The Awakening by Kate Chopin SYMBOLS

In The Awakening, author Kate Chopin used several significant symbols that illustrate the actions and feelings of her main character, Edna Pontellier, throughout the book. Chopin used various birds, clothing and garments, music played on pianos, and lastly, the sea to symbolize the true identity within Edna, a woman whose search for her own individuality taught her the value of freedom and happiness. <Tab/>The Awakening started with a parrot in …

…garments, and from different music played on the piano, to the seductive sea, Kate Chopin used several significant symbols in The Awakening to reflect Edna Pontellier's life during the process of awakening. At the end of the book, the symbols illustrate how Edna's fully awakened self broke through the cage of societal conventions that held her prisoner, and how she swam, only in her flesh, in the seductive sea towards the radiant music of freedom.