The Awakening of Chopin’s Caged Bird
Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, truly clicked with the poem of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou because I realized ‘the why’ of Chopin’s caged bird songs after reading the novel:
A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
In the novel by Chopin, the caged bird was Edna while society was her cage. She dipped her wings in infidelity and infidelity was her illusion of the ocean. Edna was confused and not sure of what she was searching for throughout the events in the novel. Her search was evident in her interactions with the other characters. In the end, she realized what she was missing was not only her freedom but also herself. It was no longer enough to live in an illusion of freedom and sing of it, Edna decides to taste freedom and take the leap. Edna searched and her search led her to nature which was the original call for freedom and the self that she could not realize among the loud noises of society’s conformity.
Robert was as confused as Edna, but he did not have the curse of the awakening befall him so he stayed shackled into society’s conformity. It can be arguable that all characters at the time were caged birds of the making of society, each in their way. However, those who were cursed with the awakening at such a time were the unlucky ones because being lost in a maze where everyone else is lost and realizing you’re in a maze does not exactly get you to the exit. In the end, I believe it was society’s antagonistic stigma against nature that had such characters in a dilemma.
