Thematic Significance of Voices, Music, Term Paper

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Similarly, Mademoiselle Reisz fascinates and inspires Edna beyond words, yet Edna cannot possibly duplicate her life. Adele, kind and sympathetic as she is, in conversation with Edna, still cannot even begin to understand Edna's deep yearnings for freedom and independence; for she shares none of them. Even the longed-for Robert, upon returning from a protracted trip to Mexico, tells Edna that his own view of their future life together (should they ever have one) would be heartbreakingly similar to her present life with her husband.

Within Kate Chopin's the Awakening, noises, conversations (pleasant and unpleasant) laughter, sobbing, and sounds associated with eating and drinking, fill the novel. Symbolically, many of these, such as Edna's breaking of the glass vase in frustration near the beginning of the story, underscore the essential action, as well as the feelings of the main character. Other sounds, such as party chatter at various Creole gatherings that summer, serve to underscore Edna's essential feelings of aloneness. In conversations, similarly, Edna hears but is not truly heard; her authentic voice is never recognized for what it is by anyone on Grande Isle that summer including Robert. Sounds of laughter alternate with sounds of despair, such as Edna's sobs when she is alone without herself and her inchoate thoughts and feelings. Ironically but also fittingly, the Awakening ends, symbolically, with the complete absence of sound, when Edna swims, alone, into the ocean, never to return.

First, Edna admits to herself she has grown alienated and bored. Then, as Edna grows increasingly indifferent, then hostile, toward her expected roles, and is content to perform them poorly or not at all, she finds no understanding anywhere. This, however, only increases Edna's contempt. Edna would like to be able to accomplish more in terms of self-actualization; but she has married a Creole, a member of a conservative, family-centered, religiously Catholic ethic group. Therefore, Edna has committed herself, for life, to duties to husband, children, family, and social interests.

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Edna's husband's Creole background does much to explain his puzzled reaction to Edna's mysterious new unhappiness. Leonce has undoubtedly never heard of, much less seen, such dissatisfaction in a married, financially comfortable woman with an active social circle and two healthy sons. He cannot imagine what else Edna could want. Moreover, Edna's friend Adele Ratignolle, an ultra-feminine Creole woman with three children and another on the way, epitomizes the ideal Creole woman of that time: domestic and doting, to husband and children, and fully satisfied in that role

Nineteenth century American Regionalist aspects of Kate Chopin's the Awakening are shown through characterizations of American Creole life and culture during that period. Edna Pontellier's increasing despair and hopelessness spring from her realizations that she is unhappy, misunderstood, and, worst of all, alone with her feelings in an environment where women's roles are traditional. When Edna first recognizes that she returns Robert's fondness, she also remembers wistfully that she is nevertheless trapped inside a loveless marriage, with responsibilities to small children. That marks the beginning of Edna's slow but ultimately fatal "awakening." First, Edna admits to herself she has grown alienated and bored. Then, as Edna grows increasingly indifferent, then hostile, toward her expected roles, and is content to perform them poorly or not at all, she finds no understanding anywhere. This, however, only increases Edna's contempt. Edna would like to be able to accomplish more in terms of self-actualization; but she has married a Creole, a member of a conservative, family-centered, religiously Catholic ethic group. Therefore, Edna has committed herself, for

Edna's husband's Creole background does much to explain his puzzled reaction to Edna's mysterious new unhappiness. Leonce has undoubtedly never heard of, much less seen, such dissatisfaction in a married, financially comfortable woman with an active social circle….....

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