Symbolism in The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a novel full of symbolism which reveals much of the deeper meaning in the story. Within each narrative segment there is often a symbol that helps to add meaning to the text, and the understanding of these symbols is essential to a full appreciation of the story. These symbolic elements help the reader to make a connection between Edna’s world and her eventual awakening. Throughout the novel there are a huge number of symbols but three of the most meaningful symbols used are birds, houses and the ocean.
Birds often represent freedom and the ability to fly but are also symbols for something that goes one step further. Several kinds of birds appear throughout
…show more content…
The mother-women on Grand Isle could be a clear example of this idea, they are represented as birds in this sentence: "It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood" (page 19). Edna is not one of these mother-women because she doesn’t give her life neither for her husband nor for her children, and that sets her apart.
Related to birds there is another symbol, the flight, which acts as a stand for awakening. This symbolic theme appears constantly throughout the novel. We can see that Edna escapes her life, her children and her husband following her own believes of freedom. In this fragment we can see that Mademoiselle Reisz guides Edna through her awakening, but she cannot help her forever: "she put her arms around me and felt my shoulder blades, to see if my wings were strong. ‘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’” (page 217). In other words, she says that she has to be brave in order to defy society.
The final symbol related to birds occurs on Grand Isle when Edna comes back to the place of her awakening in order to die. "All along the white beach, up and down, there was no living thing in sight. A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering,
Four have already left home, one will leave soon and the other three still dwell in the house with her. She then begins to express the dangers of the world around her in a bird’s point of view. For example, she is afraid that her young will fall in a fowler’s snare, be caught in a net or by birdlime on twigs, or hurt by a hawk. In a human world a fowler’s snare might be fallings into the hands of trickery, robbery, or any other type of crime. Caught by net or birdlime might represent being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a hawk-inflicted injury might symbolize being wounded or killed by an Indian or criminal.
In first paragraph of the novel, Kate Chopin describes an image of a bird that is restrained from its freedom just as Edna feels held back from hers. “A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door...” (Chopin, pg#) There is symbolism behind the caged bird, which refers to Edna’s feelings of imprisonment. The bird symbolize Edna at home, a place she can’t escape from and has to live with under her husband’s “ruling”. There is a saying in Spanish that states
One species of bird in the story which acts a symbol is the oriole. “The oriole nest in the elm was untenanted and rocked back and forth like an empty cradle… and now
Margaret Laurence's A Bird in the House differentiates itself from the four other novels that make up the 'Manawaka series' that has helped establish her as an icon of Canadian literature. It does not present a single story; instead, it is a compilation of eight well-crafted short stories (written between the years 1962 and 1970) that intertwine and combine into a single narrative, working as a whole without losing the essential independence of the parts.
The stepping stones in Edna’s awakening can be seen through symbols: birds, clothes, and even the ocean. The symbols of caged birds in The Awakening represent Edna’s entrapment as a wife and mother, along with all of the other Victorian women. When Leonce is sitting by the parrots reading his newspaper, the parrot spoke, “a language which nobody understood” (Chopin 5). Edna, just like the parrot, can not be understood. Edna can not communicate her feelings with others, her feelings being the “language” that nobody
Thus, through the initial impression of the man of the bird’s brave and challenging movements by the utilisation of poetic techniques, the reader is able to visualise the bird’s characteristic it inherits and gain a deeper understanding of nature and the impression of humanity distinctively.
“Having added to American literature a novel uncommon in its kind as in its excellence, she deserves not to be forgotten. The Awakening, deserves to be restored and to be given its place among novels worthy of preservation”(Eble 82). Kenneth Eble is speaking of Kate Chopin in the quote above, revealing his opinion of her work. The topics mentioned by Chopin in The Awakening are highly controversial due to the time period. Nevertheless, Chopin creates an amazing structure in order to convey her message. Chopin intertwines different motifs and symbols throughout the novel in order to create meaning at the end of the novel. An important motif specific to the time period is isolation due to independence. One of the many symbols attached to this
Birds are a personal symbol for Turtle’s development. Throughout the novel, birds are tied to Turtle and major events in her life. Turtle makes her first sound when the car stops suddenly to avoid a family of quail. “I slammed on the brakes and we all pitched forward… ‘I think that sound was a laugh’...In the road up ahead there was a quail, the type that has one big feather spronging out the front of its head like a forties-model ladies' hat. We could just make out that she was dithering back and forth in the road, and then we gradually could see that there were a couple dozen babies running around her every which way” (Kingsolver 106-107). Turtle and Taylor have become comfortable as a family and Turtle has recovered from her previous trauma to the point that she makes audible noises and expresses herself. Just as the family of Taylor and Turtle has brought joy to the lives of Lou Ann, Mattie, Esperanza and Estevan, this disruptive family of birds bring joy and laughter to Taylor and Turtle. When Taylor takes Turtle to the doctor and learns the extent of Turtle’s abuse, she sees a bird that has made its nest inside a cactus. “I looked through the bones to the garden on the other side. There was a cactus with bushy arms and a coat of yellow spines as thick as fur. A bird had built her nest in it. In and out she flew among the horrible spiny branches, never once hesitating. You just couldn't imagine how she'd made a home in there” (Kingsolver 137-138). Just as the bird has
Bird with the broken wing. - the bird was flying in circles, representing Edna’s thoughts in her ind swirling and her dwelling on trying to escape but not being able to.
Birds are a sizable image in The Awakening. Edna feels like a caged bird, and wishes to be freed. When
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, is full of symbolism and metaphors. Most of the metaphors in The Awakening are about the change in Edna Pontellier and about the way she feels in society. In The Awakening, symbolism is often used to describe the current state of mind of Edna, some of these symbols include art, houses, music, the sea, and birds. Throughout the story, the way Edna feels in society is often shown in the form of a bird. At the beginning of the story she is like a bird in a cage, but at the end she is shown to now be a free pigeon.
Symbolism also plays an enormous role, birds, oceans, and sound are three different interpretations of Edna. Throughout the entire story, caged birds appear quite often resembling the trapped society of Mrs. Pontellier, it also serves as a reminder that she's caged like a bird wanting to escape and also the entrapment of women in that specific time. In the beginning, the parrot talking to Mr. Pontellier saying to leave in French represents as Edna’s
The Awakening” there is vast usage of symbols such as the sea, houses, birds, clothing, and children.
The broken birdcage can also be seen as a symbolic item within the story. The birdcage represents how women were oppressed, or “caged in” by men during this time in history. The bird, which symbolizes Mrs. Wright in the story, is not mentioned by the men when they notice the birdcage. This is because Glaspell wanted to emphasize that most men during this time were focused on what women were limited to doing, not who they were as a person. As the men overlook yet another important detail, the women realize that the door to the birdcage is broken. This symbolizes Mrs. Wright breaking away from the chains of oppression put on her by her husband.
The encaged bird is Edna because Edna wants to fly freely and she soon realizes this when she starts getting involved with Robert.Edna's desire to be with Robert is like the encaged bird’s desire to fly freely with all the other birds.Edna cannot fly away to freedom because of her family and the pressure of society upon her. “Felt my shoulder blades to see if my wings were strong, she said. ‘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” (698). Edna must be free in order for her to be happy and not be like a bruised bird coming back down to the floor.Throughout the story Edna is not as strong as Mademoiselle Reisz believes she is.When Edna takes a walk to her awakening she sees a bruised bird, “A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water”(722).Edna has become that bird, broken and like the bird went down to the water, so did she. This was the ending of Edna and although many interpret the ending in many ways,symbolism throughout the book explains on why she did what she did.