Read the excerpt from chapter 32 of the awakening. the pigeon house her. it at once assumed the intimate character of a home, while she herself invested it with a charm which it reflected like a warm glow. there was with her a feeling of having descended in the social scale, with a corresponding sense of having risen in the spiritual. every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual. she began to look with her own eyes; to see and to apprehend the deeper undercurrents of life. no longer was she content to "feed upon opinion" when her own soul had invited her. how does edna’s move into the pigeon house reflect her changing priorities?

Answer and explanation:

"The Awakening" is a book by author Kate Chopin. The main character is a wealthy woman, Edna, who's married and has two children. The story begins in the late 1800's with Edna still attached to her marriage and social conventions. As she meets and gets involved with different people, dormant feelings come back to the surface and she begins to awake. Edna realizes she can free herself from social and moral obligations, and she can go ahead to pursue her own happiness.

In the excerpt we are studying here, Edna's pursuit of independence from her husband leads her to moving to a smaller house, the pigeon house. Such move is indeed an exterior reflection of her new inner beliefs. Since she is now less and less worried about living up to society's expectations of her, living in a big, rich house is no longer a priority or even a necessity. As she sheds these moral layers, she becomes wiser. The house may be smaller, simpler, but it allows her to be free in spirit. It represents her new priorities in life:

There was with her a feeling of having descended in the social scale, with a corresponding sense of having risen in the spiritual. Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual.