Because the parrot continues to shriek, people move it away from their society, "[Mr. Farvial] insisted upon having the bird removed and consigned to regions of darkness" (23). Society wants to hide the bird in darkness, as it wants to do to Edna, in order to keep the bird from causing disruption. The bird, like Edna, is the only one "who possessed sufficient candor" to tell the truth about society, though it still chose to shut her out (23). Throughout Edna's imprisonment, birds reflect her actions and feelings, but while Edna is continuing to stay grounded, the birds take flight.
Once Edna begins to escape, however, the birds become important signs of her success and continue to foreshadow her actions. Upon hearing Mademoiselle Reisz play "Solitude", Edna envisions a free bird for the first time. She imagines "a man standing beside a desolate rock.with hopeless resignation as he looked toward a distant bird winging its flight away from him" (25). The appearance of a free bird provides an important sign of Edna's beginning freedom and success. Furthermore, the bird leaves a hopeless and resigned man as Edna leaves Mr. Pontellier. While Edna relates her love story to Mr. Pontellier and Doctor Mendelet, she begins to show her feeling of freedom by using a rising bird. She speaks of two lovers who could feel "the beating of the birds' wings, rising startled from among the reeds in the salt-water pools" (36). Like the bird, Edna begins to rise and break away from the chains of society. The bird's strength symbolizes the fact that Edna is succeeding in escaping and progressing toward happiness. Later, when Mademoiselle Reisz tells Edna that "the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings," she uses birds to forecast Edna's future and evaluate Edna's strength (83). In order to soar like a bird, Edna must be strong, and Mademoiselle Reisz realizes that she is not.
