Edna's True Identity In The Awakening

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“Initially Edna appears to grasp her relation as an individual to the world within and about her” (McConnell 41). Readers can assume from Chopin’s description of Edna that she maintained a, “keen awareness for the world of thoughts existing both inside her mind and expressed through words and actions to others,” (41) but as aforementioned, yet existed in a state of dual existence, meshing with the culture and tradition of her day outwardly while inwardly questioning almost everything, especially herself. So, did Edna truly know and act upon her true identity, and is it even possible to know one’s true identity? Mikaela McConnell quotes Peter Ramos’ description of identity in his essay entitled “Unbearable Realism: Freedom, Ethics, and Identity in The Awakening” as “a social construct, a practical fiction one inhabits, more or less intentionally and with a certain amount of will,” (Ramos 147) supporting her claim that a human arriving at his or her true identity is a myth because “people are constantly changing being in relationships with others” (43-44). Edna’s …show more content…

Edna is awakened to the fact that she has no lasting relationship with anyone in her life. Her friendships with women are surface level and not genuine and her relationship with Robert crumble with a note, “Good-by -- because I love you.” That note acted as the last straw for young Edna who was completely alone in the isolated world she created for herself, a saddening image. “[Her solitary swim] is clearly symbolized by the final episode in the book: her solitary swim far out into the emptiness of the Gulf” (Ringe 587). She stripped down, possibly symbolizing her complete surrender of all facades and schemes and went into the vast ocean. Whether she intended to take her own life or not is still debated, but one thing is for sure, she was trying to escape reality once again, but it cost her

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