Use Of Imagery In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

The novel, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin shows the awakening of a character named Edna. The novel shows the reader what Edna has to go through in order to gain her independence from her husband and children. She goes through multiple experiences and realizations until she finally understands that she is unable to become independent. Edna does everything in her power to gain the independence that she has been craving. Even though she is unable to become independent she does all the right things that a person who wants to become independent should do. Throughout the novel there is irony, tones and imagery that ultimately lead to Edna trying to gain her independence.
In the novel there are many cases of irony. Irony of situation is used throughout the novel since the opposite of what the reader thinks will happen, happens at the end of the novel. When Edna figured who she really was, she realized that she wouldn’t be able to gain true freedom in her …show more content…
In the beginning of the novel there is a parrot that swears and shrieks at Edna’s husband, Mr. Pontellier, in Spanish. This parrot represents Edna’s unspoken feeling that she feels towards her husband. The parrot is also in a cage which represents her feelings are also imprisoned and she cannot express them freely. At one point in the novel there is a mocking bird which is also caged. This bird represents a character named Mademoiselle Reisz since a mocking bird is the only bird that is capable of understanding the parrots Spanish. She is the only character throughout the novel that can understand Edna. In general, a caged bird represents all the women of the 1890s. This is because all most all the women of that time did not have much freedom like a bird in a cage. Just as Edna was about to go drown herself in the ocean she saw a bird with a broken wing. This bird represents Edna’s failure to gain her independence since she notices it right before she drowns