“The water of the gulf stretched out before her, gleaming with the million lights of the sun. The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamouring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in its abysses of solitude. All along the white beach, up and down, there was no living thing in site. A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling, disabled down, down for the water.”
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
“Edna felt as if she were being borne away from some anchorage which had held her fast, whose chains had been loosening-had snapped…leaving her free to drift whither soever she chose to set her sails” (Chopin 33). This excerpt embodies the grace and ease with which Kate Chopin pens her novel, The Awakening. Similarly, the above passage, ridden with blatant metaphorical symbolism, exemplifies the predominant tone of the novel throughout its entire course. Edna looks towards the sea and alternative forms of life around her such as birds, as she grapples with the bombardment of fresh emotions and desires that confront her during her arduous “awakening.”
Chopin's use of birds to relate to the experiences Edna undergoes can be seen several times throughout the novel. Beginning on the first page, the reader immediately recognizes the importance of birds and their significance to the plot. “A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door kept repeating over and over: "Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi!…He could speak a little Spanish, and also a language which nobody understood, unless it was the mocking-bird that hung on the other side of the door, whistling his fluty notes out upon the breeze with maddening persistence” (3). Chopin"s decision to include the description of the bird's cage serves as a precursor to the feelings of trapped hopelessness that Edna encounters once she begins her quest for individual identity. The parrot's use of a “language which nobody understood” relates to Edna's feelings of hopelessness and inability to connect on all levels to those around her. Later in the novel, the parrot again interjects his wise commentary when he disrupts an evening of musical entertainment with his rude and obnoxious repetition of the same phrase. “He was the only being present who possessed sufficient candor to admit that he was not listening to these gracious performances for the first time that summer” (23). Like Edna, in her socially-constricted environment, the parrot finds himself alone in his refusal to forcefully enjoy the provided entertainment. Both, however, possess the nerve needed to openly rebel against the accepted form of conduct, therefore distinctly segregating themselves from the mindless herd of others. Similarly, Madame Reisz later comments on the spirit and characteristics associated with a bird. “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 bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth” (79). In the beginning of her “awakening,” Edna's attitude mirrored the bird Madame Reisz describes here, however once she nears the end of her journey, she adopts the characteristics of the bird with the broken wing that accompanies her on the beach.
Edna's attachment to the beach and sea develops early in the novel. The night she finally overcomes her fears and decides to go for a swim marks the beginning of her deeply-rooted respect and love for the ocean. She begins her swim with some feelings of temerity, hesitation, and unease, but these emotions quickly turn to ones of jubilation, achievement, and overwhelming adrenaline as she plunges in and allows for the sea to fully embrace her. “…that night she was like the little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who all of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the firs time alone, boldly and with over-confidence. She could have shouted for joy. She did shout for joy, as with a sweeping stroke or two she lifted her body to the surface of the water. A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before” (27). This rush of courageous endeavor that infiltrates Edna is momentarily interrupted by panicked realization at her bold actions. “She had not gone any great distance-that is, what would have been a great distance for an experienced swimmer. But to her unaccustomed vision the stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome. A quick vision of death smote her soul, and for a second of time appalled and enfeebled her senses” (28). The series of thoughts that run through Edna's head in this passage foreshadow and in a sense, mirror, those that she entertains at the conclusion of the novel. Chopin's use of the powerful verb “smote” enables the reader to visualize Edna's idea of the strength of death's impact on one's soul. Her senses become “appalled” and “enfeebled”; inhibitions that relate to the adjectives used to describe the impaired bird's path of descent in the last passage of the novel: “reeling, fluttering, circling, disabled down, down for the water” (108). To Edna, the power of the sea intrigues her in that it not only offers the partaker of its alluring virtues a comforting embrace-“The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace” (109)- but also never ceases to remind her of its absolute ability to destroy.
