The Awakening
Chapter Six Style Analysis Timed Essay
by Carisa
Through Edna Pontellier's dark and gradual sojourn of self-enlightenment, Chopin portrays awakening individualism as a perilous and "tangled" process. Her attitude is laced with an evident fear and confusion, yet it also glows with a desire to emerge from the inward battle that she illustrates in Edna.
Chopin begins to explain Edna's "awakening" as a "light… [dawning] dimly within her." This gives the reader a sense of hope and the foreshadowing of potential benefit. However, separated by a sharp dash, Chopin suddenly declares that although this light "[shows] the way," it is also a light that "forbids" and binds. This illustrates the inner contrasting emotions and opinions that she is beginning to have as she comes to grips with her individualism. Chopin then begins to describe Edna's emotions as "bewilder[ing]," elaborating that she is full of "dreams, thoughtfulness, and shadowy anguish" that eventually "overcome her" in "the midnight," leaving her "abandoned to tears." Chopin uses and extremely ambiguous "it" repeatedly to act as the cause of Edna's inward tumult. This "it" could be used to better illustrate that Edna may not even be sure of the cause herself. This sentence is cumulative, representing Edna's climbing, cumulating and overwhelming emotions and new ideas that are constantly weighing her down. She also uses parallel structures for each of her descriptions in this sentence, illustrating them as equal blocks that have stacked themselves together inside the once complacent and quiet home of her heart. Her use of the words "midnight" and "shadowy anguish" illustrate her dark and dismal despair and hopelessness, presenting a shocking contrast to the above portrayal of the light and dawn.
As Edna's thought processes deepen, Chopin's descriptions climb. Chopin illustrates Edna's awakening as a great beginning, even comparing it to the size of a world. However, she continues her pattern of cumulative structures and parallelism by describing Edna's beginning in vivid and striking terms such as "vague, tangled, chaotic and exceedingly disturbing." She contrasts opposite ideas such as vagueness and chaos to again illustrate Edna's inward battle. In the last part of this paragraph, Chopin places two exclamation points in immediate succession. This is very rare in Chopin's writing and could represent Edna's rarity in her era and society compared to her peers, as well as it could represent her enthusiasm.
In the last part of this passage, Chopin begins to personify the sea. This could be in an effort to parallel and personify Edna's thoughts, making them more tangible and easier to grasp. She describes the sea as "seductive," its voice "never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring," and "inviting." This is another cumulation of many stimulating ideas at one time. She uses the word "abyss" to describe its solitude, making the position seem dark, and undesirable. However, she again makes a striking contrast by describing it as "sensuous," even comforting as it "[enfolds] the body in its soft, close embrace."
In this passage, Chopin describes Edna's awakening individualism as a very bleak, chaotic, and confusing mission. It is unclear whether Edna continues its pursuit from choice or obligation, but Chopin does seem to believe it is vital and necessary for Edna to discover this unheard of and possibly even scandalous freedom. Using vivid rhetorical devices and descriptions, Chopin makes her attitude evident in this passage.