Question

in the awakening (1899), kate chopin portrays edna pontelliers final descent into the ocean. while some readers view this act as a surrender to depression, a literary scholar argues that ednas suicide is a deliberate, defiant choice to preserve her newly awakened selfhood. the scholar claims that edna wishes to escape the \souls slavery\ of maternal duty, viewing it as the only way to avoid sacrificing her essential being to her children.
11
which quotation from the awakening most effectively illustrates the claim?
a “the voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude.”
b “the children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the souls slavery for the rest of her days. but she knew a way to elude them.”
c “there was no one thing in the world that she desired. there was no human being whom she wanted near her except robert; and she even realized that the day would come when he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of her existence.”
d “she felt like some new - born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known.”

Explanation:

To determine the correct quotation, we analyze the claim: Edna's suicide is a defiant choice to escape "soul's slavery" of maternal duty.

• Option A describes the sea's allure, not maternal duty or escape.
• Option B states children are antagonists who would drag her into "soul's slavery" and she knows a way to elude them (her suicide), directly relating to the claim.
• Option C focuses on her desire for Robert, not maternal duty.
• Option D describes her new self, not escape from maternal duty.

Answer:

B. "The children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul's slavery for the rest of her days. But she knew a way to elude them."