In Toni Morrison novel, Beloved , the author creates a mother-daughter relationship in which the mother Sethe, out of love, murders her daughter Beloved to free and protect her from the harshness of slavery. Because of this, the baby ghost of her deceased daughter haunts her conscience and is later resurrected to further torment Sethe about her act of love. From the time she slits the throat of her infant daughter and until the end of the novel, we are associated with the justifications of Sethe’s actions and become understanding of Morrison’s use of this conflict to recreate history in relaying the harshness of slavery in this time period.
The sources of this intricate mother-daughter relationship spurt from Sethe’s undying love for her children, a love so strong that causes her to kill her two-year old daughter and in turn for Beloved to haunt her with a “powerful spell” that parallels the powerful love Sethe has for her (4). The complexity of this conflict heightens when the reader takes i…
symbolaw Symbols and Symbolism – Birds as a Symbol in The Awakening
Birds as the Symbol of Bondage and Freedom in The Awakening
Birds that are enclosed in cages indicate solitude and bondage; those that roam in the open air above the seas represent freedom and happiness. The captivity or freedom of these animals is the symbolism that Chopin uses to illustrate the captivity Edna experiences from society and the freedom she desires. Through this vivid bird imagery in her novel The Awakening, Chopin elucidates the struggle and freedom Edna encounters.
From the beginning of the novel, the author supplies bird imagery to represent captivity and solitude. The “green and yellow parrot, which h[angs] in a cage outside the door [of Madame Lebrun’s home], ke[eps] repeating over and over: ‘Allez vous-en,’ [come in]” (43). The pleas of the parrot parallel with those of Edna, a desire for communication. She longs for a companion to whom she can pour her heart and soul into, without being reminded of the restrictions and cares of Victorian society; a relationship that she did not have with her husband, but with Robert. Though E…