The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, is a story of Edna Pontellier"'"s journey through self-discovery. In the beginning of the story Edna is the perfect little nineteenth century wife and mother. During a summer vacation when she is twenty-eight, however, she learns that she is a lot more to this world than that. .
It all starts in the second paragraph in chapter five, '"'A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her, --the light which, showing the way, forbids it'"' (p. 477). This "'"light"'" that is dawning within her is the realization that she is more than a wife and mother. She is her own person and exists to be more than a servant to her husband and children. .
This was the beginning of her journey. The chapter later states that '"' the beginning of things, of the world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing. How few of us ever emerge form such a beginning! How many souls perish in this tumult!'"' (p. 477). This paragraph foreshadows Edna"'"s eventual death. The last two statements are telling the reader from the start that few people survive the beginning of journeys such as the one Edna is embarking on. This lets the reader know that the odds are not in her favor. .
The last two paragraphs of this chapter are the most important. They are stated at the beginning and the end of Edna"'"s treacherous journey. .
'"'The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, .
inviting the soul to wander for a spell in the .
abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of .
inward contemplation. .
The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. .
The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding .
the body in its soft, close embrace'"'(p. 477). .
The sea is a strong symbol in The Awakening. Throughout the book it seems to symbolize freedom and escape. These two paragraphs show what the ocean did to Edna all through the book. Edna was seduced by the sound and the touch of the waves.