"She remembered the night she swam far out, and recalled the terror that seized her at the fear of being unable to regain the shore. She did not look back now, but went on and on, thinking of the bluegrass meadow that she had traversed when a little child, believing that it had no beginning and no end." (625)
Chopin's Edna lets go in the end of "The Awakening," and as she sheds her clothes, she sheds her life as well, swimming towards the ocean, never looking behind, until it becomes too late, and she is gone. Was it suicide? Was this intentional? One wonders as they watch Edna give herself willingly to the waves, weighted down with her emotions and her many disappointments with life. I'd like to argue that Edna did this quite unthinkingly. When she shed her clothes and stepped into the water, she wasn't thinking that these were her last few moments alive. Instead, as she realizes that her strength is gone and she has no hope of turning back, she lets go- stops the every day fight, stops the thinking, the actions- and just...is.
Of course she realizes she is dying. Like in the "Owl Creek" story by Bierce, all of Edna's senses become quite acute as she exists in her final moments. She smells "musty pinks," and hears the sound of an old dog's chain on shore, clanking away. Her thoughts drift to her children, to Robert, to her life....and with her last final breaths she experiences her true "Awakening." In this moment, she chooses her path, her destiny, and she abandons all ideas and expectations of what is "right." Edna embraces herself, she claims herself, and then, just as beautifully, gives herself away.
Wikipedia examines these last moments with this quote: "Unable to resist the lure of the water, she strips nude and swims out as far as she can and, having exhausted herself, it seems, drowns. Most readers interpret this final passage as suicide - the final shedding of constraints foisted upon her by society." While I may not agree, I can see why one would think this way. This is why Chopin was a genius- she paints a story and urges us to be its interpreters. She never spells anything out for us, or holds our hand as we muddle our way through- instead, she allows us to hold up the microscope and pull what we can from her words. It makes her work an experience to be remembered...and enjoyed over and over again.
20/20 Or to hold up the mirror?
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