Some of the first words in the book The Awakening by Kate Chopin give insight into the struggles and mind set of the main character, Edna Pontellier. "Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi!, which when translated means go away, go away for heavens sake. Even though these words are spoken by a bird, they could have easily been voiced by Edna herself. Chopin made me see Edna as a caged bird who struggles with its confinement. She is trapped in what she perceives as an unsatisfying, unfulfilling life and really just wants to be left alone to pursue what she thinks will make her happy. Why exactly is edna so unhappy? She is married to a man who loves her. She has two beautiful children, she lives comfortably in a nice house and has what on the outside seems to be a charmed life. What is the problem then? Throughout the book I kept asking myself, "Why is Edna so disappointed in life?" Was it due to immaturity? Was it due to a mental issue such as depression, was is due to the fact that her heart fell in love with the wrong person, or was it because Edna was a woman "before her time?" In chapter 7, Edna is described as, "at a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life- that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions."
I can understand Edna's dissatisfaction with being treated like a piece of property by her husband and having to be subservient to his needs. What I do not understand, is her impulsive selfish nature which causes her to completely give up on the life she had created. My only explanation is that to be an independent woman, both in thought and action in the 19th century, meant you were going to have to be alone. As Mademoiselle Reisz states in chapter 21... "To be an artist you must possess the courageous soul - the soul that dares and defies."
I really like your comparison of the bird cage and Edna's life, it reminds me of Marilyn Frye's piece "Oppression" in which she illustrates oppression as a bird cage. Frye explains that from certain angles it seems like the bird can simply fly out of the cage. However, in reality there are an array of bars keeping the bird in its oppressed position. The different bars caging in the bird refer to the "isms" in society that work together to oppress (racism, sexism, heterosexism, etc), and the bird signifies the oppressed person. I also really liked that quote and was one I chose to write about in my response as well!
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