Birds In Kate Chopin's The Awakening
Birds and Wings: The Shattered Dreams
In the Awakening, Kate Chopin explores the desires of a woman who is being oppressed by a patriarchal society and societal expectations. The protagonist, Edna,dreams of living a life that is free and true to herself. The motif of birds and wings are used to illustrate Edna’s struggle with marital oppression and marital awakening. Chopin suggests that the only way for the oppressed woman to achieve her dreams is to break away from social expectations placed upon married women.
As the novel beings, Chopin uses birds to symbolize Edna’s struggle of oppression. The first bird introduced is a parrot that “ hung in a cage outside the door” and spoke “ a language which nobody understood” (Chopin 5). An animal …show more content…
The mocking bird was described as “[hanging] on the other side of the door, whistling his fluty notes” (5). Like the mocking bird Mademoiselle Reisz is free to be herself because she lacks the restriction of marriage. As a result of Mademoiselle Reisz dedicating her life to art and not a man, she prevails as the only character who can comprehend Edna’s wishes. Therefore, she is the only character who can determine if Edna is strong enough to make her awakening result in breaking her struggle with marital …show more content…
Edna walks down to the beach and sees “A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water”(189). At the sight of the bird falling to its death Edna’s dreams shatter. Like the bird, Edna came crashing back down to reality. She realized her ideals of independence and free will were unrealistic and she was not strong enough to escape her role as a wife. Edna’s awakening leaves her with the only one escape from her struggle with marital oppression, suicide. Therefore, Edna’s death can be considered a spiritual failure since she did not possess the strength needed achieve her desires when she is
In the Awakening, Kate Chopin explores the desires of a woman who is being oppressed by a patriarchal society and societal expectations. The protagonist, Edna,dreams of living a life that is free and true to herself. The motif of birds and wings are used to illustrate Edna’s struggle with marital oppression and marital awakening. Chopin suggests that the only way for the oppressed woman to achieve her dreams is to break away from social expectations placed upon married women.
As the novel beings, Chopin uses birds to symbolize Edna’s struggle of oppression. The first bird introduced is a parrot that “ hung in a cage outside the door” and spoke “ a language which nobody understood” (Chopin 5). An animal …show more content…
The mocking bird was described as “[hanging] on the other side of the door, whistling his fluty notes” (5). Like the mocking bird Mademoiselle Reisz is free to be herself because she lacks the restriction of marriage. As a result of Mademoiselle Reisz dedicating her life to art and not a man, she prevails as the only character who can comprehend Edna’s wishes. Therefore, she is the only character who can determine if Edna is strong enough to make her awakening result in breaking her struggle with marital …show more content…
Edna walks down to the beach and sees “A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water”(189). At the sight of the bird falling to its death Edna’s dreams shatter. Like the bird, Edna came crashing back down to reality. She realized her ideals of independence and free will were unrealistic and she was not strong enough to escape her role as a wife. Edna’s awakening leaves her with the only one escape from her struggle with marital oppression, suicide. Therefore, Edna’s death can be considered a spiritual failure since she did not possess the strength needed achieve her desires when she is