The Awakening and Sleep

I really enjoyed how many of the works we read complemented other readings on the syllabus. I know that was the point of the course but in the specific instance of The Awakening and "Sleep"not only did the themes line up but so did the titles. Chopin's story  was about a woman who "wakes up" in her life emotionally, spiritually, and sexually. Murakami's story is about something similar. A woman wakes up in her life to find something is missing only she literally wakes up and cannot go back to sleep. In her state of wakefulness she develops herself as a person and does what she wants. Her life begins to extend further than just a mother and a wife. She does things for herself. It's a modern (non sexual) telling of Chopin's story. And interestingly enough, both stories end on dark notes. In The Awakening, she kills herself and in "Sleep" she is stuck in a car being rocked back and forth by people on a dock. It is also interesting to look at both women's connection to the water around them. It gives them both power but in the end also leads to their destruction.