Reader Response to The Awakening I really enjoyed this story, almost hard to believe it was written in 1899! I imagine it was very shocking to read about a woman's sexual awakening. I found the opening images very interesting, could this beautiful bird in the cage symbolize Edna? Very interesting, in the first lines Chopin presents a beautiful creature in a cage telling Satin to go away, to come out. And in French again, the language of love. And a mockingbird on the other side of the door with its maddening insistence. A mockingbird only repeats sounds, not words. What does this represent? The Farival twins play a Zampa duet in which a lover dies in the sea, not only in the opening scene but also later in the story - Chopin likes to give us a glimpse of what is going to happen later in the story. 'history. I found this footnote very interesting because the last time I read the story I didn't know what Zampa was talking about – there was no such footnote. And what's wrong with the woman in black who constantly follows young lovers and says the rosary? I couldn't help but think that perhaps she was saying more prayers for Edna and Robert than for the two she follows. The imagery of the sea is everywhere, and always seems to challenge Edna, is it the Spirit of the Gulf that she ends up joining? One of the interesting things I found was the symbolism of Edna learning to swim. This had occurred to me when I first read the article, as I felt it was symbolic of his dawning sense of freedom, his awakening, and then his fear. that she has because of this. Her learning to swim was a symbol of her empowerment. Was it fear of her own power that caused the panic she felt, if only for a second (p. 68) when she felt like she had swum too far? When I read the text, I thought of the references to moonlight as illuminating what she was beginning to feel about Robert as she watched his figure move in and out of the strips of moonlight - this was occurs twice at the end of chapter ten. This is symbolic of Edna's struggle with the concept of romantic love versus sexual love. Is that why his silhouette moves in and out of the strips of moonlight? It's almost as if Chopin translated this struggle into a single line and repeated that line for emphasis..!