A Way Out

Suicide: such an uncomfortable topic to discuss and such a controversial way of suffering. There are always the questions that are left unanswered, and that terrible mixture of painful feelings that forever remain above the deceased's memory. That unfortunate person is gone, but the family is left behind with a bone-crushing burden over their souls. After the person is gone, there's nothing you can do but wonder everything that was left unnoticed. You try to remember, and try to pinpoint any time in their life in which a single hint might have foreshadowed this catastrophe. Was the person happy? What could have caused him to reach such a point of utter desperation, which was enough to let go of the dearest gift one was granted from the moment we took that first breath of air into our newly shaped lungs? Then you encounter the most uncomfortable question of all, what could have been done to avoid it?

This gloomy pondering over suicide was incited by the last moments of Chopin's novella. As a reader, I am completely shocked at the end that was chosen for the story. Who knew Edna would reach that breaking point? As a keen observer of Edna's process of awakening, Chopin provided us with more than enough insight on Edna's disturbed thoughts and feelings. From the very start of the novel we were able to see into her mind, and understand the change that had been stewing up within her. However, I never imagined that Edna would wind up as suicidal. The interesting part, though, is that we can trace back and gather the information that might have been unnoticed at first, but might now explain how the process of becoming awake led to killing herself.

The most important reason to be analyzed is Edna's love for Robert. As had been mentioned before, Edna's awakening is deeply connected with her love for Robert. After a long odyssey of secrets and hidden intentions, they were both able to declare their love. However, without any explanation, except for the words "Good by--because I love you" (214), he left. Who knows why he left? Perhaps he felt guilty, or knew that their love could never be, so he preferred to avoid it. Maybe he too committed suicide (that is a dark thought there). However, that really isn't what's important. After all, she knew that one day "he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of her existence, leaving her alone" (212). Then, after all, Robert wasn't really the problem. In fact, none of the men in her life would be a problem to her at all, as she had decided that she would be nobody's to claim. She even told Robert that if he were to ask Mr. Pontellier for her, and he would miraculously yield her like if she was his possession she would laugh in their faces. She had declared herself free, and nobody would have any power over her. However, this powerful revolution is suddenly crushed down to earth when Adele's sick voice whispered to her "think of the children" (207). This terrible truth was a knockout for any of Edna's plans of freedom. How could she forget her children? Her two sons, small and defenseless, were the only barrier that Edna was not able to overcome. Could she live with herself, knowing that her rash actions of defiance would ruin the reputation of her children? After all, society's stern look would burn them, as everyone would know that their mother was a crazy woman who ran off with some guy, leaving her family to become an artist. Her children are the embodiment of her duties as a mother. Her soul was overpowered and overwhelmed by their mere presence, the established rule that she was condemned to follow. This is when she realizes that she will never be free. This alone was the reason that drove her to swim as far as she could go until her arms could swim no more, and the shore was too far behind her. Perhaps someone could have helped. A kind voice like Doctor Mandalet would have been able to drive her back to the path of obedience, but it was too late. She was already awake, and the truth of her eternal slavery was all too clear for her know.

As Edna slowly fades into her final fate, memories of her childhood come back to her. Perhaps these are recollections of moments in which she was still a young girl, with no boundaries or restrictions yet. This takes us back to the description of a memory in which she would walk through the blue grass of Kentucky, with no real motive settled. This may have been the time when she was closest to freedom. However, the image of an old dog chained to a tree is there, reminding her that the future was settled to chain her down to her duties as a woman, wife and mother. The memory of her father is also there, with the sound of cavalry boots which far back attempted to create a rebellion, which was also frowned upon by society. The last words of the passage are a memory of "the hum of bees and the musky odor of pinks filled the air" (214). This last image evokes the sense of nature, and those last moments of realization of death. It gives a sense of peace, as if there was no real reason to worry now, and as hard as it may seem to imagine, at last Edna is free.
In the end, as desperate as Edna seemed, and as irrational as killing herself might have been, Edna was able to set her soul free. She had declared that she would never sacrifice herself for her children, only the essential. This turned out to be precisely what she did. She was willing to give her life for them (apparently death was better than social disapproval), but she reserved her soul to her own freedom. It's still too sad that the only way she was able to finally be the only owner of herself was to take her own life.