... Reisz. The more independent and in touch with herself Edna gets the more she grows, -A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her [..]-(Chopin 477). Before her process of rebirth, Edna imagined pretty-little pictures to go along with the music she heard, now she does not see merely pictures anymore, the music makes her feel new emotions and become ... Victorian women were supposed to use art and behave. As stated before, the music now makes Edna feel this shows progression in emotional development and is another sign of her rebirth. One allusion used often throughout the story...

• Word Count: 1324
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... to swim she is free to go anywhere she wants. The water where her awakening first appears could symbolize the cleansing of her past, and this causes her to have a rebirth and to look to the future. Just as in The Awakening, in "The Dream of an Hour" the main character has a symbolic ... rebirth and experience freedom even though it is only for a number of minutes. In both stories, nature takes center stage. In The Awakening it is mainly the sea and the water; ... patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled about the other in the west facing her...

• Word Count: 1547
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... used water as a universal symbol of freedom and control. By learning to swim, Edna has embraced her freedom. The very title The Awakening tells us that Edna will find rebirth. Edna's periods of rebirth are often preceded by a period of sleep. Edna's first awakening illustrates the great burden she feels from her children: "Mr. Pontellier returned to his wife with the information ... married or marries another, this would put her back at the start of her circle: all the learning and struggling would be for naught- (Petry 228). While part of Edna's rebirth is a sexual awakening, her liber...

• Word Count: 2280
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... of the chapters plays on the previous and leads to the next in a chronological order, starting with the realization of her mundane lifestyle and each chapter showing a new sense of rebirth. The entire novel centers on Edna Pontellier's crisis of realization of what life is lacking. Edna is an attractive young woman who is marvelous at art, and strives for a career ... of her own personal strength. Strength and glory are represented by the enormity of the sea when she takes her first swim, which is the start of her awakening and rebirth. The sound of the sea called to her, like a cry for...

• Word Count: 1694
• Approx Pages: 7

... they have reached the pinnacle of independence. Free as a bird as Edna would like to put it. Now Edna was ready to set herself free. Prior to Edna's death, or rebirth as some would see it, the woman is in a state of solitude. Edna's walk to the beach was pleasant and peaceful. She repeats, "The voice of the sea is seductive ... as mother, and wife, she just became involved in other situations that required her to be merciful. That is why it was believed that her plummet into the ocean symbolized a rebirth. After seeking independence, Edna Pontellier was now in search of a new beginning....

• Word Count: 1472
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... life first began to regress to take her final steps into the water. As she wades out, the reader is given the idea of a rebirth and a death all in one. Water has long been a symbol of rebirth and she also takes off all her clothes and frees herself completely. A moment of independence and complete lack of responsibilities before she brings her life ... ...

• Word Count: 1658
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... several stages of awakening. Each awakening brings Edna a stronger sense of individual self, in a Victorian patriarchal society wherein women are obligated to marriage and child rearing. After her initial "rebirth" in the ocean, Edna's first stage in her awakening is to finally drop the outward facade of being a "mother-woman" and start to explore her new desires ... ...

• Word Count: 1499
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... 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 ... ...

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

... ocean is also a source of self-awareness, both an outward knowledge of the expansion of the universe and an inner direct obsession with self. Paradoxically, Edna's first swim symbolizes both rebirth and maturation. When she descends to the beach, she is described as a "little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who walks for the first time alone." Before her awakening, Edna is afraid ... ...

• Word Count: 1283
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School