The Awakening Essay - 844 Words

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 measure 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†¦show more content†¦Robert does not want to do something wild and unacceptable to society. In a situation parallel to that of Ednas, the only bird that understands the parrot is the mockingbird (Reisz) that quot;[is] whistling its fluty notes upon the breeze with maddening persistencequot; (1). Because the parrot continues to shriek, people move it away from their society: quot;[Mr. Farvial] insisted upon having the bird removed and consigned to regions of darknessquot; (23). Society wants to hide the bird in darkness, as it wants to do to Edna, in order to keep the bird from causing problems. The bird, like Edna, is the only one quot;who possessed sufficient candorquot; to tell the truth about society (23). Throughout Ednas imprisonm ent, birds reflect her actions and feelings. amp;#9;Once Edna begins to escape, however, the birds become important signs of her success in escaping and continue to foreshadow her actions. Upon hearing Mademoiselle Reisz play quot;Solitudequot;, Edna envisions a free bird for the first time. She imagines quot;a man standing beside a desolate rock...with hopeless resignation as he looked toward a distant bird winging its flight away from himquot; (25). The appearance of a free bird provides an important sign of Ednas beginning freedom and success. Also, the bird leaves a hopeless and resigned man as Edna leaves Mr. Pontellier. While Edna relates her love story to Mr. Pontellier and Doctor Mendelet, she begins to show her feeling of freedom byShow MoreRelatedThe Awakening on Kate Chopins The Awakening1745 Words   |  7 Pages The time period of the 1880s that Kate Chopin lived in influenced her to write The Awakening, a very controversial book because of many new depictions of women introduced in the book. The Awakening is a book about a woman, Edna Pontellier. In the beginning, she is a happy woman with her husband and 2 kids vacationing at Grand Isle. 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