The Awakening Essay

In first paragraph of the novel, Kate Chopin describes an image of a bird that is restrained from its freedom just as Edna feels held back from hers. “A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door...” (Chopin, pg#) There is symbolism behind the caged bird, which refers to Edna’s feelings of imprisonment. The bird symbolize Edna at home, a place she can’t escape from and has to live with under her husband’s “ruling”. There is a saying in Spanish that states

Joyce Dyer comments that the bird and Edna resemble each other in another way; both are meant to be wild, but are domesticated for the sake of the family. She even has Madame Ratignolle “feel [her] shoulder blades, to see if [her] wings were strong” hoping that she too has wings to allow her to fly away from the expectations of tradition set on her (Chopin 300.) While Edna expresses that she is “not thinking of any extraordinary flights,” to Arobin, she does not deny her wish to fly, and escape from society (300). Unlike before, when Edna wishes to have wings, in this instance Edna realizes that she has wings, or the power to escape. This changes her true desires from wanting to fly to not becoming one of the “weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth” (300). Although Edna has not acted upon her thoughts to become free, she is aware that she has the power to escape and live outside of society. Through the bird symbolism, Chopin suggests that women lack the ability to be happy within the circumstances society expects them to maintain.

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

An important theme in Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening is the desire for some women to abandon their dull lives as only mothers and wives. In other words, solitude. The main character, Edna Pontellier is a woman with such desires. She has two sons with her husband, Leonce Pontellier, whom she would rather not be with. The theme mentioned earlier is seen all throughout the novel, by means of several different symbols, including birds. There are three examples of birds used within the story, two of which in the very first chapter. The story opens with a loud parrot repeating the phrase: ‘Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapriste!” (Chopin 1) This roughly translates to “Go away! Go away! For God’s sake!” These words

Bird with the broken wing. - the bird was flying in circles, representing Edna’s thoughts in her ind swirling and her dwelling on trying to escape but not being able to.

Birds are a sizable image in The Awakening. Edna feels like a caged bird, and wishes to be freed. When

“Our mouths opened and shut and we froze where we sat. I suppose we could have honked and waved and it wouldn’t have raised any more pandemonium than this poor mother already had to deal with but instead we held perfectly still. Even Turtle, after a long minute or two the quail got her family herded off the road into some scraggly bushes” (96). The birds are significant symbolism in this book. They often appear in the book to symbolize Turtle; Kingsolver did this to show Turtle is a strong survival instinct child. First, when Taylor took Turtle to doctor and discovered that she has been abused and raped. As she makes this discovery, she sees a bird nest on a cactus. This shows that Turtle, in spite of her surroundings she keep persists. Also, when Turtle met the robber, a sparrow got caught in Lou Ann’s house, the bird getting scared shows the Turtle’s confusion and fright. But sparrow survives and leaves the house; this shows that even though Turtle is going through confusion she will survive. Finally, the quote shows the moment when Lou Ann and Taylor found a family of birds on the road. This quote symbolizes how Turtle is satisfied with her small family, feel safe, and she is happy.

In the scene Edna had envisioned earlier the man was watching a bird flying away. At the end of he novel there is a bird as well, however, here it has a broken wing and is “beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water” (138). This passage reminded me of a scene earlier in the novel where Edna tells Arobin about her last encounter with Mademoiselle Reisz that has left her thinking about something the pianist had said to her: “She says queer things sometimes in a bantering way that you don’t notice at the time and you find yourself thinking about afterward.” Edna tells Arobin: “[S]he put her arms around me and felt my shoulder blades, to see if my wings were strong, she said. ‘The bird that would sour above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see weaklings

What is the speaker describing in the first stanza? How does this description help the reader to understand how the caged bird feels? How does the speaker’s identification with the bird’s feelings tell you something about how the speaker feels?

Symbolism also plays an enormous role, birds, oceans, and sound are three different interpretations of Edna. Throughout the entire story, caged birds appear quite often resembling the trapped society of Mrs. Pontellier, it also serves as a reminder that she's caged like a bird wanting to escape and also the entrapment of women in that specific time. In the beginning, the parrot talking to Mr. Pontellier saying to leave in French represents as Edna’s

Throughout The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin, the main character, Edna Pontellier showed signs of a growing depression. There are certain events that hasten this, events which eventually lead her to suicide.

On the first page of the book there is a bird that mocks Mr.Pontellier and birds are generally a symbol of freedom. Edna is not free, she is bound to her husband with chains. Therefore it is like freedom is mocking Edna.

Throughout The Awakening, Kate Chopin expresses her ideas deliberately through symbols which mirror both the thoughts and future of her characters. The most central of Chopin's symbols, the bird, appears constantly in order to provide insight into Edna’s lack of freedom and future

The singing of birds are also to be noted when describing the symbols. This produces a feeling of wellness to Mrs. Mallard who looks forward to her life as an independent

The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a novel full of symbolism which reveals much of the deeper meaning in the story. Within each narrative segment there is often a symbol that helps to add meaning to the text, and the understanding of these symbols is essential to a full appreciation of the story. These symbolic elements help the reader to make a connection between Edna’s world and her eventual awakening. Throughout the novel there are a huge number of symbols but three of the most meaningful symbols used are birds, houses and the ocean.