I just finished re-reading Kate Chopin's The Awakening, with the Women's Studies class I am currently teaching. Reading it, I particularly noted the sea motif that runs through the novel. It is most directly apparent when Chopin alliteratively notes, "The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude" (p. 175). This passage leads the reader to Edna's final act of the tale, but the same words are used earlier in the text, when she first begins to realize herself and question her life. Subtly suggesting this motif, Chopin first introduces Edna returning from the shore. Further developing it, Edna's learning to swim is an important moment in the novel, which impacts her summer activities, as well as the novel's conclusion.
I myself love the sea. Is there a distinction between the sea and the ocean? The book is decidedly regional--the location and the Creole people and customs are essential to the story. The sea in Chopin's text is the Gulf of Mexico where it touches Louisiana's coast, which is vastly different than the Atlantic Ocean with which I am acquainted. Do all seas whisper, clamor, and invite? This leads me to wonder, had Edna lived elsewhere, had she not found herself by the sea, would her story have developed as it did? Would her soul have gone wandering elsewhere?
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and Selected Stories. New York: Penguin Books, 1984. Print.
