... Edna's party a fountain could be heard; water is usually associated with freshness, purity, motherhood, however, in this case the fountain's splash is described as "monotonous" which may underline the idea that motherhood has become monotonous due to the awakening of a different, liberated Edna. It may also imply the idea that her newly enlightened life - the beginning of it itself is simply tedious. The ocean is a symbol of both freedom and escape and she ... describes her childhood as being this as well as a source of awareness. She learns to swim in the Gulf and finally tries to retu...

• Word Count: 2043
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... serves as a catalyst for her awakening because it operates as a sanctuary of freedom and a diversion from societal ties. Edna's sea operates as a symbol of self-knowledge outside away from the shore. Her first swim is a baptism, a rebirth of a new self -propelled identity. In chapter two Edna's eyes are transfixed upon the water, similar to RIP's gaze upon the Hudson River, This static scene of the mesmerizing water brings Edna back to an earlier ... time of childhood and of a virtual regression into the womb. Edna welcomes these feelings because they are adolescent emotions suitable fo...

• Word Count: 2022
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... 6 and 39 of Kate Chopin's story The Awakening, one is able to see that the author planned to depict the final scene to be tragic yet triumphant. Like Edna's final act in chapter 39, the first half of chapter 6 allows the reader to understand that Edna is lost in her search for individuality and freedom in her life. Perhaps the most apparent connection between the two chapters is the symbol and role of the sea which allows ... when she enters the water by lifting "her white body- instead of having someone or something do it for her (637). The ocean lets her make her own choices and bring...

• Word Count: 631
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of suffering "physical suffering is present when "the body is hurting" in some way, whereas moral suffering is "pain of the soul21". His unhealed wound can also be seen as a symbol for his unhealable pride, which was damaged from his desertion, resulting in a deep-rooted bitterness and his savagery nature. Philoctetes' death in his savage life can also be reflected in the imagery of the ... Sophocles and Heaney after him present Philoctetes' weakness as contributing to the growth of Neoptolemus' virtue. He suffers great guilt when he takes the bow. Confronted with the reality of his d...

• Word Count: 2877
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... then - impossibly - into the all-too-literal and present form of the monster itself whom Victor, immediately after this (dream) passage, sees upon awakening from his dream" (Collings 282). Further analyzing the dream, Collings states "clearly the turn from erotic ideal to grotesque body horrifies Victor, and in this respect he is a responsible citizen of the symbolic realm, longing for Elizabeth ... rather than the mother" (Collings 282). Freud defined condensation as having several ... in the light of day. When not with man, he is usually found in a climate of ice. Victor describes even...

• Word Count: 2532
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate