The Awakening

Characters

Robert

Robert as one of the most important characters in this book. He played the role who wake up the asleep soul of Edna. And he also made Edna realize this cruel society. Without him, Edna can't get metamorphosis.

Mademoiselle

Edna

Symbolization

Parrot

At the beginning of the book, it showed a parrot in the cage. It's just symbolized the Edna who just trammeled as Mrs. Pontellier.

Mrs. Pontellier’s eyes were quick and bright; they were a yellowish brown, about the color of her hair.Her eyebrows were a shade darker than her hair.They were thick and almost horizontal, emphasizing the depth of her eyes.She was rather handsome than beautiful.Her face was captivating by reason of a certain frankness of expression and a contradictory subtle play of features.Her manner was engaging. Edna owned some outstanding and different factors. She was not the kind of traditional, elegant women. Because of this personality, she dissatisfied many people around her.

Marriage(Wedding)

In the early life of Edna, she always kept to be a good wife. But as the time went by, she realized that the marriage is only like a kind of restrain for her.

What

How

Quotation

click to edit

She perceived that her will had blazed up, stubborn and resistant. She could not at that moment have done other than denied and resisted. ............... But she could not realize why or how she should have yielded, feeling as she then did.

click to edit

VI:

Mademoiselle Reisz may be the most influential character in Edna’s awakening. She is unmarried and childless, and she devotes her life to her passion: music. A talented pianist and somewhat of a recluse, she represents independence and freedom and serves as a sort of muse for Edna. When Edna begins actively to pursue personal independence, she seeks Mademoiselle Reisz’s companionship.

Adèle Ratignolle

She is one of the Edna's closest friends. She idolizes her children and worships her husband, centering her life around caring for them and performing her domestic duties

The Sea

Water’s associations with cleansing and baptism make it a symbol of rebirth. The sea, thus, also serves as a reminder of the fact that Edna’s awakening is a rebirth of sorts. Appropriately, Edna ends her life in the sea: a space of infinite potential becomes a blank and enveloping void that carries both a promise and a threat. In its sublime vastness, the sea represents the strength, glory, and lonely horror of independence.

Edna has just returned from her catalytic first swim and is lying in the porch hammock, refusing her husband’s entreaties to come inside to bed. For the first time in her life, Edna does not, out of habit, yield to Léonce’s command. Rather, she speaks against his control and does as she wishes. The narrator highlights the fact that, as Edna’s thoughts and emotions begin to change, she also becomes more self-aware and begins to analyze her former behavior.