Women's independence in the awakening

Women’s Independence in The Awakening In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, women’s independence is a very significant theme. Although Edna may not be the perfect example of an independent woman, Kate Chopin, uses imagery, diction and details to show a compassionate tone towards women’s independence. A rare but very effective method Chopin uses to show her tone is imagery. In chapter ten Edna goes swimming for the first time. While in her newly beloved ocean she realized, “that night she was like the little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with over-confidence. She could have shouted for joy. She did shout for joy, as with a sweeping stroke or two she lifted her body to the surface of the water.” (Pg. 36) When Edna feels like a child just learning to walk, it symbolizes the birth of Edna’s new self-image. And when she “grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength” and “wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before”, Chopin shows that Edna has begun to identify herself as an independent woman. In chapter thirty-four Edna travels to the ocean where she first found her independence. While she was basking in the sun she realized, “How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! How delicious! She felt like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known.”(Pg. 152) When Edna is standing naked under the sky, Chopin is showing that now Edna has nothing to hide about her identity and can be completely exposed as an independent woman. And when Edna is described as “some new-born creature” Chopin is demonstrating how Edna has become a completely different person since the last time she was visiting Grand Isle.
Another device Chopin uses to convey her tone is diction. When Edna first goes swimming in chapter ten she thinks to herself, “A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had