The life down in Louisiana was difficult to say the least for Edna. Rather shy and quiet she preferred to keep her life private and away from others. The …show more content…
Creole way of living was polar to her understanding. The over sharing and daring curtness of the Creole women baffled and intrigued her (1260). Permanently groomed to stay meek and quiet she disliked the grandeur of it all on occasion calling even her wedding "too extravagant" (1295) no one around her could understand. As a result her mood began peaking from starry-eyed and full of life to confused and depressed (1299).
Edna was beginning to see what an outsider she was in this world, she longed for perfection, however she was never happy and began to drift apart even taking self gain over her children (1298).
Unable to adapt Edna was left at a cross roads; she could be miserable and accepted or different and possibly happy. Finally cracking under the pressure of who she was becoming and why she "Stamped her heel upon it[her engagement ring], striving to crush it" (1294). By destroying her ring she freed herself. No longer would she be ruled, no invisible force could stop her and casting aside for good her bonds to the burdens of life "She began to do as she liked and feel as she liked" (1297). Edna begins to see what these societal constraints mean and she hates it. Hates that she still cares what others think of her, hates that she relies on their judgment of herself and even her art. "I'm not going to be forced into doing things," Edna decides, for no one else but herself that she will not become the conventional woman; she will not settle on a life filled with conformity to please others; Edna would rather die …show more content…
(1340).
Edna's first swim that summer mirrors her situation in life as well as her preordained place in society as a woman. It also is a big step in coming into her own as an individual, and will ultimately drive her to decide the path she will take. The water seems dark and scary, uncharted and dangerous and she acts so "A certain ungovernable dread hung about her when in the water, unless there was a hand near by that might reach out and reassure her" (1274). some support to guide her through it. Not meant for bravery nor to take matters into her own hands; she is only wait for a “hand”, aka the support whether financially or socially of a man, to take the burden of life from her.
Until, she goes out alone and begins to swim, pushing the self-doubt and social constraints away much like swimming through the water "A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant importance had been given her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength, She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before" (1274). Here is where Edna begins to grow; she no longer needs people to help her through the dark water of her life. She sees the chains they bare and wants no part in it; because she knows she can make it even if it is on her own. This is of course, directly related to her shirking her duties as a wife and a partner in marriage. She did not want them! So, why not drift as far away as possible? Life is all about making choices and her not bringing anyone with her, or waiting for a friend to go out first shows that she does not need anyone. At least that is what she wants to believe, Edna forgets easily what friends and family can mean to a person thus acting selfishly. She forgets her time period and her status as a woman. She also forgets how lonely life as an independent is, though she is a private person, she still needs approval in her life.
Edna’s struggle to make herself happy and truly content with her place in society is the breaking point.
Feeling that she is her only friend and the only one that understands; in the end when she drifts too far away from everyone she drowns "The stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would have never been able to overcome" (1275). This is not only the physical boundary the water provides, but also the social and mental wall she has created among her friends and in her marriage. At this point Edna has done irreparable damage to her social status, to the idea others had of her, and to any approval she might have wanted. The water is scary again; It turns black once more and she begins to see how alone she truly is "I thought I should have perished out there alone" (1275). Edna is finally free and independent. Her children bring her little joy, marriage cast aside, social ties rendered useless by her actions; Edna has placed the stone in her pocket and begins to walk out into the deep. This was not her time, Louisiana in the 1800’s was never Edna’s home. Her obsession with becoming everything she imagined was just too unobtainable in the
flesh.
Edna failed to escape from convention in her time, but it was not due to the lack of a man or approval in her life. She knew she was not made for any of this. The distance was to great; the hour to late to patch up the holes or swim the distance back. What would she be returning to? Emotional un-fulfillment, and a society the would never accept her the way she came. The real Edna that did not need for the provincial life. Someone who yearned for more so she gave up because she was unhappy with her life she “made”; there was no going back. That is why she ultimately kills herself because in doing so she gives in but she also goes against convention because a normal woman would have conformed . For Edna quitting defied logic but stayed true to herself in the end, and awoke.