An archetype is defined as the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are based. In the Novel, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Archetypal symbols are used for this very purpose; to demonstrate as a model or pattern for something which carries a greater meaning. Such items are used as Birds, homes, clothing, and music as a form of art. These symbols are in ways in which shed light upon Ednas own awakening and give the reader a much greater understanding of the novel.
Throughout the novel, archetypal symbolic images of birds are present. In the begging of the novel: "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! That's all right!'" (3). Caged birds serve as reminders of Edna Pontelliers entrapment In The Awakening, caged birds serve as reminders of Edna's entrapment. The roles which 1899 society have placed on her as a mother and wife do not allow her to be herself. Not only Edna, but women in general are these birds who are trapped within societys cage. Womens choices are very limited much like the rules of society. In the first chapter, the parrot utters in "a language which nobody understood" (3). The parrot is unable to express its feelings much like Edna whose beliefs and feelings are hard to understand for 1899 society. Chopin not only uses caged, domestic birds, but wild birds flight also as a symbol of freedom. This is shown through a day dream vision Edna has while Mademoiselle Reisz is entertaining Edna, playing the piano. "When she heard it there came before her imagination the figure of a man standing beside a desolate rock on the seashore. He was naked. His attitude was one of hopeless resignation as he looked toward a distant bird winging its flight away from him." (26-27) In this specific vision of a bird flying away from a man, she is displaying her desire for freedom, desire for leaving her current roles in society, from her dreaded husband Lonce who holds her back from leaving her social cage. After these visions, birds are not mentioned or used as images until much later in the novel. In Chapter twenty-nine, following the summer on Grand Isle, where she had awoken, Edna begins to again display her desire and need for independence in New Orleans through her move to her very own home. It is appropriately named the pigeon house "because it's so small and looks like a pigeon house" (84). The nickname of the pigeon house is important because a pigeon house is an area where pigeons, birds, are kept cooped up. Edna even expresses that the house has "the feeling of freedom and independence" (79). She does this through only keeping her own possessions, "everything that she had acquired aside from his husband's bounty" (84). However, the pigeon house will not be the answer or solution which Mrs. Pontellier had expected. The new house did prove some independence and her own space away from society, but it also created another cage much like the one she had escaped from. Edna is unable to move herself from her old roles in society and this transfer to the pigeon home was "just two steps away" (79) from her former home, Lonce's house. She finds herself cooped up again, feeling like a displaced prisoner. Mademoiselle Reisz is a very important character of The Awakening. She repeatedly furnishes Edna with music that awakens her spirit and soul, letters from her beloved Robert and much needed advice. It is apparent to Mademoiselle Reisz that Edna is much like a bird who is looking to fly away from the roles as a mother and housewife. Mademoiselle tells Edna, "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" (82). Mademoiselle Reisz seems to know Edna well. She knows that Edna wants to and will try to soar away, but is not sure if she is strong enough to escape with success. Mademoiselle warns her of this. However, Edna does not understand Mademoiselle Reisz's advice: "I am not thinking of any extraordinary flight. I only half comprehend her." (83). In the final scene of the novel, Chopin uses again the image of a bird, a very similar image to the one described by Mademoiselle Reisz to Edna: "A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water" (113). This bird represents and shows that Ednas value for freedom and independence were not ideal or reality in the society which she lived in.
Mrs. Pontellier lives in many houses which may be a sign of wanting to change. The cottages on Grand Isle, Madame Antoine's on Chnire Caminada, Lonce's magnificent house, or cage, in New Orleans and her very own house of freedom, the "pigeon house". These houses are used for a reason; as symbols of the many emotional stages that Edna undergoes through her awakening. The first, Grand Isle, is a place mostly of women. It displays symbols of domesticity. Symbols of items that we typically connect with family and traditional values such as mothers, children, porches, and pianos. These are some examples of items which belonged to the home of Edna in the beginning of the novel and most homes in the 19th century. While she is living in the cottage on Grand Isle, Edna is confined much like she is at her own house, inside the cage of her roles as a mother and wife. When Edna rests and naps in Madame Antoine's house on Chnire Caminada symbolizes the changes that Edna is undergoing through her awakening. It is also acts as a refugee camp, a place of escape from the island of women, into a new unknown world. Edna really begins to find out who is in a spiritual sense. She finds her soul and body. New Orleans is the tower of strength of the social rules of life and its duties. Edna is expected to be the perfect in maintain the home and embracing company by her husband, Lonce. However, Edna chooses to not conform and follow this sacred role of society. She tries to escape from her dreaded cage by moving into her own house, the pigeon house, which has been described earlier. Flashbacks of Ednas childhood which took place in Kentucky occur. They describe a place similar to New Orleans, where Edna was restricted by society and her father. Even as a child Edna did not feel at home. In a way Edna can only hope to find the characteristics a home offers, privacy and comfort in death.
Another archetypical symbol present in The Awakening is clothes. Clothes, in many ways, relate to the rules of society. Edna is described as fully dressed in the beginning first chapters of the novel. As the novel progresses, she begins to take off and remove some of her clothes. This process of stripping and becoming natural and naked symbolizes the liberation from the rules which are opposed on her. Also as Edna dressing patterns change as she becomes more sexually active. One could say that she is having a physical or sexual awakening. In the last glance of the novel, Edna realizes that she is completely naked which is a rarity in her life: "But when she was there beside the sea, absolutely alone, she cast the unpleasant, pricking garments from her, and for the first time in her life she stood naked in the open air, at the mercy of the sun, the breeze that beat upon her, and the waves that invited her" (113). This final image with Edna butt-naked for the first time strains the concept of rebirth. She is now "some new-born creature" at the end of her life (113).
The fourth main archetypal symbol is art. Art transforms into a representation of freedom for Edna. Throughout her struggles of becoming an artist, she is able to find her true self and find an economic self-reliance. However this great symbol of hope becomes undone as time passes. Mademoiselle Reisz looks at Ednas strides to becoming an artist a social test. Edna fails miserably because she is unable to protect herself against the social rules. Along with art Music is also a very important symbolic aspect, especially piano playing. The way in the characters use music as a way to express Edna and what she is going through in her life is a crucial point of this symbol. In total, there are four somewhat important characters that play the piano. They are Farival twins, Mademoiselle Reisz, and Adle Ratignolle. They all represent a different part of what Edna is going through, especially Adle and Mademoiselle Reisz. Adle Ratignolle does not play for the love of the music and art. She plays to benefit others and to play her social role of making her husband and children joyful. Mademoiselle Reisz is the exact opposite. Mademoiselle plays music to express herself, and does not care whether she impresses others. The way in which Mademoiselle Reisz's carries herself and is independent in how she plays creates Edna to feel different and explore herself and who she really is. "The very first chords which Mademoiselle Reisz struck upon the piano sent a keen tremor down Mrs. Pontellier's spinal column. It was not the first time she had heard an artist at the piano. Perhaps it was the first time she was ready, perhaps the first time her being was tempered to take an impress of the abiding truth" (27). "She saw no pictures of solitude, of hope, of longing, or of despair. But the very passions themselves were aroused within her soul, swaying it, lashing it, as the waves daily beat upon her splendid body. She trembled, she was choking, and the tears blinded her" (27). The differences that Edna Pontellier realizes about the types of music both Mademoiselle and Adle emphasizes that Edna is changing and growing emotionally. This makes music the x-factor that points out the reader to how Edna is taking part in an awakening. Last of those who play piano, the Farival twins play because they want friends. They play in a way that pleases others and generates the feeling of how woman should perform actions in society; to please others. In the Victorian age, woman used music as an art. In some cases such as Mademoiselle Reisz, it was an acceptable way to rebel against society and to express all of the feeling and struggles faced in the daily role as a woman. In general she is rejected by society. The music is her medicine and becomes a symbol of social rules and regulations.
Archetypal symbols are thoroughly present in the novel. How birds represent Edna being trapped in her own house, a cage which is created by society. This is not for only Edna Pontellier but woman in general. Archetypal symbols also demonstrate how the cages, various houses differ and reflect upon the state of the individual who is living in them. It is fascinating to discover these connections that could easily be undetected unless read underneath a microscope with great patience. Archetypal symbols created a guide for the reader to closely follow how such small details completely reshaped Edna into an independent, new woman.
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