The Awakening
I very much enjoyed this story, almost hard to believe that it was written in 1899! I can imagine that it was very shocking to read of a woman¡¯s sexual awakening. I found the opening imagery very interesting, could this beautiful bird in the cage symbolize Edna? Very interesting that in the opening lines Chopin is having a beautiful and caged creature telling satin to go away, to get out. And in French yet, the language of love. And a mocking bird on the other side of the door with his ¡°maddening persistence¡±. A mocking bird only repeats sounds --not words-- what does this represent? The Farival twins play a duet from ¡°Zampa¡± in which a lover dies in the sea not only in the opening scene but later in the story as well --Chopin likes to give us a glimpse of what is to happen later in the story.