the problems of finding liberty

The Waking up

Kate Chopin’s The Waking up and Mark Twain’s Journeys of Huckleberry Finn share a number of parallels in terms of persona and placing, namely among Edna Pontellier and Huck and John, and the relevance of the marine and riv to the above mentioned characters. Thematically, the two books also take the same idea of a great quest. In The Awakening, Edna’s voyage, much like Huck’s, can be one filled with excitement and is mostly unplanned. While Edna abandons her wifely duties”such as going to her spouse Leonce’s weekly Tuesday receptions”to pursue a life that invigorates her, perhaps through her affair with Alcee, Huck the similar decision by mentioned before his “sivilized” (2) existence with Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. He not simply fakes his own death, but also runs away from the civilization having been brought up in, in a physical act of rebellion against society. Edna’s acts of rebellion will be comparably even more subtle and limited, because her relationship binds her to more societal conferences than Huck’s situation truly does.

In spite of this, these two characters share a common impression of link with different bodies of water, whereas Huck feels most at ease floating away along the Mississippi River, is it doesn’t open marine that allows Edna to discover her true purpose and feel reborn. Figuratively, metaphorically, the moving element of normal water represents healing and finding, opening doors that allow equally Edna and Huck to produce further comprehension of themselves. Although Edna successfully realizes her new interest of seeking art and subsequently devotes her period towards seeking to achieve authentic artistry, Huck does not manage to reach any more character advancement past his great meaningful dilemma of sending Jim back to Miss Watson. When he reunites with his good friend Tom Sawyer, it’s as if Huck’s decision to “go to hell” for Jim was every for nothing, as he reverts back to getting Tom’s adventure-chasing, thrill-seeking coconspirator instead.

What this also discloses is that Huck has no strong sense of self through the entire entirety of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is pictured through Huck’s endless sortie in which he takes on false identities, just like “Sarah Williams” (58), “George Peters” (63), and “George Jackson” (99). Similarly, Edna desperately efforts to seek out her self-identity through spending wonderful amounts of time with the pianist Mademoiselle Reisz and, her foil, the “mother-woman” Madame Ratignolle, two women who appear to be on opposite ends of a spectrum. Despite all these efforts made, it seems as though neither Edna nor Huck will be fully assured in who they are as individuals, thus contributing to how flexibility and self-discovery are endless, repetitive things to do, just as water seems to flow back upon itself in a ceaseless pattern that may 1 day bring about clearness.

As for Edna and Jim, equally characters search for freedom coming from different societal conventions. Ednas lackluster matrimony has left her bereft of pleasure and passion, when Jims position as a servant keeps him bound to his owner. This kind of bars the two characters coming from blossoming into full-fledged people, making them incapable of being fully control of their particular lives and making their particular decisions. Regardless of this, these two heroes continue to continue as they truly feel as though they were doing not fit the roles these were assigned simply by society. Edna, though having married Leonce by choice in order to revenge her father and mother, did not possess mother-woman personality that was common among the list of married females of her time. The lady was not individual who “idolized” (19) her children or “worshiped” (19) her husband, since Madame Ratignolle may have, but your woman was not since distant and detached a character, as completely devoted to her art, as Mademoiselle Reisz was. Your woman was “different” (37), but in an indefinite method.

Rick is similar in the sense that having been not the unintelligent, dutiful slave Huck expected him to be. He’s capable of engaging in innovative conversation with Huck, and delivers opinions that Huck cannot provide himself to dispute against. Despite this, Jim’s objective was not becoming a whistleblower to get slave privileges, all this individual wished was to travel north and free his family members by any means important. This likewise presents another difference between Jim and Edna: although Jim has a clear objective set in his sights, Edna is, sometimes, obviously irritated with himself and her own concern towards pursuing freedom. She sees himself as the “bird with a broken wing” (300), person who sought to learn but would not have the durability to.

The Waking up ends ambiguously, with Edna swimming out to the sea and allowing very little to give in to her weariness, leaving her suicide about open meaning. As for Journeys of Huckleberry Finn, it really is revealed in the final chapters that Miss Watson experienced set John free in her can after her death several weeks ago, that means he was a free of charge man well before many of the novel’s events experienced transpired. Consequently , it can be declared both Edna and Jim’s journeys had been a waste materials, as Edna eventually met her decline, while John was swept up in pursuing a freedom that got already been naturally to him.