The Power of Water

The great power of water is so enormous and beyond ourselves, that everything on this planet is at its mercy. The Bible glorifies water’s power in stories such as Genesis, when God instructs Noah to build an arc to save his family as well as two of every animal due to the fact that God is going to destroy everything he created with water. This shows that water is so powerful since God himself chose it to cleanse the world of everything good and evil. Another Biblical story that shows water’s power is when Moses parts the Red Sea to lead his people to safety, and then lets his pursuers drown in the aftermath. This shows water’s power because though Moses defies it, the looming danger it brings is still present. This Biblical allusion of water’s power is found in many pieces of literature. One example would be in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. In the middle of the novel, Edna goes out into the ocean and attempts to swim, yet she is too afraid of drowning. This fear of the power of the water correlates with her fear to defy society. However, at the end of the novel, Edna gives in to the water’s (society’s) power and allows herself to drown. Kate Chopin, in using this Biblical motif, really allowed her readers to fully understand Edna’s inner and societal struggles, which pulls the novel together as a whole. Though this is one example, other novels consisting of this Biblical motif are:

 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: at the mercy of the water

Hamlet: Ophelia succumbs to water’s power when she drowns

The Great Gatsby: water is keeping him apart from Daisy