Edna's Unquenchable Hunger For A Life example essay topic

The symbolic use of hunger in literature Throughout history, both men and women have struggled trying to achieve unattainable goals in the face of close-minded societies. Authors have often used this theme to develop stories of characters that face obstacles and are sometimes unable to overcome the stigma that is attached to them. This inability to rise above prejudice is many times illustrated with the metaphor of hunger. Not only do people suffer from physical hunger, but they also suffer from spiritual hunger: a need to be full of life.

When this spiritual hunger is not satisfied, it can destroy a life, just as physical hunger can kill as well. Characters such as Edna Pontellier of Kate Chopin's The Awakening, Hugh Wolfe of Rebecca Harding Davis' Life in the Iron Mills, Jane Eyre of Charlotte Bronte's novel, and the woman being force fed in Djuna Barnes' How It Feels to Be Forcibly Fed all suffer from an insatiable hunger, which, in most cases, ultimately is not fulfilled. Poets such as Anna Wickham also describe the plight of humanity using hunger as a means to illustrate the feeling of deprivation. Although all of these characters come from different walks of life, they share a common struggle. Edna belongs to upper class Creole society, Hugh Wolfe is a poverty-stricken immigrant laborer, and Jane Eyre, an orphan.

These characters lived during the middle to the end of the nineteenth century, in completely distinct worlds, yet all had their creativity stifled by society. Similarly, Djuna Barnes poem of the British woman who goes on a hunger strike in an attempt to get the vote and Anna Wickham's poem The Affinity describing the angst of a deprived wife, both depict women who lived during the early twentieth century and, although different, were both suppressed in some way. Edna Pontellier was a woman who was forced to comply with the rules of Creole society, but, in being reluctant to do so, found herself in a world where she felt trapped. She saw how women were supposed to behave but did not have that behavior instilled in herself. She felt confined by her husband's expectations, and did not want to live out the typical role of wife and mother. When Robert came into her life, she began to feel that she was being 'awakened.

' ; She was beginning to experience life in a new light and the hunger for change began to emerge. When she went to Madame Antoine's house with Robert one Sunday afternoon after a dizzy spell, she fell asleep there and awoke later feeling very hungry. Although Chopin was mainly describing the physical hunger Edna felt after waking up from a long rest, this hunger can also be seen metaphorically. She was alone with Robert, content, and unconcerned about her husband and other duties. For this one moment, she was living as she could only dream, as though she was on a deserted island with the man she loved. This aroused her appetite, which was quenched, for the time being.

The food she ate was satisfying, as was the company. Later on in the novel, when Robert tells of his plans to move to Mexico, Edna quickly loses her appetite during dinner. The same person, who had inspired hunger in her, was disappointing her with the news of his departure. She was no longer able to eat, because nothing could satisfy the void she would feel as a result of Robert's absence. Robert was not the only person in Edna's life whom she often longed for.

When she was left home alone in New Orleans, without her children, she became 'hungry for them'; (1067). When she finally went to visit them in Iberville, 'she looked into their faces with hungry eyes that could not be satisfied with looking'; (1085). Their presence was not enough to appease her, nor would it ever be. She loved them dearly, yet could not be the ideal mother she knew they deserved. Although she missed them when they were away, she was filled with satisfaction when she realized she was alone for the first time.

She described the feeling as being 'delicious'; (1068). Suddenly, everything she did was new and interesting, the food she ate was 'delicious,' ; and she felt at home. She felt so at home living by herself, that she decided to buy an apartment. This drastic step was Edna's way of realizing her individuality. She would no longer 'feed upon opinion'; (1084) as she had once done. She would no longer rely on society to make her feel acceptable or to feed her hunger for life.

She had found this on her own, but ultimately, she found she would never be able to escape the grasp of society's constrictions without being spiritually starved. Upon Robert's return to New Orleans, Edna saw him, by chance, in Mademoiselle Reisz's apartment. Later on, when contemplating their conversation, she longed to hear him declare his love for her. 'How few and meager they (his words) had been for her hungry heart'; (1091)! Even after Al cee A robin told her he adored her and could not live without her, Edna still longed for Robert's words, for his were the only ones that satisfied her. When Edna returned to Grand Isle, she went with the intent to kill herself.

Before doing so, however, she told Victor that she was very hungry. Once again, Chopin used this to portray Edna's unquenchable hunger for a life she could never live how she wanted. She, of course, had no intention to eat dinner that fateful night yet would leave the world with a longing that was never fulfilled. Walking naked by the sea was a 'delicious'; (1100) feeling for her. This newfound freedom, attainable only through death, was luring her into the soothing ocean where she would be released from all her earthy duties. Life in the Iron Mills describes the stagnant existence of a lowly worker, Hugh Wolfe.

Not only was he malnourished as a result of poverty, but he was also hungry for a different life. Rebecca Harding Davis described the people working in the iron mills as suffering from 'soul starvation'; (925). Their whole existence consisted of working ceaselessly in the mills. Most of them were uneducated, and none of them had the opportunity to rise above their grim situation. Hugh was 'sick with starving'; (926); he found no means of escape from his hellish reality.

The only thing in Hugh's life that allowed him to temporarily escape the nightmare that was his life, was his art. One of his sculptures caught the attention of the owners of the iron mills. It was a carving of a woman with the face, 'like that of a starving wolf'; (929). I don't think it is a coincidence that the sculpture was described like a wolf and that Hugh 'Wolfe'; was also suffering from the same kind of starvation. This work of art was symbolic of all the workers in the mill, Hugh especially.

When asked what he was trying to say through the sculpture, he responded by saying, 'She be hungry'; (929). Although her bones appeared to be strong and her muscles visible as well, her face undoubtedly depicted a look of utter starvation. Later in the story, Hugh was confronted with a moral dilemma. Deborah had stolen a man's wallet and had given it to Hugh, allowing him to escape. As Hugh held the money in his hands, he still felt 'mad with hunger'; (935). He did not know life outside the iron mills, and this opportunity to break away from that was overwhelming.

He wanted so badly to leave, but knew not what to do or how to do it. Also, the idea that his only means of escape was achieved by stealing made his escape all the more difficult. He did keep the money, and was soon after arrested and sent to prison. His dreams to escape the harsh life of the iron mills were shattered, and his hunger only grew, starving him and leading him to commit suicide. Jane Eyre, the main character in Charlotte Bronte's novel was suffering from a moral dilemma. She was in love with a man, Mr. Rochester, and he with her, but could not marry him because he was already married by law.

Therefore, in order to escape her grim situation, she left Thorn field, the only place where she had ever felt at home. As she wandered hopelessly, she began to get tired and hungry. Although she was physically famished, she was also feeling spiritually starved, given that everything and everyone that had once filled her with life was now void. The people she came across on this desolate journey were suspicious of her and would not offer any assistance. This made Jane feel even lonelier; not only had she left a loving home, but now, she had no one to turn to. It was not until she encountered a charitable family that she was finally offered the food as well as the companionship she craved.

Djuna Barnes describes the irony of force feeding in How It Feels to be Forcibly Fed. The narrator was making a political statement by going on a hunger strike in the effort to get the vote. She and other women in the early twentieth century were being deprived of their rights, and thus starving for those rights. They chose to physically starve themselves in the attempt to call attention to their spiritual starvation. The doctors were forcing food down the narrator's throat, ignorant as to what she was really hungry for: her rights. They were nourishing her against her will, yet could not give her what she really wanted.

In Anna Wickham's The Affinity the narrator welcomes hunger, and actually thanks God for it in the following stanza: I have to thank God I'm a woman, For in these ordered days a woman only Is free to be very hungry, very lonely. (1380) Because she has so often been deprived of equal rights and is not allowed to express what she thinks, she writes it down instead. Since it was not appropriate for her to speak her mind to her husband, much less any other man, her voice had to be heard somewhere. She was able to let out her thoughts on paper, and that was why she was happy to be hungry and lonely; it gave her a reason to write. All of the characters that have been discussed tried to appease their cravings for the things in life that they longed for: independence, social mobility, family, rights, etc. The battle was an arduous one for all, and, for many, ended in tragedy.

The symbolic use of hunger as a means to explicate the longings of these characters is an effective one, which has been used many times in literature because it is a feeling everyone can relate to.