In Kate Chopin's The Awakening, the sea symbolizes Edna's freedom from oppression. Edna feels stifled by conventional society and has no interest in being a devoted wife or mother. She feels trapped with Leonce and her children, but lacks the skills needed to start a new life as an independent artist. Ultimately Edna must choose between staying with Leonce, in which she would remain unhappy, or breaking free from her marriage but having nowhere to go. The sea, although intimidating Edna at first, allows Edna to escape the pressures of society and offers her her best option and desired solitude in death. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Over the course of the novel, the sea calls to Edna, urging her to escape. “The voice of the sea is seductive, it does not cease, it whispers, it shouts, it murmurs, it invites the soul to wander into the abyss of solitude” (115). Edna wants to learn to swim, and finally does in Chapter X: Edna has been trying all summer to learn to swim. He had received instructions from both men and women; in some cases by children. Robert had followed an almost daily system of lessons; and he was almost on the verge of becoming discouraged as he realized the futility of his efforts. A certain ungovernable terror haunted her when she was in the water, unless there was a hand nearby that could reach out and reassure her. (27)This paragraph symbolizes Edna's journey to discover her own inner strength. Others around Edna have certain expectations about her role in society, including Robert, who throughout the novel is in fact "almost to the point of discouragement." In this scene, swimming alone in the vast sea without someone to “reach out and reassure her” worries Edna. This indicates his current state of dependence and submission. " However, Edna becomes emotional as she swims further and further into the sea: "A feeling of exultation came over her, as if some power of remarkable importance had been given to her to control the functioning of her body and soul... She wanted to swim far , where no woman had ever swum before" (27). Here, Edna realizes her importance as a human being and gets a taste of the independence she desires. "She turned her face toward the sea to gather herself in an expression of space and solitude …. As she swam, she seemed to tend towards the limitless in which to get lost" (28). The sea brings Edna the experience of a solitude in which she can "get lost", which is very attractive to Edna as her character feels the need to away from the pressures of her children, her husband, and society. The thrill of being alone is soon interrupted by Edna's fear of death: “A quick vision of death struck her soul, and for a second shocked and dulled her senses. .. She made no mention of her encounter with death and her flash of terror, except to say to her husband, 'I thought I would die out there alone'” (28). suddenly turns to terror, indicating that she is not yet ready to be independent because she fears the consequences of detaching from her old life. This scene foreshadows Edna's death at the end of the novel. As she swam away from the shore, she "looked into the distance and the ancient terror flared up for an instant, then subsided again." (116) At this point, however, Edna is ready to be alone, and overcomes the terror she felt while learning to swim, finally abandoning herself to the inviting sea. Speaking to Madame Ratignolle, Edna recalls a childhood memory of wandering aimlessly through a field, comparing it to swimming across the ocean. “…of a summer day in Kentucky, of a meadow that seemed as big as the ocean to the little girl walking by”.