The Role Of Edna Pontellier's Suicide In The Awakening

In The Awakening, written by Kate Chopin, there is an astounded amount of controversy over the ending, in which the main character, Edna Pontellier “awakens” and decides to take her life into an abyss of water. Many believe her action was in response to her unfulfilling life. Others argue that her courage to escape the tragedies of her life was a heroic idea. In agreement with the last argument, Edna was victorious in her decision to escape the tragic implications that faced her in every aspect of her life. In Edna’s “awakening” to free herself, these actions are what make her decision noble and victorious. Edna was noble and victorious due to her courage to escape, her strong role in encouraging feministic views during this time period, and

One can argue that suicide is an act of selfishness, but for Edna, this was the first step in initiating a re-birth as woman in a culture in favor of only the male kind. “Edna could exist only in a female role of limitation. In death, she symbolically enters the realm of nature as she wades into 'the sea', and becomes enfolded in its vast space of innumerable waves. Heroically, Edna escapes oppressive ideology, but tragically, does so only in death”(Bai). In response to Bai, Edna’s death is a tragic decision, but her desire to escape this false concept of men supremacy is heroic. Edna is a pioneer in the thought of women being able to carry themselves as individuals of success with no limitation. She was determined, and had an outlook on her decision as a detrimental resolution to her suffering in this fallacious society. “But if writing helps us to re-map our place in the universe, tracing the histories and contexts of texts like The Awakening reconfirms that promise of ever larger meanings”(Ewell, Menke). In this statement one can realize not only the importance of the novel, but the belief in why Edna’s actions at the end of the book are not only courageous, but also noble and victorious. Ewell and Menke agree in the decision that to leave a mark in history, drastic measures may have to be taken. Edna Pontellier swims to her freedom, and creates a bridge for respected feminist views, as well as the importance of women in this Creole