Bird With A Broken Wing example essay topic

Kate Chopin's The Awakening Self discovery In the story about Edna Pontellier a major theme is her omitted self discovery. In the story we can see how Chopin uses style, tone and content to make the reader understand how it was for a person challenging many of the beliefs of the society at the beginning of the twentieth century. I believe there are many points in the story that can be considered to be very relevant to the time it was written, expressing ideas of the approaching feminist movement and building up an awareness of what was happening to women and the forthcoming feminist movement. Many of the ideas that are expressed in the story concern both the women's movement and an individual woman searching for her identity. Chopin demonstrates through Edna that she believes that marriage without love is harmful for a woman. "Go away" (Chopin, p. 110) she says tells her husband, "you bother me" (Chopin, p. 63).

In this way she is going against every social rule of the time and chooses her own way. Her initial flirt with Robert gives her a taste of a world she has never before relished, and the gap to become a plain housewife again becomes wider and wider. Chopin seems deliberately want to make sure the reader understands the dilemmas that the character of Edna confronted as married woman and individual. Edna learns though her experiences as a sexual, independent woman that she must not depend on men to be her own person. She breaks out of her imprisoned life and realise's she is no longer tied to the earth. She has the opportunity to control her own life and finally decide her fate.

The symbolism of birds Chopin uses in many places birds to represent failure, freedom and choices the Edna has to make right. The novel begins with the image of a bird that is trapped and cannot communicate: "A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over... Could speak a little Spanish, and also a language that nobody understood' (Chopin p. 4). This can be related to Edna who also feels trapped and believes that it is her society that that has imprisoned her. Edna longs to leave her submissive role as the obedient, loving wife and mother that society forces her into.

She is longing for something different, something more exciting and of her own choice and free will. However, she cannot fully break free so she makes a conscious effort to separate herself from the people that hold her back. In her marriage to Mr. Pontellier she is being suffocated by him as he keeps her from becoming free. She becomes isolated like the bird in the cage.

Flight can be associated with birds and the ability to spread the wings and fly. This can often be seen in the novel. In this quote Al cee Arobin tells Edna"; Well, for instance, when I left her to-day, she put her arms around me and felt my shoulder blades, to see if my wings were strong, she said. '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. ' "Whither would you soar?" (Chopin, p. 71) Here we can see how she uses birds to predict the future of Edna. If Edna wants to be able to soar like the bird she has to be strong. However Arobin knows that she isn't and that she cannot fight society. Throughout the story she meets birds escaping and with broken wings. This is probably symbols of Edna's hopeless situation.

At the end the reader leans how Edna's life and death is compared to the bird:" A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water. ' (Chopin, p. 125) "English place" (Gilman, 1) In "The Yellow Wallpaper the female narrator seems to have gone totally mad. However, we cannot see what has happened in the past and not what has driven her to this verge of insanity. The "English place" is the place and roll men wanted women to live and act in. Nevertheless, this English countryside the woman later paints to the reader is more like a prison to her. This is more like a cell, her small living space, where she ought to function as a good housewife.

Women where (sp!) allow allowed (?) (I stopped reading here. You need to revise the whole assignment after you have proofread it carefully. Make sure that it is clear why you say what you say as well as being careful about how you say it.) to see the things they wanted but their chances of changing their roles in society were minimal. This was because men where so happy with the position women filled. ' He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction' (Gilman, 2) The main character in the story knows that her husband John loves her. Nevertheless, it is the oppression that she becomes so bothered about.

This keyword reveals that he limits her from having any own thoughts and does not let her have any freedom because he was always around. Often we can see how John acts as if he knows how the main character feels. So the main character had no freedom at all since her husband wouldn't let anything happen unless he wasn't there.

Bibliography

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper" (2000-2005), College of Staten Island Library, Retrieved Juli 5, 2005 web Kate.
The Awakening, ed. Nancy A. Walker New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993.