# data[].attributes.headline
Pick one of the symbols below and explain the meaning within the text. Each symbol can only be used ONCE! Don't just tell me what it symbolizes...tell me why it is important to the overall text. Where can it be found?  Why is it used?

# data[].attributes.subject
Pick one of the symbols below and explain the meaning within the text. Each symbol can only be used ONCE! Don't just tell me what it symbolizes...tell me why it is important to the overall text. Where can it be found?  Why is it used?

# data[].attributes.body
moon
sea
sleep
piano
food
swim
clothes
birds
art
houses
children
wedding ring

# data[].attributes.headline
Dayionna Newkirk           TA Symbol: Wedding Ring

# data[].attributes.subject
Dayionna Newkirk           TA Symbol: Wedding Ring

# data[].attributes.body
While wedding rings often symbolize the commitment and love between two people. Edna's wedding ring symbolizes her being confined and troubled by her husband.

"Edna could not help but think that it was very foolish, very childish, to have stamped upon her wedding ring ... She began to do as she liked and to feel as she liked." (Pg. 95) ...

The wedding ring only reminded Edna of her mother-woman restrictions and how weighed down she felt being married to Leonce. She gave it to her husband to hold while she went to hang out with Robert at the beach. In her husbands head this might of meant to him that she just didn't want to lose it on the beach but in reality Edna just did not want that constant reminder that she is not free while trying to have a good time.

# data[].attributes.body
Sleep aids the reflection of Edna's mental state in this book. At the beginning of any paragraph that takes place when she is first awakening from sleep, you can find a description of how she slept, and what dreams she had. An example being: "She slept but a few hours. They were troubled and feverish hours, disturbed with dreams that were intangible, that eluded her, leaving only an impression upon her half-awakened senses of something unattainable." This reflection took place directly after she swam out into the sea, walked home with Robert, and then had a disagreement with her husband. The unattainable thing could have been true freedom (she could only swim out so far), a life with Robert (she is trapped in marriage), or happiness with her husband (they rarely get along). Regardless, sleep acts as a reflection of self. With a good previous day, she will likely sleep well, with a bad one, there will be turmoil. This is important to the story as it shows how she is progressing as a person mentally.

# data[].attributes.body
The sea has a deep significance in the novel, as it represents the peace and behavior which Edna craves. For example, when she is sitting on the beach talking to Adele in chapter 7 she pictures a pleasant childhood memory when inspired by the sea. In the same scene she compares her childhood to her life of habit, resulted due to stereotypes, allowing the reader to see that Edna finds more comfort in the sea than she does alongside her peers. Her own spirit mimics the behavior of the sea, as she is often described as a person of solitude and her beauty is found in her inquisitive expressions. Throughout her journey with the sea she experiences the desire to travel deeper into it, the sea becoming a place of safety much like her childhood, especially given the fact that as the story progresses, Edna becomes further and further unattached to society. This ultimately results in her suicide, an action Edna commits in the sea. Her suicide occurs as she is leaving society and chasing the feelings that the sea brings to her, memories of freedom and the peacefulness of an innocent child. The sea is so deeply important to the story because it represents Edna's transition from a woman who obediently follows the rules society has set for her, to a woman who pursues what her mind tells her she desires most. A woman who acts upon freewill, a woman who unfortunately, society is unprepared for.

# data[].attributes.body
The symbolism of the bird with a broken wing toward the end of the story is how it is analogous of her struggle as a woman in a society that allocates the ideology that being a woman is more of a dint than something that should be embraced. The birds continuous will to fly closely compares to Edna's continuous will to strive for her independence but just as the bird is unable to fly, Edna is unable to overcome her "weakness" that is her womanhood.

# data[].attributes.body
Swimming symbolizes change and isolation. It happens a couple times in the novel, first when Edna is a child and "swims" through the grass field she begins to have feelings that are different than that of a typical woman during her time period. It occurs later when she is an adult and actually swims in the ocean for the firs time, she realizes she is unhappy with her life and wishes to change to fit her own needs and not those of others. It is important because throughout the text it is one of the only singular events that has such a huge impact on her life and her metamorphosis into who she truly is.

# data[].attributes.body
Food symbolizes Edna's realization of the expectations society forces union her, and her transformation from a subservient mother and housewife to an independent woman. This is important to the novel because she is no longer who she once was, obligated to appreciate something she doesn't want. Not only is it a used to free herself from Mr. Pontellier, it is used by him to control Edna's actions. The novel states, "And the ladies...all declared that Mr. Pontellier was the best husband in the world. Mrs. Pontellier was forced to admit that she knew of none better. pg 15. Leonce sends Edna a basket of goods while he is away as a show of dominance over her, how she gets everything from him. When Edna experiences her 'Awakening', she began a ascetic lifestyle of denying herself food, provided by Mr. Pontellier to showcase her independence from him. "On a few previous occasions she had been completely deprived of any desire to finish her dinner... But that evening Edna finished her dinner with forced deliberation." pg133

# data[].attributes.body
The houses in Edna's life symbolize her different stages and steps in her awakening journey. The Pontellier house in New Orleans illustrates Edna’s old life, where she felt caged in and where she felt she had to be the perfect social hostess. She had to be the perfect embodiment of a wife and mother. The house was too rich and extravagant for her, something that her husband disagreed greatly with, where they continued to stand so far apart. When describing the house, she claims, "it never seemed like mine, anyway- like home" (page 132), as if she never felt like she held ownership over herself, as if the house represented her husband's control and power over her. Edna, while Leonce is away on a trip, and without even waiting for his response to her letter, moves to the pigeon-house, a small, simple home that represented her new-found independence and freedom. The pigeon-house gave her the feeling of "having risen in the spiritual" and "to apprehend the deeper undercurrents of life" (page 156). She believes the house is one of the first steps in her path and relationship towards Robert.

# data[].attributes.body
For Edna, Art symbolizes as a escape from her own family into her mind. At the same time, it also symbolizes her failure to overcome herself, as finally break free of societal norms. Edna sees art as self-expression and assertion of her dominance. Through art, Edna reaches the highest point of her awakening, but fails and falls down to her lowest point. Edna also finds solitude in life, which is considered to not be achievable and ultimately leads to her death.

# data[].attributes.body
For Edna, the piano and music represents imagination, freedom and passion. Madame Reisz had attained and provided for Edna, ¨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.¨(Chapter IX). Adele plays also, however, she does not play for the art of it, but to keep her husband and children cheerful. The Piano echos the issue of placement in society also. The piano playing is considered the symbol for rules and regulations.

# data[].attributes.body
The moon has holds many symbolical meaning in this novel, along with the connection that it holds to the protagonist character. Edna is a strong commanding character, who is driven by impulse and desire for freedom. The overall theme of the novel, centers around a character that seeks freedom, but also to awaken her internal desire to seek love and affection, the moon is connected with this awakening as Edna soon starts to realize her attraction towards Robert in chapter 10 . Chopin uses juxtaposition in order to create a connection between Edna and the moon as they both are symbol of her strong desire for love and need to be cared for. Since the beginning of the novel, we are introduced into the complicated relationship between Mr. Pontellier and Edna, as there seems to be no love, but a simple interest of business. In chapter 12, (page 58-59) the author states "Then i'll take you some night in the pirogue when the moon shines" in which the author starts to convey that Edna has confused freedom with seeking love, the moon is associated with the protagonist character and how she is a symbol of Greek Goddess who undefined social standards.

# data[].attributes.body
The children are both a symbol of what life should look like and a symbol of resentment for Edna. Before Edna begins to change, the Pontelliers outwardly portray a model family for the time period. As her transformation take place, her decreasing care for the children becomes a way to emphasize her deviation from typical societal norms of the time period. One of the first instances of this is when Edna stops taking care the children a uses the time to paint and express herself instead.

# data[].attributes.body
In "The Awakening" Edna is in path to an awakening with no determined destination. Throughout the novel she is discovering her true identity and her true "role" in life. In the beginning she seems pretty custom to the desired "role" of being a Creole woman. Though over time she began to question it and that's where the clothes symbol come into play. Edna wanted something new for herself and as she got closer to her awakening she began to feel more pure and at peace, often revealing herself more and more. For instance, Edna is fully clothed in the beginning of the novel, but in the end as she set sail on her destined awakening, careless of what the outcome would be, she was more revealing. Therefore the continuous removal of her clothing is important because it shows her expression of individuality and freedom. It shows that Edna was determined to gain the piece of mind that she wanted even if she did not know where it would lead her to.

"How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! how delicious! She felt like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known." pg.189

# data[].attributes.body
In this scene Edna sees her true self through a dinner with her husband... “I'm going to get my dinner at the club. Good night.” He left. She was somewhat familiar with such scenes. They had often made her very unhappy. On a few previous occasions she had been completely deprived of any desire to finish her dinner. Sometimes she had gone into the kitchen to administer a tardy rebuke to the cook. Once she went to her room and studied the cookbook during an entire evening, finally writing out a menu for the week, which left her harassed with a feeling that, after all, she had accomplished no good that was worth the name. But that evening Edna finished her dinner alone, with forced deliberation. Her face was flushed and her eyes flamed with some inward fire that lighted them. After finishing her dinner she went to her room, having instructed the boy to tell any other callers that she was indisposed.¨ Her dinner in this scene symbolizes her feelings about the environment around her. By ¨forced deliberation¨ she finished her dinner, this is a part of Edna's awakening as she isn't affected by her husband yelling anymore she starts becoming her own person. The symbolization of the food is important to the text as a whole because this is when she begins the process of independence. Food is used to symbolize Edna's realization that she no longer has to please those around her and she isn't gonna listen to the demands of the time period.