The Only Ending for Edna in The Awakening Lena Crisp

In her novel, The Awakening, Kate Chopin shows Edna Pontelliers confrontations with society, her imprisonment in marriage and Ednas exploration of her own sexuality. Chopin also portrays Edna as a rebel, who after her experiences at Grand Isle wants to live a full and a free life and not to follow the rules of society. Ednas life ends in her suicide, but her death does not come as a surprise. Chopin foreshadows Ednas death by the use of nature and Ednas connection to it; also by the use of symbols, especially the symbolic meaning of a bird; and by the use of many different characters in the novel, such as Robert Lebrun, Mademoiselle Reisz and Madame Ratignolle.

Edna is a very romantic character, who turns to nature for comfort. She "seeks herself" in nature (508). But her surroundings are not comforting to her. She hears voices "from the darkness and the sky above and the stars" that are "not soothing"; the voices "jeered and sounded mournful notes without promise, devoid even of hope" (508). Edna wants to feel the embrace of nature upon her but instead she doesnt feel "uplifted" and hears a "mournful lullaby"(471). This gloomy presentation of nature foreshadows the...