The Awakening Essay -- essays research papers

Throughout The Awakening, Kate Chopin conveys her ideas by using carefully crafted symbols that reflect her characters thoughts and futures. One of the most important of these symbols, the bird, appears constantly, interwoven in the story to provide an insight to the condition of Ednas and her struggle. At each of the three stages of her struggle, birds foreshadow her actions and emphasize the actions importance while the birds physical state provides an accurate tax of that of Ednas. Early in the novel, while Edna attempts to escape from societys strong grasp, birds emphasize her entanglement by forecasting her actions and monitor her development by reflecting her feelings. The novel opens with the image of a bird, trapped and unable to communicate "a green and yellow parrot, which hung in the cage outside the door...could speak a little Spanish, and also a wording that nobody understood" (1). Like the bird, Edna feels trapped and believes that society has imprisoned her. Her marriage to Mr. Pontellier suffocates her and keeps her from being free. At the same time, she remains shut apart from society comparable the bird in the cage, and different ideas and feelings prevent her from communicating. The only person in society that begins to understand her, Robert, eventually decides that he must remain a outgrowth of society instead of staying with her. He says that "you Edna were not free you were Leonce Pontelliers wife" and that "Robert ...