How Does Kate Chopin Use Symbols In The Awakening

"I lay thinking , 'I am safe. There is the corner of the bedroom door and the friendly furniture. There is the tree of life in the garden and the wall with the green moss. The barrier of the cliffs and the high mountains. And the barrier of the sea. I am safe. I am safe from strangers" (16).

In the iconic debated novel “The Awakening”, Kate Chopin’s novel takes place in the Victorian Era, which is in the 19th- century, similarly the novel was published in 1899. Edna is depicted as a woman longing for more, a woman who was looking for more than just a life of complacency and living in the eyes of society. The story uses Edna to exemplify the expectations of women during this era. For example, a woman’s expression of independence was considered immoral. Edna was expected to conform to the expectations of society but the story reveals Edna’s desires which longed for independence in a state of societal dominance. Throughout The Awakening, Chopin’s most significant symbol,

Kate Chopin uses dynamic characters to help create Edna Pontillier. By using Mr. Pontillier, Edna’s children, and Madame Ratignolle to contrast Edna; and Robert, Madame Raisz, and Arobin as supporting characters to Edna’s untraditional ambitions Kate Chopin produces an independent, unconventional woman. While some characters contrast to Edna all of the characters in The Awakening help to illuminate Edna’s opposition to Creole tradition. Without the use of supporting and contrasting characters Edna would have never been able to fly above tradition.

In the story when Armand first laid his eyes on her, he fell in love. So he orders her very fine clothes and ladies’ accessories from Paris in hopes to win her affection and marring Desiree. These objects that Armand bought for Desiree are symbols that shows how very wealthy he is.

Not only does the character foil between Edna and Madame Ratignolle exhibit the constraining relationship between a woman and nature, but the natural symbolism Chopin utilizes throughout the novel further develops this concept. In various instances, birds were strategically mentioned, and they symbolically represented Edna’s attempt to escape the restraints in her life. For example, in a moment of pity, Mademoiselle Reisz declared to Edna that a bird needs increasingly robust wings to fly above tradition and prejudice, and that it is a “sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to Earth (Chopin 112).” Simply, this bird intrinsically depicts Edna’s own aims to escape from her responsibilities as a mother and wife. At this point in the

She tries to encourage Edna by offering, “The bird that would soar above the level of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth” (Chopin 138). She is trying to portray to Edna that her goals are possible but only with hard work. Although Edna finds support in Mademoiselle Reisz, that is not enough, and she still cannot escape the norm of

The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a powerful story of a woman named Edna Pontellier who does not harmonize well with the Creole environment around her. The story explores Edna’s desire to stay true to herself; even if it means disregarding societal rules and causing friction between friends and family. Kate Chopin uses a variety of symbols to help the reader get a deeper understanding of the story. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary the definition of the term symbol is “an action, object, event, etc., that expresses or represents a particular idea or quality”. Symbol is derived from the Greek word meaning “to throw together”; it creates an equation between a specific object, scene, character or action and an idea. Throughout the

The novel’s locations of Grand Isle and New Orleans in the novel have a significant impact on Edna’s mental awakening. Grand Isle represents freedom from traditional norms. Edna finds herself in a relationship with Robert, a younger man who leads her to discover her inner self. Robert and the free spirit in the air on the island sparks an awakening in Edna. The ocean plays a significant role in Edna’s self realization, symbolizing freedom and strength. Chopin uses the ocean to provide Edna with opportunities and essentially rebirth, as it calls her towards its seaside. In Chapter 6 the reader learns the ocean’s impact on Edna, “The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is a classic novel that depicts the story of a woman’s struggle to understand who she really is and become who she really wants to be. Edna Pontellier experiences a battle with herself over whether she should conform to societal standards and be the person that everyone else wants her to be, or if she should listen to her heart and change her life to make herself happy, risking the happiness of everyone around her in the process. Birds are used as a strong form of symbolism throughout the story, depicting her change in character and the struggle that Edna goes through in the process of changing who she is. This contributes greatly to the work’s overall meaning that if you want to change your life, you have to be

In the novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin (2005) uses deep symbolism to show how the main character, Edna Pontellier, discovers her own independence in the society in which she lived. Edna was a traditional mother and wife seeking freedom and independence throughout her adult life. Chopin portrays Edna as being a rebel against her own life. The story takes place in the 1960s when women were to follow certain rules made by the society they lived in. Chopin also foreshadows the things that occur in Edna’s life through nature and death itself. Based on the many ways Chopin uses symbolic meanings through the novel, we can see the events of Edna’s life as one that rebels against society. Throughout this novel, Chopin proves that Edna’s actions

Chopin, by including Apollonian and Dionysian symbols throughout the novel, and by detailing the pull Edna feels between the two lifestyle, depicts Edna as having a choice in living an Apollonian or a Dionysian life, and, thereby, depicts that all women of her time have this choice as well. The overarching theme of The Awakening is that women in society must make one of two distinct choices—the choice to live according to society or the choice to live with individuality. Edna is constantly presented with two opposing choices and feels the conflict created from the pull of both within her; eventually, she makes her choice. Edna’s distinct choice leads to a distinct path. Therefore, not only is every woman presented with two distinct choices, but those two choices lead to two distinct paths of life. If a woman is brave enough to defy societal expectations, then she will be known as Mademoiselle Reisz is known, as “the most disagreeable and unpopular woman who ever lived in Bienville Street” (59). Chopin, additionally, makes the remark that woman who make the bold choice to live for themselves will ultimately experience “a feeling of having descended in the social scale, with a corresponding sense of having risen in the spiritual”, as Edna does (94). Life is not guaranteed to be beautiful when one chooses

Kate Chopin is viewed as a woman ahead of her time, who explored themes that were unconventional to her era such as freedom and individuality, sexuality, and the role of women in society. In the novel “The Awakening,” published in 1899, Chopin uses protagonist Edna Pontellier to confront the social conventions that women faced in the Victorian Era, and the strict rules by the Creole society that limited women to the primary role of wife and mother. Chopin uses symbolism to express these ideas, and emotions as Edna awakens to a world of new possibilities. In this analysis, we will examine two primary symbols of the story, being birds and houses that Kate Chopin masterfully uses to illustrate Edna’s confinement and her journey toward liberation and independence.

The stepping stones in Edna’s awakening can be seen through symbols: birds, clothes, and even the ocean. The symbols of caged birds in The Awakening represent Edna’s entrapment as a wife and mother, along with all of the other Victorian women. When Leonce is sitting by the parrots reading his newspaper, the parrot spoke, “a language which nobody understood” (Chopin 5). Edna, just like the parrot, can not be understood. Edna can not communicate her feelings with others, her feelings being the “language” that nobody

Chopin uses the first hand description of Adele from Edna as a literary comparison to previous descriptions of Adele, allowing insight into Edna’s own perceptions and changing world view.

This is represented by Madame Lebrun's parrot and mocking-bird. Mr. Pontellier is annoyed by the birds' incessant chatter. However, "they had the right to make all the noise they wished" (43). Edna is caged, and she is doing what ever she can to be free within her limits. Mr. Pontellier is upset by his wife's struggles for freedom. She allows herself to fall in love with Robert, and purchases her own house, despite the wishes of her husband. Just as the birds have no concern that their singing may bother those outside their cage, so Edna does not care that her actions may negatively affect others. Just before Edna kills herself, she sees a "bird with a broken wing...beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water" (175). Edna is this bird; disabled and heading to her death in the water. Her freedom is not total, and causes her death.