Chapter VI calls the sea's voice “seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring.” At this point, the image primarily makes Edna's inward turn feel:

“The voice of the sea speaks to the soul” and its touch is “sensuous.” What does the pairing of voice and touch accomplish?

After Edna's first swim, “exultation” makes her feel power to control “her body and her soul.” How does the sea's symbolism shift here?

When Edna wants “to swim far out, where no woman had swum before,” the hyperbole does more than describe distance. It:

In Chapter XXXIX, “foamy wavelets” coil “like serpents” around Edna's ankles. What does that image do to the sea at the end?

The novel returns Edna to the Gulf after first making the sea the voice of awakening. That structure primarily:

The novel opens with a caged parrot repeating “Allez vous-en!” What does this bird image mark before Edna's plot begins?

The parrot and mockingbird both hang near the doorway at Grand Isle. What does their placement do?

Mademoiselle Reisz says the bird that would soar above “tradition and prejudice” needs “strong wings,” then feels Edna's shoulder blades. The gesture makes the metaphor:

Reisz warns that weak birds return “bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth.” What does this warning add to the flight image?

Edna's small new home is nicknamed the “pigeon house.” In the bird pattern, the name suggests:

At the final swim, “a bird with a broken wing” reels and circles “down, down to the water.” How does this answer the earlier soaring metaphor?

In Chapter IX, Edna sees “no pictures” while Reisz plays; “the very passions themselves” are aroused. Set against polite parlor music, this marks music as:

A piece Madame Ratignolle plays, which Edna calls "Solitude," makes her picture a naked man on a desolate shore watching a distant bird fly away. How does this image connect to the novel?

“The very first chords” from Reisz's piano send “a keen tremor” down Edna's spine. What does that bodily reaction reveal?

When Reisz plays after sharing news of Robert, music occupies the space where direct declaration is missing. What does that placement do?

Which limitation of ordinary conversation does Reisz's piano expose?

Early at Grand Isle, Edna gives Léonce her rings before the beach and resumes them afterward. In the adornment motif, the rings primarily:

Léonce looks at Edna “as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage.” What does this do to the body motif?

At the shore, Edna casts off “the unpleasant, pricking garments” and stands naked “for the first time.” Read as the last move in the clothing motif, the sentence:

At Edna's farewell dinner, her staged richness and “regal” pose complicate the clothing motif by showing that costume can:

Chapter VI says the sea invites the soul “to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude.” Which reading does this quoted symbol NOT support?

Given Reisz's “strong wings” warning and the final broken-wing bird, which reading does the bird pattern NOT support?

Reisz's music arouses “the very passions themselves” instead of pictures. Which reading does this detail NOT support?

The final removal of “unpleasant, pricking garments” culminates the clothing motif. Which reading does that detail NOT support?