Edna Pontellier's Suicide In The Awakening

Often in literature, ambiguity is used to prompt multiple interpretations of a text. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the obscure ending opens opportunity for diverse perspectives on Edna Pontellier’s death. Throughout the novel, Edna struggles with self identity in the patriarchal society of the early 1900s. In her attempt to find herself and develop individuality, she ultimately ends up committing suicide through drowning. While the motives behind this are vague, the loose ending reveals how she may not be the sole cause of her own suicide. In order to portray the holistic theme of discovering self-automony, the intentions behind Edna’s suicide could be left ambiguous to put the fault of her death not on her own self, but on society. Edna’s

However, the conformity of society leads to her suicide because it holds her back from finding her true identity. As Edna listens to Madammoiselle Reisz play the piano, “the very passions themselves were aroused within her soul, swaying it, lashing it, as the waves daily beat upon her splendid body” (Chopin 23). Because the society she lives in is so rarely met with the opportunity for woman to express themselves, this unique experience of listening to her friend’s music leaves Edna in awe. This is the first instance where Edna experiences a need to develop her own identity. However, because of societies strictness and conformity, she is unable to fully integrate into her individual self, leaving her with no choice but to commit suicide in the end. The loose intent behind the suicide emphasizes that it wasn’t Edna’s own decision completely, but instead it was the fact that she was living in a society that didn’t allow her to develop an identity that ultimately led her to her

As Edna swims into the ocean, “the voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude” (Chopin 12). The ocean is Edna’s only form of escape from the society that doesn’t allow her to experience freedom. Because she is living in such a male dominated world, swimming out to see is her final expression of autonomy, as her death is the one thing she feels she has complete control over. Therefore, the ending of The Awakening, is obscure in order to emphasize that Edna’s deathis not a result of her own desire to commit suicide, but as a response to the confromity of the world she is living