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Birds
For Edna, the sea is the opposite of her orderly social world: the sea is infinite when the world is limiting, solitary when the world is crowded, mysterious and profound when the world is superficial. At the beginning of the book Edna is afraid to step into the water, as one might be afraid of complete freedom; her first swim coincides with her “awakening” to her complicated inner life. From then on, water (in one form or another) becomes Edna’s way of escaping from the outer life into the inner. Edna’s attraction to flight and swimming, to water and air, signals her rejection of life on earth.
The Sea Quotes in The Awakening
The The Awakening quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Sea. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 10
Quotes
A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before.
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Chapter 39
Quotes
There was no one thing in the world that she desired. There was no human being whom she wanted near her except Robert; and she even realized that the day would come when he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of her existence, leaving her alone. The children 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. But she knew a way to elude them.
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The Sea Symbol Timeline in The Awakening
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Sea appears in The Awakening. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 10
...been spending as much time with her as usual. Edna had never been able to swim, and Robert had tried all summer to teach her; but she was always strangely afraid...
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Chapter 16
...thinks of him all the time, and feels disinterested in the life around her. She swims often and visits Madame Lebrun, who talks to her about Robert and shows her Robert’s...
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...remembers that the two brothers quarreled over the girl named Mariequita. Edna grows sad and swims for a long time. Back on shore, Mlle Reisz invites Edna to come visit her...
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Chapter 23
...her husband, and Edna makes up a story about two lovers that got lost at sea. The doctor assumes Edna is in love with another man.
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Chapter 39
...a visit, and asks if she could have a room in the house and a seat at dinner. First, though, she wants to go for a swim.
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...her soul into love, but she doesn’t want to sacrifice her soul to them. The sea in front of her is inviting and solitary, and a bird with a broken wing...
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...open for the first time. She loves the free feeling. She walks into the cold water and swims farther and farther out. She becomes very tired, then afraid for a moment,...
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