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Kayla Gardanier
Mr. Cloyd AP English
December 18, 2013
The Journey To Becoming Awake

How do you know who you really are? In Kate Chopins The Awakening, Edna,
one of the main characters, found herself conforming to the accepted religious practices
of the day. As Chopins the novel begins, Edna accepts the beliefs and practices without
any question. As the novel proceeds, she begins to rebel against, defy, and, in the end,
reject the practices altogether on her journey to trying to find whom her real self is. They
are the social forces from which Edna must escape in order to discover who she really is.
In doing so, she will eventually become awakened. Hence, the title of the book, The
Awakening. Chopin also develops the theme of true self. She does this in a contradicting
way.

The more Edna loses herself throughout the novel, the more she also finds herself.
For example, in Chapter 10, when Edna has mastered swimming, she is described to be
Reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself" (Chopin 123). Chopin is
portraying a way of Edna losing who she is to in return find who she really is. She is
reaching out to figure out who she wants to be and what she wants to do with herself. In
doing this, she is also taking a risky step in her journey to becoming awakened. As
Edna tries to isolate herself and shut others out, she also progresses in her journey to
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become awakened to come to her full potential of figuring out the kind of person that
she wants to be and what examples she wants to set for other people.

Edna not only loses her true self, but also the self she has adopted for the sake
of society trying to conform to the society around her. She has been overcoming what
people want and expect her to be her whole life. She realizes in Chapter 39 as she takes
her last journey into the ocean. Only when she abandons that true self, that she
conformed to being based on everyones judgments, does she awaken to find her true
identity and become who she really wants to be to do what makes her happy and proud of
herself.

A symbol of Edna would be the parrot. The parrot is able to voice her unspoken
feelings throughout her journey. Another example of Edna finding herself would be in
Chapter 27 when Mademoiselle Reisz says to Edna The bird that would soar above the
level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings (Chopin, 123). By saying
this, Mademoiselle is saying that You need courage to be able to defy society. This
gives Edna the courage to stand up to people who look down upon her and to be who she
wants to be and do what she feels right.

The mockingbird symbolizes Mademoiselle Reisz. The mockingbird is in a cage
that hung on the other side of the door, whistling his fluty notes out upon the breeze
with maddening persistence (Chopin, 7), which helps to symbolize societys views on
women. The bird is caged in like many women often are. With its odd markings and the
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whistling notes it produces, we can easily relate it to Mademoiselle Reisz because she is
also mad just as the mockingbird is. Society thinks that women are just supposed to stay
home, act as a mother, and be a wife. Society does not give women an equal chance at
their rights. The mockingbird is able to understand the parrots Spanish. By Chopin
incorporating this aspect, Chopin allows the reader to better understand Edna through her
unspoken words as well as through the parrot. By the end of the novel, Mademoiselle
Reisz is the only one who is able to understand Edna.

Before Edna walks into the ocean in Chapter 27, she spots a bird with a broken
wing. This bird is described as beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling,
disabled, down, down to the water (Chopin, 123). In many ways, this bird with a broken
wing symbolizes Ednas failure to find her freedom and be happy. She never seems
content and happy with whom she is and is trying to become awakened to find her true
self. Mademoiselle Reisz said the bird would need to have strong wings (Chopin 123).
Similarly, Edna clearly lacks her strong wings (Chopin 123) to be her true self as she
drowns in the sea.

After Edna finally realized who she was as an individual near the end of the
novel, society still would not accept her because of her differences. Edna grew tired of
conforming to what society wanted her to be, she wanted to be her own person and make
her own decisions to make herself happy. She knows that she cannot achieve true
happiness or freedom. She longs to have this possession in her current life situation.
Society is not prepared to accept who she is. Therefore, she feels that she must die in
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order to escape and be free. Edna went against her society to find her true self, and it
finally drove her to death.