In many of the stories read today, symbolism is used to give the story or specific characters a special or hidden meaning. One of the most popular items used as a symbol are animals. Because they alive and have some ability to have feelings, they give a more interesting perspective towards the situation they are being used for. In both Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" and Mary Freeman's "The New England Nun", birds and dogs are used as a symbol of wanting to be free. As you will see these two animals symbolize the importance of these two characters to be free.
             "The Awakening" opens with the sounds of a parrot squawking in a cage from outside the house. He was accomplishing nothing more but disrupting the atmosphere around him. At a first impression the parrot's bold demeanor creates an image of eccentricity. His spirited exclamations give him the impression of being defiant and intelligent, something most people would not expect from this type of bird. Edna is portrayed in the same light. She deviates the norm just like the parrot does. Edna does not conform to the typical image of women in her society by not fulfilling the roles of a mother and wife. The squawking caged parrot is symbolic of Edna rebelling against the norms that society has set forth for her.
             The parrot represents another situation symbolic of Edna and this is during his interaction with a mockingbird. "He could speak a little Spanish, and also a language which nobody understood, unless it was the mocking-bird that hung on the other side of the door, whistling his fluty notes out upon the breeze with maddening persistence" (Chopin 468). The parrot, which represents Edna, is being taunted by the mockingbird, which represents freedom and independence. The little mockingbird flies around the door to the parrots caged singing songs of freedom letting him know that the only thing t
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