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Bird Symbolism In The Awakening

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Awake and Aware Birds are symbols of freedom flying high above society's grasp, unlike Edna Pontellier in The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Edna and her husband Leonce Pontellier vacation at Grand Isle, a high society island in New Orleans. Robert Lebrun innocently dedicates himself to a different woman every summer and Edna peaks his interest as she attempts to break away from the social confines she is enveloped in. As Edna and Robert become infatuated, she also begins to search for self liberation and is surrounded by the ocean and birds in her journey to self discovery. The recurring symbolism of birds and the ocean demonstrate the progression of Edna Pontellier’s freedom. Birds and flight represent Edna’s liberation from traditional gender …show more content…

Women are expected to be devoted to their husbands and content fulfilling domestic responsibilities. Edna feels misunderstood like the parrot in the cage but has accepted her life of monotony until she meets Robert who is enticed by her distaste for a traditional life. As she becomes infatuated with Robert, Mademoiselle Reisz becomes an influential figure in her life. Mademoiselle Reisz is an independent older woman and pianist whose music inspires Edna. She seemingly understands Edna's struggles to break the boundaries of her quintessential life but warns her “the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth” (Chopin 112). The bird Mademoiselle Reisz is referencing is symbolic of Edna's developing strength and heightening journey to independence but foreshadows Edna's inevitable downfall back into society's grasp. Edna endeavors to break societal confines convinced she can escape her husband's control and find freedom with Robert; Slowly, she begins to realize the impossibility of her desires. …show more content…

Edna is initially fearful of the ocean and cannot swim in the deep water despite her friends' valiant attempts to teach and persuade her. Edna’s detachment from the ocean represents her initially content with her lifestyle and role in society. She is regarded as very fortunate for her high class status and luxurious lifestyle provided by Leonce. At a lavish party with her high society friends Edna overcomes her swimming struggles as “A feeling of exultation [overtakes] her, as if some power of significant import [is given to] her to control the working of her body and her soul…She [wants] to swim far out, where no woman had swum before” (Chopin PN). Edna understanding how to swim is representative of a rebirth of her mindset into a new woman; She feels great power having control over her body and mind while swimming. The farther she swims the more control she feels as she breaks away from the others at the party although she eventually returns to shore and reunites with her husband. As Edna begins to frequent the Gulf, she also starts to defy her husband, no longer obeying his commands; She begins to distance herself from her children feeling less passionate about her maternal and marital obligations with her new mindset of self empowerment. Slowly, Edna becomes more aware of her diminishing role in society because despite her own mindset of self power, society does not reciprocate this understanding.

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Kate Chopin’s The Awakening takes places in the social world of New Orleans, in the 19th century, were the notion of motherhood and femininity was controlled and enforced fiercely. Women could not own property, vote or work. The only use society had for them was to stay at home and take care of their husbands and children. Motherhood is displayed through three characters in the novel: Adele Ratignolle who is the symbol of The Angel in the House or the mother woman, Mademoiselle Reisz who although physically old represents the new woman, and Edna Pontellier who is stuck in between motherhood and her thirst for independence. There is an interesting dichotomy between Edna Pontellier, the woman who feels deprived and repressed and Adele Ratignolle

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Edna went to go swimming, but she had suicide in mind rather that swimming. As she was walking towards the beach she thought to herself, “The Children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul’s slavery for the rest of her days. But she knew a way to elude them.” (Chopin 159). In order for Edna to defeat the societal norms and not be bound in chains from her husband and traditional womanhood; Edna had to leave her motherly role in the family and she stubbornly went against the expectations of her husband and society.

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Waves of warm salty air fills the island of Grand Isle as Edna Pontellier and other Creole vacationers settle in. Time coming and going as romantic affairs interfere with the lost love of Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier. Continuous disregard to the roles of a wife, mother, and social aspect to the public, set intentionally. Action and consequences made to overall, achieve the dream of independence. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the use of birds and houses are symbols that illustrate the desire for freedom under the pressure of society rule.

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Her ability to swim starts in chapter 10, and ironically Edna’s happiness then eventually leads to her bismal ending in chapter 39. Another interesting example is Edna’s relationships with Arobin and Robert, where Edna chooses to act rebellious and choose her own terms for two affair-like relationships. Either case, Edna felt “as if a mist had been lifted from her eyes, enabling her to took upon and comprehend the significance of life, that monster made up of beauty and brutality” (Chopin 84). Her relationships tore her emotions apart, but in the process angered and falsely strengthened her; this is an example of the “masking” of her characteristics. In reality, Robert and Arobin

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These long-suffering and self-sacrificial comparisons have demeaning connotations, ultimately projecting subservience and tractability onto women. One of the avian images concerns the mother-woman archetype, referenced on page 12. Chopin writes Edna's bitter soliloquy with descriptions of "[mother-women] fluttering around with extended, protecting wings [to guard] their precious brood" (12). The birdlike description of the ideal mother reinforces the feminine stereotype that Chopin presents through birds. Because Edna perceives mother-womanhood as a lonely, all-encompassing task, her train of thought is indubitably bitter.

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The imagery Edna is moved with includes the sounds of the rippling water, the sails flapping in the breeze, the sight of the moon, and the “current of desire” that ran through her body, creating a drive for inspiration (97). As Edna had been acquainted deeply with the sea, a sort of rebirth occurred, similar in idea to a baptism. Her awakening, as it seems, is only the start of Edna’s journey, and the water strengthens Edna both mentally and emotionally. While in the city, Edna frequently takes “refreshing baths” and “washes up in basins” after naps to “start anew” (122, 161). Edna also meets with friends, such as Mademoiselle Reisz, from the beach while back in New Orleans.

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The parrot continuously repeats French and English phrases, causing a great deal of noise. The parrot symbolizes Edna’s unexpressed feelings. She feels as if she is being held prisoner like her parrot in the cage. Kate Chopin’s purpose for including this is her novel is to give symbolic background details on Edna before the story truly begins. 2.

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In the beginning, two parrots hang outside in a cage, trapped. The birds are representative of Edna and it shows how, from the beginning, she is trapped by society and held back from living her life to its fullest potential. Edna is disregarded by society because she is only seen as a wife and a mother, just like how the birds are only seen as SOMETHING. Edna feels neglected as a human being until she meets Robert, a man with who she develops romantic interests in. Roberts helps Edna combat her feelings of despair until he ultimately leaves because of the chemistry between them.

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After swimming successfully, she develops feelings for Robert. After this awakening, Edna starts to step back and rethink her entire life; her marriage, her role, and even herself. She realizes she feels sort of imprisoned in this life she has had for so long. Edna finally starts doing things for her, she is letting herself feel an attraction for another man even though she is married and she also gets into art and has everyone in the house model for her. Rather than doing things to get the house ready for her husband or spending time playing with her children, she is distracted by all her newly found

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When she comes back from the island, this new outlook on life clashes with her husband’s old world values, and he endeavors to stop what he sees as utter madness. At one point, a family doctor recommends to Léonce that Edna spend time at her ancestral home, far away from the water, to return her behavior to what he knows as normal. Edna expresses a dislike of and actively avoids certain parts of society, but cannot fully separate herself from the motherly duties forced onto her by traditional gender roles, unlike her muse Mademoiselle Reisz. These duties, ultimately, prove to be the fetters that cause Edna to sink downward, and lead her to end her life in the same ocean where it truly

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Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening opens with a scene of two birds, emphasizing that the motif of birds later within the novel will play an important part with setting the constant metaphor they bring. Throughout the whole novel the motif of birds is a metaphor for the Victorian women during that period -- caged birds serve as reminders of Edna’s entrapment and the entrapment of Victorian women in general. Edna makes many attempts to escape her cage (husband, children, and society), but her efforts only take her into other cages, such as the pigeon house. Edna views this new home as a sign of her independence, but the pigeon house represents her inability to remove herself from her former life, due to the move being just “two steps away” (122).

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In the 1800’s, the societal niche of married women was clearly defined: they were meant to devote every aspect of their lives to their husbands and children. Edna Pontellier, the protagonist in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, struggles to adhere to these standards, and eventually rebels against them. The harsh standards placed on Edna and other women in the novel are like the cages around the metaphorical birds Chopin uses to represent them. Edna's unhappiness in her societal role is realized in the ocean, which symbolizes this awakening and her attempt to escape the gender roles of the nineteenth century.

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Edna has become like this bird; her heart is broken and her soul is discouraged as she realizes she will never fully discover love and life. The bird’s failure to fly symbolizes Edna’s suicide because both of them are on a solitary flight to

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The Symbolism of Birds In the history of literature, birds have always been a positive omen. In the novel “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr, birds appear numerous times throughout the novel, for many different characters and storylines. Characters like Marie-Laure, Werner, and Fredrick are all tied together through the reappearance of birds; comparing them and their storylines, almost as a symbol of their connection (from so far apart). In the novel, the impactful imagery of birds symbolizes freedom and individualism to make your own choices.

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Birds were always involved with any moment of significance, and they helped readers see what characters struggle with. The night of Edna’s awakening, an owl was depicted sitting in a tree. At a piano performance, where Edna awakens more, a parrot is mentioned in the text. All of these bird motifs pushed and stressed a specific theme. To distance oneself from expectation and societal norms one will sacrifice.

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