The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin, depicts the role of women in New Orleans society in the late 1890s by following Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother who no longer wants to live in the constraints that society has given her. From the beginning to the end of the novel Chopin uses an interesting symbol of a bird to represent Edna in her fight to find herself and her freedom.
The symbol of a bird first appears in the opening scene of the novel when Edna’s caged parrot repeatedly shouts the words, “Go Away, for God’s sake” in Spanish, French, and a language that nobody understands. Just like the bird in the cage, Edna feels trapped, looked upon as a spectacle as women of the time often were. When women spoke out or wanted to pursue an interest other than being a wife and mother, they were often misunderstood as if they were speaking a different language in a society that didn’t want to understand how some women felt about their roles.
Later in this scene, we soon find out that this parrot is not completely misunderstood as a mockingbird outside the window seems to understand the words that this caged parrot sang and would “whistle his fluty notes out upon the breeze with maddening persistence” (Chopin 1). The mockingbird in this scene seems to have a parallel to Madame Reisz, whose piano playing was responsible for awakening Edna’s soul, sparking her yearning for independence and freedom. Throughout the novel, we see that Reisz is the only woman who understands Edna as she lives the life of freedom and independence that Edna wants. This free mockingbird who maddeningly sings her songs represents Madame Reisz, who is free from the bonds of a traditional women’s role and who is skilled in her craft of playing the piano.
This symbol of the bird doesn’t only appear in the opening scene. When Edna visits Madame Reisz right before Edna decides to move out on her own, Reisz feels between Edna’s shoulder blades to see if her wings are strong enough. “The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice,” she tells Edna, “must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth.” From experience, Reisz knows the strength and independence it takes to stray away from traditional women’s roles to follow a calling and become oneself. Reisz is unsure if Edna has it in her to be the woman that this bird represents.
Although Edna had made a strong attempt at freedom, she wasn’t strong enough to keep up her independence and soon succumbed to the idea that she would be alone forever as nobody would understand or accept her view. In the closing scene where Edna dies by suicide, she catches sight of a bird: “A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water.” The bird represents what Edna feels is her failed attempt at freedom and also parallels the “sad spectacle” of the birds that try but don’t succeed in soaring above tradition and prejudice and end up falling to the ground as Madame Reisz had depicted before Edna set out for her independence. Just like the bird, Edna falls into the ocean and silences her flight in freedom.