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
that is suppose to soar and be free is restricted by the bars of a cage. Similarly, Edna’s freedom to pursue her craving to have her own thoughts is restricted by marriage. The parrot speaking a language no one understands reveals the parrot’s lack of the ability to communicate due to being restricted by its environment, representing Edna's unspoken feelings and desire for independence. The parrot’s nature to duplicate what it has heard and not to speak its own thoughts comes from a sense of conformity, comparatively Edna conforms to the social rule of women not being allowed to voice their needs. Edna’s complications in communicating her desires occurs due to the expectation of women not having independent thoughts or actions, making her inconceivable to most people.
Chopin further solidifies the concept of the parrot being a representation of Edna’s struggle with oppression through the contrast of the parrot and a mocking bird, a foil of Edna and Mademoiselle Reisz.
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
oppression.
Chopin incorporates the wings of the bird into the novel to illustrate the beginning of Edna's marital awakening. Edna listens to a song on the piano which invokes an image in her mind:“distant bird winging its flight away from him” (44). The image of the bird's wings embodies Edna’s intense desires to be an independent women and break away from her marital to end her struggle with oppression. This moment that Chopin allows readers inside Edna’s imagination is crucial because it is the point in her marital awakening where she decides to take action by removing herself from her marital role. Edna finally begins demonstrating her will when she defies her husband's orders: “ Another time she would have gone in at his request” (55). Edna starts to pry the bars of her cage open, but does not test the strength of her wings.
Later in the novel Edna discusses Mademoiselle Reisz actions with Arobin. Edna tells Arobin that Mademoiselle Reisz, “ felt my shoulder blades to see if my wings were strong” ( 138). When Mademoiselle Reisz feels Edna’s shoulder she says “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 [...] fluttering back to earth” (138)”. If Edna abandons and defies her role society in society as married women she must have inner strength and strong commitment. Mademoiselle Reisz believes Edna is not strong enough and will fail to overcome social traditions. Chopin uses the image of to foreshadow the fate of Edna if she cannot find strength within herself. The last chapter of the novel marks Edna’s complete marital awakening.
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
living.