Bird Imagery in the Awakening

A detailed Summary of Bird Imagery in the Awakening

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 Edna's 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 Edna's.

Early in the novel, while Edna attempts to escape from society's 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 language 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 like the bird in the cage, and different ideas and feelings prevent her from communicating. The only person in societ

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 "Solitude", Edna envisions a free bird for the first time. She imagines "a man standing beside a desolate rock...with hopeless resignation as he looked toward a distant bird winging its flight away from him" (25). The appearance of a free bird provides an important sign of Edna's 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 by using a rising bird. She speaks of two lovers who could feel "the beating of the birds' wings, rising startled from among the reeds in the salt-water pools" (36). Like the bird, Edna begins to rise and break away from the chains of society. The bird's strength symbolizes the fact that Edna is succeeding in escaping and progressing toward happiness. Later, when Mademoiselle Reisz tells Edna that "the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings," she uses birds to forecast Edna's future and evaluate Edna's strength (83). In order to soar like a bird,

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Approximate Word count = 862
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Bird Imagery in the Awakening

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