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Symbols In The Awakening

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The Awakening 1. The Parrot as a Symbol Symbols, as explained by Foster, have at least more than one meaning. If the symbol can be reduced to only one meaning then it is no longer a symbol, it is an allegory. Actions as well as objects and images can be symbolic and significant in literature. On the first page of The Awakening, a green and yellow parrot is introduced. 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. The Eye Glasses When a character can’t see, there is a reason for it. When a character in a novel is unable to see things as well as others can, it holds a symbolic meaning. Mr. Pontellier can’t see things that are obvious to other characters in the novel. When Mr. Pontellier holds Edna’s jewelry while she goes swimming, it reveals his possession over her and later when he uses his eye glasses we can infer that he has a problem with his vision. The author gives Mr. …show more content…

The weather or anything having to do with weather can change the atmosphere and mood of the story dramatically. For instance, in the story of Noah’s Ark, water brought the world back to life and played a restorative role. In Chapter 10 of “The Awakening” Edna finally steps into the water and is overcome with a feeling of empowerment. Her happiness while she in the water at Grand Isle gives her drive and peace. Chopin incorporated water into this scene because water is a form of purification and restoration. Living in a world that has not given much back to Edna, the author wanted to emphasize Edna’s overwhelming happiness in being

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The use of symbolic imagery throughout Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening not only provides readers with a beautiful and descriptive language style, but also effectively captures the main protagonist Edna’s increased desire to break free from her social constraints. The ocean, for instance, symbolizes freedom and independence, evidenced in Edna’s increased awareness of her position in society as she swims in the sea. While seemingly peaceful and tranquil, the ocean is also seductive and dangerous, alluring Edna with this distorted illusion of hope. Edna’s inability to achieve the level of independence she desires forces her to isolate herself from the rest of society and ultimately resign to death in the end.

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As we learn more about Edna's inner conflicts, we realize that  perhaps there is no other solution for her, but death. The reason for this is simple ‘’life no longer fits her’’. She has experienced the emotions that she has always been curious about, yet, the emptiness thatshe is feeling in her life has carved a hole so deep that nothing can really save it or her.  Edna was severly depressed and she wanted help but she didn’t know where to start and  we realize that there is no solution for her anymore.

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Damn it!” , the dialogue illumines Edna endeavors to converse to her husband as she gradually institutes herself as an autonomous female. The parrot also signifies Edna`s original self; an imprisoned animal longing to be free, but constrained by the bars of civilization. Alcée Arobin furthermore acts as a significant figure.

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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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Yet, she is dragged back into the roles society places on her. Her relationship with Robert comes to a bitter ending, as Robert ultimately wants marriage. Edna is “no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not. [She] give[‘s] [herself] where [she] choose[s]. If he were to say, ‘Here, Robert, take her and be happy, she is yours,’ [she] should laugh at you both.”

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When the novel The Awakening was published there was much controversy of the issues addressed throughout the novel. Chopin uses Edna as the main character to break the stereotype of women being bound to their husbands in the 1900’s. However, Edna both progresses and regresses throughout the course of her life. There are many motifs throughout this novel, the symbol of birds is one of many and is used to foreshadow the resolution. This adds a layer of the novel that would be nonexistent if the motifs were absent.

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This bird would represent how women were expected to be in the Victorian society, beautiful and serving to their husband. A parrot can repeat what’s been taught by their owner and that’s how women were expected to be, to obey and do what their husband needs. Mrs. Pontellier is the parrot based on how she was described in the book, “eyes were quick and bright; they were yellowish brown, about the color of her hair”(3). This is a description of her beauty, just like the parrot. Edna also serve her husband because she understood Mr.Pontellier when he “halted and shrugged his shoulders”(3).

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(8) Three symbols - houses, birds, and the sea- assist the readers in understanding how Edna transformed from a docile female to a strong individual. Using the symbolism of houses, Chopin outlines the path Edna Pontellier took as well as how it affected her in a long run. Edna had experienced changes in four different houses. During Edna’s stay in these four houses, she explored different relationships between people and their beliefs. The novella starts off with Edna staying in one of the cottages at the Grand Isle.

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Pontellier is dedicated to the economic sections of the world. He concerns himself with the status he and his family presents to the public. And his character is hindered by the norms set for him. Since his focus remains on business and worldly situations, he neglects his marriage and acts as if it is a transaction with business agreements of which job belongs to whom. After he returns from a busy day of work, he finds that one of his children has fever, therefore, he ridicules his wife of her negligence.

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She was fond of her husband, but she did not worship him like the other wives did, and she took care of her family, but she didn’t believe she was the savior of her household or that it was her duty to do everything perfect for her husband and kids. Edna was slowly “beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being” (16) and that her purpose was different from that of all the other women in society. She had been taught her whole life to “harbor thoughts and emotions which never voiced themselves” (60) but she believed that those thoughts and emotions “belonged to her and were her own” (60) and “that she had a right to them” (60). With this in mind, Edna began taking charge and making changes in her life so that she could become more independent and take her actions into her own hands. Before Robert came home from Mexico, Edna found a short relationship with a man named Alcée Arobin, because she wanted to have the freedom to pursue feelings for a man when there was something between them, instead of submitting to her marriage that had no love.

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By choosing to leave her house, she is also making the decision to leave her family and give herself the freedom to find different sources of comfort and happiness. Kate Chopin describes Edna as a “bird that would soar above the level of plain” to depict and characterize Edna as strong for leaving her old life behind rather than weak for giving up (Chopin 88). Chopin represents Edna as this bird because after she leaves her old life behind, she has to see herself as “soaring above levels of tradition” rather than being selfish and not a good enough mother-woman (Chopin 88). The author makes these connections to show how by making these decisions Edna was freeing herself and allowing herself to fly away from her unhappiness as if she were a

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The parrot speaks “little Spanish, and a language that nobody understands, unless it is the mocking-bird.” (p. 5). Here, the parrot represents Edna; viewed and valued by her husband and society as a beautiful possession who speaks a language nobody understands, except for a mocking bird-type figure. The mocking bird represents Mlle. Reisz, and like Edna, who is valued by society for her beautiful complexion, Reisz was valued for her musical abilities (fluty tunes of a mocking bird).

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One symbol Chopin uses are birds. Madame Reisz told Edna, beginning to act upon her self ownership, “‘The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings,” (Chopin 211). The strong bird is a symbol of strength and social incline. Through this bird, Kate Chopin displays what it soars over. The repressive society which many women on earth are stuck in.

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The expectation of women in Edna’s class is to be pleasant and attentive to their husbands and children. Society shuns women who fail to fit into the correct stereotype. However, Edna’s husband, Léonce, and other men in her high society have freedom of movement and speech; they are free to complain, come, and go as they please. Before Edna’s journey with individualism begins, Léonce complains about the volume of a parrot, which symbolizes Edna; he criticizes its volume, a parallel to Edna’s outspokenness, and relocates to another room, a stark contrast to the physical and metaphorical cage that the parrot and Edna find themselves in, respectively (Chopin 43). The state of the wings on birds represents the strength to go beyond societal expectations.

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By creating such a controversial character, which has failed to fulfill her role as a dutiful wife and devoted mother; Chopin aims to reject the nineteenth-century expectations of women and their supposed gender roles. The story begins with an symbolic representation of Edna’s life. “A green and yellow parrot, which hang in a cage outside the door, keep repeating over and over…” (Chopin 1) Chopin opens with this symbol to illustrate the feeling of being trapped in a marriage where one has to live a life of repetition.

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