Symbols in the Awakening

In all novels the use of symbols are what make the story feel so real to the reader. A symbol as simple as a bird can mean so much more then what you see. Whereas a symbol as complicated as the sea, can mean so much less then what you thought. It is a person perception that brings them to the true meaning of a specific symbol. Symbols are message within a word that must be analyzed to discover. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin conveys her ideas by using carefully crafted symbols that reflect her characters' thoughts and futures.

Early in the novel, while Edna attempts to escape from society's strong grasp, birds emphasize her entanglement by forecasting her actions and monitor her development by reflecting her feelings. The novel opens with the image of a bird, trapped and unable to communicate: "a green and yellow parrot, which hung in the cage outside the door...could speak a little Spanish, and also a language that nobody understood" (1). Like the bird, Edna feels trapped and believes that society has imprisoned her. Her marriage to Mr. Pontellier suffocates her and keeps her from being free. At the same time, she remains shut apart from society like the bird in the cage, and different ideas and feelings prevent her from communicating. The only person in society that begins to understand her, Robert, eventually decides that he must remain a member of society instead of staying with her. He says that "you [Edna] were not free; you were Leonce Pontellier's wife" and that "[Robert] was demented, dreaming of wild, impossible things...[such as] men who had set their wives free" (108). Robert does not want to do

something wild and unacceptable to society. In a situation parallel to that of Edna's, the only bird that understands the parrot is the mockingbird (Reisz) that "[is] whistling its fluty notes upon the breeze with maddening persistence" (1). Because the parrot continues to shriek, people move it away from their society: "[Mr. Farvial] insisted upon having the bird removed and consigned to regions of darkness" (23). Society wants to hide the bird in darkness, as it wants to do to Edna, in order to keep the bird from causing problems.

Later, when Mademoiselle Reisz tells Edna that "the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings," she uses birds to forecast Edna's future and evaluate Edna's strength (83). In order to soar like a bird, Edna must be strong, and Mademoiselle Reisz realizes that she is not. Mademoiselle Reisz says, "it is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth" (83). This bird symbolizes Edna?s struggle to become the master of her own life as well as her failure to achieve this goal. Mademoiselle Reisz understands that Edna cannot fight society and uses birds to demonstrate this knowledge. The bird, like Edna, is the only one "who possessed sufficient candor" to tell the truth about society (23). Finally, Edna moves to what she calls her exhausted "pigeon house." The name that Edna chooses for this house implies the defeat of a bird that, in turn, implies the defeat of Edna. Throughout Edna's life, birds reflect her actions and feelings.

All through the book, sleep is an important and reoccurring subject. Edna often sleeps in order to recover from the stress of her "awakenings." After her first solo swim she feels the "physical need for sleep [begin] to overtake her; the exuberance which had sustained and exalted her spirit left her helpless and yielding to the conditions which crowded her in" (34). She needs sleep to repair her disheveled emotions after her

aesthetic and physical awakenings. Without sleep, Edna is physically and mentally unable to realize her ambitions.

Another symbolic example of Edna sleeping occurs at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Cheniere Caminada. There, Edna is overcome by her emotions during service. She realizes that she is going against society?s rules. She is taken to "Madam Antoine?s [where Edna] can rest" (38). This period of rest is vital to restore her power and self-confidence. This symbolizes the fairly tale aspect of her sleep. Chopin relates Edna to the Sleeping Beauty who has awoken to a new world with a new perception of her surroundings. She now feels as though she has a new look on life and a new purpose.

Throughout the story the ocean represented Edna's constant struggle for self-realization and independence. The sea speaks to Edna?s soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding