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The Role Of Birds In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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During the 19th century, women faced social constraints to act and behave in certain ways as formed by societal and family pressures. Specifically, a woman’s role within society was that of a laden housewife; responsible for tending to her husband’s needs and desires at any request, bearing children, and watching over them while maintaining house duties. Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening,” is an enlightening novel that tells the story of Edna, a peculiar young woman who begins to find her independence and true-self by breaking free from the barriers of society and family. Throughout, Chopin uses the symbolisms of birds to represent the life of a woman in the 19th century: caged, misunderstood, and in order to survive, she must have strong wings …show more content…

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). Although the two women are different, they communicate through the same common reality of caged confinement by societal standards: unable to voice their own opinions and only permitted to repeat the ideas that is accepted by society – (the mimicking abilities of the parrot and mocking bird). Later, Edna falls in love with a man named Robert where she truly feels this bird-like confinement; unable to embrace her individual desires to fly away and love freely, all due to her commitment to a husband and family. In response, Mlle. Reisz warns Edna that the bird who tries to fly above “tradition and prejudice must have strong wings” (p. 88). Finding new inspiration from Reisz’s words, Edna removes her husband’s support by moving into a new home. Although Edna views her action as a sign of independence, it only confines her within another cage – the Pigeon House. The home stood behind a locked gate and was

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