A Deconstructionist Critique of Chopin’s The Awakening Essay -- Chopin

A Deconstructionist Critique of Chopins The AwakeningThe multiplicity of meanings and (re)interpretations informing critical studies of The Awakening reveal a novel ripe for deconstructionist critique. Just as Chopin evokes an image of the ocean as symbolic of Ednas shifting consciousness (never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the head to wander in abysses of solitude,138), likewise the deconstructionist reading of a text editionual matter emphasizes fluidity over structure A text consists of words scratch in and inextricable from the myriad discourses that inform it from the point of view of deconstruction, the boundaries in the midst of any given text and that larger text we call talking to are always shifting, (297). From this perspective, the reader/critic opens the doors of interpretation instead of limiting their focus to any singular, exclusionary reading, and exposes the deconstruction at work within the text itself. Whether defined as feminist mart yr, metaphorical lesbian, the triumphant image of favorable transcendence or a broken bird beating the railway line above . . . circlin...