The novel’s mood shifts from solemn to lighthearted romantic and back to solemn, which mirrors Edna’s transformation as she slowly becomes aware of her inner life and emotions and begins to live more independently. In Chapter 3, Edna begins to cry after Mr Pontellier reproaches her for neglecting her duties as a wife and mother. In a moment of mournful solitude, she steps outside:
It was then past midnight. The cottages were all dark. A single faint light gleamed out from the hallway of the house. There was no sound abroad except the hooting of an old owl in the top of a water-oak, and the everlasting voice of the sea, that was not uplifted at that soft hour. It broke like a mournful lullaby upon the night.
The description of the landscape reflects Edna’s inner emotions. The darkness mirrors Edna’s s loneliness and melancholy, as does the owl’s “mournful lullaby.” Birds, representing freedom and individuality, are an important recurring symbol in The Awakening. Edna observes a bird before she takes her fatal swim at the end of the novel, and the novel opens with a description of a caged parrot.
Mr Pontellier’s words continue to trouble Edna and she cries once again in Chapter 3:
An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul’s summer day. It was strange and unfamiliar; it was a mood.
Edna’s unhappiness is likened to “a shadow” that disturbs her former joy. This new unhappiness is a product of Edna beginning to question the expectations placed on her because she is a woman—namely the duties her husband demands of her because she is his wife and mother. Edna questioning these conventions is a sign of her growing individuality.
In Chapter 19, the novel’s mood changes when Edna recalls a song Robert sings, with the lyrics "Ah! si tu suvais!" which “moves her with recollections”:
[Edna] could hear again the ripple of the water, the flapping sail. She could see the glint of the moon upon the bay, and could feel the soft, gusty beating of the hot south wind. A subtle current of desire passed through her body, weakening her hold upon the brushes and making her eyes burn.
The imagery in the passage has a soft, sensuous quality—it is as if the reader can feel the heat of the evening. Moreover, this heat symbolizes the intensity of Edna’s desire and longing for Robert.
In Chapter 21, when Mademoiselle Reisz plays Chopin’s Impromptu, the music too, fills Edna with longing for Robert:
The shadows deepened in the little room. The music grew strange and fantastic—turbulent, insistent, plaintive and soft with entreaty. The shadows grew deeper. The music filled the room. It floated out upon the night, over the housetops, the crescent of the river, losing itself in the silence of the upper air.
Mademoiselle's playing stirs up emotions within Edna, an inner romanticism that progressively takes over as Edna experiences her awakening. Later, news of Robert’s return to New Orleans in Chapter 26 fills Edna with happiness, and the story’s mood lifts:
The murky, lowering sky, which had depressed her a few hours before, seemed bracing and invigorating as she splashed through the streets on her way home.
Edna’s surrounding environment changes to reflect her inner experience. The sky no longer seems bracing, and is instead welcoming. This change is fleeting, though: by the end of the story, the mood shifts again, becoming mournful once more as Edna succumbs to despair and drowns in the sea.
The novel’s mood shifts from solemn to lighthearted romantic and back to solemn, which mirrors Edna’s transformation as she slowly becomes aware of her inner life and emotions and begins to live more independently. In Chapter 3, Edna begins to cry after Mr Pontellier reproaches her for neglecting her duties as a wife and mother. In a moment of mournful solitude, she steps outside:
It was then past midnight. The cottages were all dark. A single faint light gleamed out from the hallway of the house. There was no sound abroad except the hooting of an old owl in the top of a water-oak, and the everlasting voice of the sea, that was not uplifted at that soft hour. It broke like a mournful lullaby upon the night.
The description of the landscape reflects Edna’s inner emotions. The darkness mirrors Edna’s s loneliness and melancholy, as does the owl’s “mournful lullaby.” Birds, representing freedom and individuality, are an important recurring symbol in The Awakening. Edna observes a bird before she takes her fatal swim at the end of the novel, and the novel opens with a description of a caged parrot.
Mr Pontellier’s words continue to trouble Edna and she cries once again in Chapter 3:
An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul’s summer day. It was strange and unfamiliar; it was a mood.
Edna’s unhappiness is likened to “a shadow” that disturbs her former joy. This new unhappiness is a product of Edna beginning to question the expectations placed on her because she is a woman—namely the duties her husband demands of her because she is his wife and mother. Edna questioning these conventions is a sign of her growing individuality.
In Chapter 19, the novel’s mood changes when Edna recalls a song Robert sings, with the lyrics "Ah! si tu suvais!" which “moves her with recollections”:
[Edna] could hear again the ripple of the water, the flapping sail. She could see the glint of the moon upon the bay, and could feel the soft, gusty beating of the hot south wind. A subtle current of desire passed through her body, weakening her hold upon the brushes and making her eyes burn.
The imagery in the passage has a soft, sensuous quality—it is as if the reader can feel the heat of the evening. Moreover, this heat symbolizes the intensity of Edna’s desire and longing for Robert.
In Chapter 21, when Mademoiselle Reisz plays Chopin’s Impromptu, the music too, fills Edna with longing for Robert:
The shadows deepened in the little room. The music grew strange and fantastic—turbulent, insistent, plaintive and soft with entreaty. The shadows grew deeper. The music filled the room. It floated out upon the night, over the housetops, the crescent of the river, losing itself in the silence of the upper air.
Mademoiselle's playing stirs up emotions within Edna, an inner romanticism that progressively takes over as Edna experiences her awakening. Later, news of Robert’s return to New Orleans in Chapter 26 fills Edna with happiness, and the story’s mood lifts:
The murky, lowering sky, which had depressed her a few hours before, seemed bracing and invigorating as she splashed through the streets on her way home.
Edna’s surrounding environment changes to reflect her inner experience. The sky no longer seems bracing, and is instead welcoming. This change is fleeting, though: by the end of the story, the mood shifts again, becoming mournful once more as Edna succumbs to despair and drowns in the sea.
The novel’s mood shifts from solemn to lighthearted romantic and back to solemn, which mirrors Edna’s transformation as she slowly becomes aware of her inner life and emotions and begins to live more independently. In Chapter 3, Edna begins to cry after Mr Pontellier reproaches her for neglecting her duties as a wife and mother. In a moment of mournful solitude, she steps outside:
It was then past midnight. The cottages were all dark. A single faint light gleamed out from the hallway of the house. There was no sound abroad except the hooting of an old owl in the top of a water-oak, and the everlasting voice of the sea, that was not uplifted at that soft hour. It broke like a mournful lullaby upon the night.
The description of the landscape reflects Edna’s inner emotions. The darkness mirrors Edna’s s loneliness and melancholy, as does the owl’s “mournful lullaby.” Birds, representing freedom and individuality, are an important recurring symbol in The Awakening. Edna observes a bird before she takes her fatal swim at the end of the novel, and the novel opens with a description of a caged parrot.
Mr Pontellier’s words continue to trouble Edna and she cries once again in Chapter 3:
An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul’s summer day. It was strange and unfamiliar; it was a mood.
Edna’s unhappiness is likened to “a shadow” that disturbs her former joy. This new unhappiness is a product of Edna beginning to question the expectations placed on her because she is a woman—namely the duties her husband demands of her because she is his wife and mother. Edna questioning these conventions is a sign of her growing individuality.
In Chapter 19, the novel’s mood changes when Edna recalls a song Robert sings, with the lyrics "Ah! si tu suvais!" which “moves her with recollections”:
[Edna] could hear again the ripple of the water, the flapping sail. She could see the glint of the moon upon the bay, and could feel the soft, gusty beating of the hot south wind. A subtle current of desire passed through her body, weakening her hold upon the brushes and making her eyes burn.
The imagery in the passage has a soft, sensuous quality—it is as if the reader can feel the heat of the evening. Moreover, this heat symbolizes the intensity of Edna’s desire and longing for Robert.
In Chapter 21, when Mademoiselle Reisz plays Chopin’s Impromptu, the music too, fills Edna with longing for Robert:
The shadows deepened in the little room. The music grew strange and fantastic—turbulent, insistent, plaintive and soft with entreaty. The shadows grew deeper. The music filled the room. It floated out upon the night, over the housetops, the crescent of the river, losing itself in the silence of the upper air.
Mademoiselle's playing stirs up emotions within Edna, an inner romanticism that progressively takes over as Edna experiences her awakening. Later, news of Robert’s return to New Orleans in Chapter 26 fills Edna with happiness, and the story’s mood lifts:
The murky, lowering sky, which had depressed her a few hours before, seemed bracing and invigorating as she splashed through the streets on her way home.
Edna’s surrounding environment changes to reflect her inner experience. The sky no longer seems bracing, and is instead welcoming. This change is fleeting, though: by the end of the story, the mood shifts again, becoming mournful once more as Edna succumbs to despair and drowns in the sea.
The novel’s mood shifts from solemn to lighthearted romantic and back to solemn, which mirrors Edna’s transformation as she slowly becomes aware of her inner life and emotions and begins to live more independently. In Chapter 3, Edna begins to cry after Mr Pontellier reproaches her for neglecting her duties as a wife and mother. In a moment of mournful solitude, she steps outside:
It was then past midnight. The cottages were all dark. A single faint light gleamed out from the hallway of the house. There was no sound abroad except the hooting of an old owl in the top of a water-oak, and the everlasting voice of the sea, that was not uplifted at that soft hour. It broke like a mournful lullaby upon the night.
The description of the landscape reflects Edna’s inner emotions. The darkness mirrors Edna’s s loneliness and melancholy, as does the owl’s “mournful lullaby.” Birds, representing freedom and individuality, are an important recurring symbol in The Awakening. Edna observes a bird before she takes her fatal swim at the end of the novel, and the novel opens with a description of a caged parrot.
Mr Pontellier’s words continue to trouble Edna and she cries once again in Chapter 3:
An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul’s summer day. It was strange and unfamiliar; it was a mood.
Edna’s unhappiness is likened to “a shadow” that disturbs her former joy. This new unhappiness is a product of Edna beginning to question the expectations placed on her because she is a woman—namely the duties her husband demands of her because she is his wife and mother. Edna questioning these conventions is a sign of her growing individuality.
In Chapter 19, the novel’s mood changes when Edna recalls a song Robert sings, with the lyrics "Ah! si tu suvais!" which “moves her with recollections”:
[Edna] could hear again the ripple of the water, the flapping sail. She could see the glint of the moon upon the bay, and could feel the soft, gusty beating of the hot south wind. A subtle current of desire passed through her body, weakening her hold upon the brushes and making her eyes burn.
The imagery in the passage has a soft, sensuous quality—it is as if the reader can feel the heat of the evening. Moreover, this heat symbolizes the intensity of Edna’s desire and longing for Robert.
In Chapter 21, when Mademoiselle Reisz plays Chopin’s Impromptu, the music too, fills Edna with longing for Robert:
The shadows deepened in the little room. The music grew strange and fantastic—turbulent, insistent, plaintive and soft with entreaty. The shadows grew deeper. The music filled the room. It floated out upon the night, over the housetops, the crescent of the river, losing itself in the silence of the upper air.
Mademoiselle's playing stirs up emotions within Edna, an inner romanticism that progressively takes over as Edna experiences her awakening. Later, news of Robert’s return to New Orleans in Chapter 26 fills Edna with happiness, and the story’s mood lifts:
The murky, lowering sky, which had depressed her a few hours before, seemed bracing and invigorating as she splashed through the streets on her way home.
Edna’s surrounding environment changes to reflect her inner experience. The sky no longer seems bracing, and is instead welcoming. This change is fleeting, though: by the end of the story, the mood shifts again, becoming mournful once more as Edna succumbs to despair and drowns in the sea.
