It Is Greater Than The Stars -

The Voice Of The Sea Speaks To The Soul. The Touch Of The Sea Is Sensuous, Enfolding The Body In Its Soft, Close Embrace.

In Short, Mrs. Pontellier Was Beginning To Realize Her Position In The Universe As A Human Being, And To Recongize Her Relations As An Individual To The World Within And About Her. This May Seem Like A Ponderous Weight Of Wisdom To Descend Upon The Soul Of A Young Woman Of Twenty-eight - Perhaps More Wisdom Than The Holy Ghost Is Usually Pleased To Vouchsafe To Any Woman.

There Are Periods Of Despondency And Suffering Which Take Possession Of Me. But I Don't Want Anything But My Own Way. That Is Wanting A Good Deal, Of Course, When You Have To Trample Upon The Lives, The Hearts, The Prejudices Of Others-

I Would Give Up The Unessential; I Would Give Up My Money, I Would Give Up My Life For My Children; But I Wouldnt Give Myself. I Can't Make It More Clear; It's Only Something I Am Beginning To Comprehend, Which Is Revealing Itself To Me.

But The Beginning Of Things, Of A World Especially, Is Necessarily Vague, Chaotic, And Exceedingly Disturbing. How Few Of Us Ever Emerge From Such Beginning! How Many Souls Perish In Its Tumult! The Voice Of The Sea Is Seductive; Never Ceasing, Whispering, Clamoring, Murmuring, Inviting The Soul To Wander For A Spell In Abysses Of Solitude; To Lose Itself In Mazes Of Inward Contemplation. The Voice Of The Sea Speaks To The Soul. The Touch Of The Sea Is Sensuous, Enfolding The Body In Its Soft, Close Embrace.