that did not require these machines. The men however had the freedom to bathe as they please and could even do so in their drawers. This again points out the disparity among both genders. Any sort of outward sexuality was looked down upon, which makes Edna's transformation and her later affair that much more critical.
While Robert has a huge impact on Edna's newfound independence, Madame Ratignolle also influences Edna's breakthrough. Madame Ratignolle offers "so striking a contrast to [Edna's] own habitual reserve," which causes Edna to idolize Madame Ratignolle's personality (Chopin 57). Edna gains confidence and begins to become independent after spending a majority of her summer with Madame Ratignolle.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that Madame Ratignolle had a significant impact on guiding Edna into the independent woman she desired to be, but at the same time I think Léonce tried to show her the type of woman she should be and that just accentuated to Edna how much she did not want to be the standard social woman everyone told her she had to be.
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