How Does Kate Chopin Use Bird Imagery In The Awakening

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In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Chopin uses bird imagery to illustrate the difficulties faced by women who yearn to go beyond the social sphere that confines them. She develops the pattern of bird imagery with the recurring images of the parrot and the mockingbird, the repeated use of the word “fluttering,” and the details of birds’ wings. Chopin draws our attention to the parrot and the mockingbird right away: the first few paragraphs describe “the green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage” and “the mocking bird that hung on the other side of the door.” There is a great incongruity here – although the parrot is usually seen in this domesticated setting, the mockingbird is usually seen as flying freely in the sky or woods. Instead of flying freely, which is one of the positive images …show more content…

Chopin describes the parrot speaking “a language which nobody understood” which is representative of Edna’s unexpressed desires. The parrot and the mockingbird also represent the differences between Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz; the parrot’s tame nature is similar to how Adele is submissive to her role in society and somewhat happily fulfills this role making her the ideal Victorian woman, while the wild mockingbird, symbolic of freedom and fulfillment, trapped in the cage relates to Mademoiselle Reisz’s individualistic behavior within the limits of Victorian society. Chopin continues the pattern of bird imagery through the repetition of descriptions of “fluttering” and “wings.” For example, she describes mother-women as “fluttering about with extended, protecting wings” and growing “wings as ministering angels.” This is one of the few times Chopin portrays birds in a positive light in that women cherished their children and greatly respected the institution of

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