The Awakening was Kate Chopin's masterpiece, describing a wealthy businessman's wife-Edna's confusion, awakening, pursuit, and suffocation of self-awareness in the South of America in the late 19th century. With the method of close reading in new criticism, this paper reinterprets Edna's awakening process. Her awakening process is accompanied by the symbolic image of "bird", representing women's situation in the patriarchal society and carrying Edna's hope for freedom, love, and self-realization. The application of bird's symbolic image reflects Kate Chopin's compassion for women in the patriarchal society, making the novel more appealing with its profound humanitarian connotations.
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