A device is something used to create an artistic effect. For Kate Chopin, the three main devices would be symbolism, characters, and setting. The symbolism used in The Awakening can be found in a great abundance. The foreshadowing also includes symbolism. There are two lovers in The Awakening who are followed by a woman in black. On a trip to mass, the lady in black has a prayer book (Chopin, The Awakening 62). The lovers represent the potential of Robert and Edna, and the woman in black symbolizes social convention. In addition to the nameless lovers and the lady in black, there is a prayer book carried by the woman in black, which represents the morals and beliefs of society. Another interesting observation is the fact that the woman in black who represents convention is in black, which is usually used to stand for death or evil, and when applied to the book, her apparel depicts the death and immoral passionatelove between Edna and Robert. The two lovers and the woman is not the only foreshadowing in Chopin�s The Awakening. The other illustration would be the influence made by Mademoiselle Reisz concerning a bird soaring over a level plain, being Edna Pontellier defying tradition, but she also adds: �It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back down to earth�(Chopin, The Awakening 158). The most interesting part would be the last natural object Edna sees before her death: �a bird with a broken wing...beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water� (Justus 46). One way to interpret this is to see her death as defeat, while another may view it as the result of the second Buddha concept: duhkha, which means suffering (Lu). Without a doubt, there is one thing that can be truly said of this: the bird is foreshadowing Edna�s fate. The final source of symbolism is plot. The most important symbolism involving plot is seen in Raoul and Etinenne, Edna�s two children. In a way, Raoul and Etinenne may be viewed as society�s convention, especially when Edna says that she clearly understands what she meant when she claimed that she would give her life to her children, but not her self (Chopin, The Awakening 219, 90). And when perceiving Raoul and Etinenne as convention, the reader can truly understand Edna when she says that they �...appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her, who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul�s slavery for the rest of her days� Chopin, (The Awakening 219). Ironically, Edna even views herself as a child as she is finally swimming: �...she was like the little, lottering, clutching child who [all] of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldly, and with overconfidence� (Chopin, The Awakening 52). This is the point where the child, Edna in society, has learned something and grows from that triumph, no longer being the child, but instead she is Edna. The next device would be characters with the subsets irony and character development. Irony is quite common in Kate Chopin�s style. One example would be the recently discussed idea of Edna once being a child, or society, who grows into a reckless adolescence yearning to defy everything, while also viewing her children as convention, which is the one thing she wishes to defy the most of all. The other illustration would be Louise Mallard in �The Story of an Hour.� With her husband�s death, she is joyous of her newly acquired freedom and is referred to as the �goddess of Victory,� but when she dies after learning that her husband is actually alive, despite the doctor�s thought that joy killed her, defeat or disappointment was the true cause of death for Mrs. Mallard (Chopin, �The Story...� 64). The characters, especially Edna, are well elaborated and can be broken down into three parts: In the infancy of The Awakening, Edna is �beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being (Chopin, The Awakening 25). Next, she is starting to comprehend that there is a difference between her life and herself (Chopin, The Awakening 90). Finally, the comment made by Victor Lebrun may declare that the �ravishing� Edna Pontellier has changed (Chopin, The Awakening 116). There can be more added to this list in between and even afterwards, but what Kate Chopin�s readers must realize is that the entire book may serve as the chronological list of events and episodes that occur in the development of the character of Edna Pontellier.
As one reads through any author�s work, he will quickly realize the difficulties to view an author�s work narrowly and focus on a few elements. For Kate Chopin, these select components would be self-discovery, feminist views, and artistic devices. Focusing on these and other factors, one may truly learn to appreciate literature for its ongoing truths and lessons. |