the awakening :: essays research papers

MusicThroughout The Awakening, the manner in which each of the characters recitations and understands music gives us a sense of Ednas ideological alignment in relation to the novels other characters. Additionally, Ednas exploration of music and her meditations upon its significance enable her own (visual) art to flourish. Edna showtime learns about the emotive power of music from Mademoiselle Reisz. Whereas Adle Ratignolles piano playing had merely conjured sentimental pictures for Edna, the older womans playing stirs new feelings and probes unexplored emotional territories in her. Mademoiselle Reisz uses music as a form of artistic expression, not merely as a way of entertaining others. In contrast to Mademoiselle Reisz, the Farival twins play the piano purely for the sake of the gathered company. The twins association with the Virgin Mary, and, hence, with a destiny of chaste motherliness, links them thematically with notions of how Victorian women should behave. Their piano pla yingentertaining but not provocative, pleasant but not challenging as well as serves as the model for how women should use art. It becomes clear that, for a Victorian woman, the use of art as a form of self-exploration and self-articulation constitutes a rebellion. Correspondingly, Mademoiselle Reiszs use of music situates her as a nonconformist and a sympathetic confidante for Ednas awakening.The difference Edna detects between the piano-playing of Mademoiselle Reisz and Adle Ratignolle seems also to testify to Ednas emotional growth. She reaches a point in her awakening in which she is able to hear what a piece of music says to her, rather than idly inventing random pictures to collocate with the sounds. Thus, music, or Ednas changing reactions to it, also serves to help the reader locate Edna in her development.ChildrenImages of children, and verbal allusions to them, occur throughout the novel. Edna herself is often metaphorically related to a child. In her awakening, she is un dergoing a form of rebirth as she discovers the world from a fresh, childlike, perspective. Yet Ednas childishness has a less admirable side. Edna becomes self-absorbed, she disregards others, and she fails to think realistically about the future or to meditate on her the consequences of her actions.Ultimately, Ednas thoughts of her children inspire her to commit suicide, because she realizes that no matter how little she depends on others, her childrens lives will forever and a day be affected by societys opinion of her. Moreover, her children represent an obligation that, unlike Ednas obligation to her husband, is irrevocable.