Free Awakening Essays: The Parrot :: Chopin Awakening Essays

The Importance of the Parrot in The Awakening   Go out Go away For heavens sake Thats all right (1) Chopin opens her poetic novella, The Awakening, not with the dialogue of a character, precisely with the ramblings of a brash parrot. Immediately, Chopin compels her readers to ponder what significance, if any, these seemingly random words go forth have in the following tale. Yet, it is not until the final pages that we recognize the raspberry bushs true importance and meaning. The parrot, though seldom referred to within the text, comes to epitomise Ednas role in society and the woman she becomes as she is spiritually awakened. At first impression the parrots bold conduct creates an image of eccentricity. His spirited exclamations give him an air of impertinence, defiance, and intelligence that one would not expect of such a bird. Chopin portrays Edna in the same light, showing that possibly as the parrot may deviate from the norm, so does Edna, who digresses from the society in which she lives. She does not conform to the image of a typical woman in society, playing the roles of a devoted mother and wife. Edna ignores these standards by engaging in two extra-marital affairs and by placing her own life before those of her children. Her want to live as she pleases lies in direct opposition to the duties she is expected to perform, and she refuses to frame up on this performance to satisfy society. As a result, Edna seems as fearless and audacious as the parrot that obviously does not mimic the sounds he hears and instead seems to create his own. Again squawking, Go away Go away at the bothersome piano playing of two girls, Chopin writes, He was the besides being present who possessed sufficient candidness to admit that he was not listening to these gracious performances for the first time that summer. (23) Edna shows similar candor in her unwillingness to accept societys burdening stereotypes. The seemingly talented bird could speak a little Spanish, and also a words which nobody understood... (1) Though the parrots remarks appear to fall on deaf ears, Edna is one who can identify with his presumable wisdom, as her man too is misjudged. Both Edna and the parrot are depicted as wicked and misunderstood in their surroundings, yet they are not freeas the parrot must exist in a cage, so Edna is caged by the restrictions society places upon her.