I just realized that in the end of "The Awakening," the main character kills herself. I never understood this because I think there was a glitch in my software which caused me to think the book had ended before it had, so I did not read the ending.
This obviously changes my whole attitude on the story - instead of finding liberation, Edna instead finds despair. I had previously thought that Edna had finally broken away from her misery, from being confined to her societal role, that of a homemaker. Perhaps the reason Edna was so miserable was because she was not supposed to be. She was married to a wealthy man, had two children and should have wanted for nothing. However, Edna didn't really love her husband, and had no interest making useless conversation with social elites for the sake of nothing but reputation. She found the whole practice of being a socialite futile. She was not even a mother, truly; someone else raised her children and she had no true purpose in life. One might say Edna had it all, that she had nothing to ask or want for, but being a woman who sought purpose, such idleness and meaninglessness brought her no joy.
Perhaps if she had needed to struggle to earn what she had, or fight for it, she would have been satisfied, but life was presented to her in such a way that she could not find fulfillment.
She tried painting, moving out, and finding love with someone who returned that love, but when that love left her, I suppose she had no more strength and found that death was the only escape.
It's a shame, because before I viewed her as inspiring, as she managed to break free from her societal role and live life for herself, but it seems loneliness overtook her and she could not find any way out.
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