William Shakespeare
Swim Towards Your Freedom
In the next chapters of The Awakening we see a huge jump in Edna's journey to her self-identity. We start by seeing how she looses her fear of entering the ocean, which most people thought came from the idea that she couldn't swim. When she enters the water and starts to swim away, she wanted to swim "where no other woman had swum before", and this gives the readers a metaphor Chopin attempts to depict. If we were to say the water symbolized her freedom from the routined society, when she swam out there, she became a different woman. She no longer feared for how she was supposed to be and actually felt like another person; one who could do whatever she wanted to do. We immediately see this change in Edna, as she goes home alone and once her husband calls her to go to bed, she refuses. She notices that all the time she has accepted her husbands "orders" only by habit, and she now can do as she likes. Each time I notice Mrs. Pontellier less wife-like and more like a teen-ager who recently discovered her independence. In fact, once she discovers this urge inside her, she feels unstoppable:
"A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before" (Chapter X, page 60).
Once she is in the water, just by herself, stroking away into the depths of freedom, we see the transformation we have been waiting to see from her. She discovered a new side to her life, one where she no longer has to cry for no apparent reason. One where she finds sense in her life, not just pleasing her husband and following society. In fact, when she turns back to see how far she has reached, she understands that the only way to get back to shore, is up to her. She realizes the importance of her dependence as a woman. We then understand that she did indeed swim where no other woman has ever swum before, by breaking the system in which she lives in, she is now free. However, we must understand that times back then were different. A woman with this attitude was a woman who didn't belong, who didn't fit, who would step up and take the role a dominant male. I might guess that the author was brought up to some controversy with the readers in the 19th century. Chopin herself, was trying to become free and independent.
As she continues her new life, we start to see in her perhaps a spark of her sexuality slipping out. Her desires for Robert begin to show even more, but yet she only shows them when she is completely alone with him. Of course, Robert understands that although he too craves Edna, their relationship is out of place and that his feelings should not be revealed. We start to see another side to this relationship, one where Mr. Pontellier should actually be jealous about. I mean, I a actually feel sorry for him in the way that he is losing his wife to a "player", if you will, and each time feels more distant from his explosively moody wife. Im not saying that women shouldn't be this way, i just think that Mr. Pontellier is being treated unfairly. Yes, Edna's new side creates a whole revolution in their society and sets down the female counterpart to power, but then again, doesn't this create great controversy?
Indeed, it would, but we must give credit to Edna for finally finding out what she was missing in life. If we were to foreshadow what might happen in the book, it would be fair to say something negative will ensue.
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