The Lady in Black and the Lovers in The Awakening :: Chopin Awakening Essays

The Lady in Black and the Lovers in The rouse   Kate Chopins The Awakening is a terrific read and I am just now able to put it down  I am up to chapter XV and many of the characters be developing in very interesting ways.  Edna is unrealised as a wife and mother even though she and her preserve are financially well off.  Her husband, Leonce Pontellier, is a good husband and sire but he has only been paying attention to his own interests.  At this point he is unaware of the fact that his wifes needs are non being met.  Robert and the other characters are equally intriguing but something else has piqued my interest.  most of Chopins characters are not fully developed.  I know that these are distinguished characters because they are representative of specific things they are metaphoric characters.  In particular, Ive find the lovers and the gentlewoman in blackamoor.  Im fascinated by the fact that both the lovers and the noblewoman in black are completely oblivious to the rest of the world.  They are also in direct contrast with each another.  For this weeks reader reception I am taking a different approach.  Rather than analyzing the of import characters, I will examine the lovers and the lady in black.    The lady in black is first mentioned in Chapter I.  Mr. Pontellier is surveying the cottages when he notices that a lady in black is walking demurely up and down, with her beads (468).  In this example the rosary beads suggest that the lady in black is apparitional.  I believe that this character is a symbol of religion.  While everyone else is relaxing, she is meddling praying.  It is also worth noting that there are several passages which suggest that Edna is rebelling from her religious upbringing.  For example, just after we meet the lovers, Edna shares a memory with Madame Ratignolle.  She describes herself walking through wit h(predicate) a meadow as a young girl.  She says, Likely as not it was Sunday... and I was running away from prayers, from the Presbyterian service, read in a spirit of gloom by my father that chills me yet to think of it (480).  uniform to the description of her fathers service, the lady in black is serious and serene.