Monday, March 26, 2012
Significance of Water in Voyage in the Dark
One of the interesting things that caught my attention towards the end of Part I was Anna's constant mentioning of water. It reminded me of the final scene in the Awakening when Edna "commits suicide." I believe one of the first mentions of it are on page 90 when Anna takes a bath and reminisces about a pool that she used to go to at Morgan's Reest. Her description of the place was seemed very peaceful and the memory of it seemed to be a good one. However, the next time she mentions water it sounds a little more grotesque in a sense? She describes her feelings in the moment when she is with Walter and that it feels like "letting go and falling back into water...and how do you know what it's like to try to speak from under water when you're drowned?" (98). This is interesting to me because she is loosing Walter and she describes the pain as drowning. In relation to The Awakening it is interesting because Edna sort of found her peace in the water but Anna seems to be afraid of it.
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I really like your connection with these two texts in relation to the authors' uses of water. I find it really interesting that Edna did in fact find herself in water, but it was also where she killed herself. Or "killed" herself. I feel like since Anna seems to be afraid of the water, in contrast to Edna and finding herself, we could say Anna is afraid of finding herself perhaps. Or we could say that she has not quite yet found herself since she is so young.
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