Edna Pontellier's Transformation

The main character of the book The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, transforms in a notable way in the course of the book. As the book progresses she changes from a respectable wife of the time to a woman who rebels against the society and its values. There are numerous events and factors in the book that affect Edna’s mental state before her final swim.

The main conflict of the book is individual versus society. Chopin states early on that Edna is an outsider in the society because she is not a creole, unlike the other significant characters in the book. Edna’s mindset and views are also remarkably different from the people around her and thus she does not truly belong to the society. In the very beginning Edna does not rebel against the society

The most significant form of rebellion for her is her affairs. Edna falls in love with Robert and the affair between these two characters has a substantial emotional component in it (“Why?" asked her companion. "Why do you love him when you ought not to?" pg. 121). Edna also has an affair with Alcee Arobin when Robert leaves to Mexico, but this affair is solely a physical one and Edna does not feel an emotional connection with Arobin (“It was the first kiss of her life to which her nature had really responded. It was a flaming torch that kindled desire.” pg. 123). These two affairs that Edna has in the book are the most significant forms of rebellion for her because they enable her to defy her husband and furthermore the social

If the reader interprets that Edna commits suicide, her actions can be seen as a form of final rebellion against the society and the reader can conclude that her death was intended to be her final defiance. Another interpretation that can be made is that she drowns because she is not strong enough against the forces of the sea. Both of these interpretations can be supported by evidence and neither one of them seems to be wrong. The most accurate interpretation, though, is a combination of both of the aforementioned interpretations. Edna goes to the sea in an attempt to test her strength and limits. For Edna, swimming means independence and the sea symbolises freedom, hence in the final scene she tests if she truly can be independent. She acknowledges that swimming far away has its risks and knows that death is a probable outcome. The forces of the sea, that are a metaphor for the forces of the society, are too strong compared to her and she drowns. Edna’s last swim is also a final form of rebellion and defiance from her part. Before she drowns she thinks about what Mademoiselle Reisz said which supports the argument that Edna goes to swim for her last defiance (“How Mademoiselle Reisz...dares and defies” pg. 173). She does not fit into the society and she does not want to be part of it anymore, thus she sees losing to the forces of the sea as a