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Edna\'s complete awakening goes hand in hand with her suicide, yet she has experienced a gradual awakening throughout the novel. Her dreaming phase, which is the longest of the three phases, often intermingles with the awakening phase. The reader might think several times throughout the story that Edna has awakened, only to find out that she is not yet free. Edna herself does not even know whether she is free or not when she talks to Doctor Mandelet, saying:
Perhaps - no, I\'m not going. I\'m not going to be forced into things. I don\'t want to go abroad. I want to be let alone. Nobody has any right - except children, perhaps - and even then, it seems to me - or it did seem - ... (Awakening, 171)
Edna might be independent from her husband and social conventions, but she still cannot escape from her role as a mother. She feels that she cannot gain freedom, independence and individuality because she is a mother. Edna has once said to Mme. Ratignolle \'that she would give up the unessential, but she would never sacrifice herself for the children\' (Awakening, 175). She realizes that this is not possible in this society, and in order not to sacrifice herself, she has to commit suicide, and thus awaken.
Edna\'s awakening, which finally results in her suicide, is again reflected by various events and characters. Alcée Arobin is the male character who represents the phase of awakening, for he is the only man who does not have control over Edna. Their relationship means a sexual awakening for Edna, as the reader can see when Edna and Arobin kiss for the first time - \'It was the first kiss of her life to which her nature had really responded. It was a flaming torch that kindled desire\' (Awakening, 139). Edna is independent in her relationship to Alcée Arobin. She plays with him and is in control of him. They do what she pleases to do and they only meet when she wants to meet. Alcée has no intentions to marry Edna, therefore he is the only man who does not want to force her into the role of a conventional wife or \"mother-woman\".
Mademoiselle Reisz is the woman in the story who represents Edna\'s phase of awakening, as she is put in contrast to Adèle Ratignolle. Mademoiselle Reisz is not married and has no children, lives by herself and devotes her life to music. Whereas Mme. Ratignolle \'was keeping up her music on account of the children [...] because she and her husband considered it a means of brightening the home and making it attractive\' (Awakening, 69), Mademoiselle Reisz often declines to play for others. She refuses to be in company of others and makes little exceptions. She does not fit into the social conventions of that time and has quite a negative reputation, as the reader realizes when Alcée says that \'she\'s partially demented\' and that \'she\'s extremely disagreeable and unpleasant\' (Awakening, 138). The description, or rather the position of Mademoiselle Reisz shows \'the old patriarchal prejudice that rejects women without men as anomalies\' (Giorcelli, 138). Yet, Mademoiselle Reisz is the only one who understands Edna\'s conflict, even before Edna does. She realizes that Edna is a bird in a cage who needs to escape, and even \'felt [Edna\'s] shoulder blades, to see if [her] wings were strong\' (Awakening, 138). Even though Mademoiselle Reisz has achieved independence and individuality in this society, Edna cannot take a similar position in society, as she is married and has children. Edna only realizes that she is not content with her role as a wife and mother when it is too late. Mademoiselle Reisz has made her decision to be alone but independent earlier - she chose not to marry but has to live with her role as an \"outsider\", be it negative or positive.
The third, and most important symbol for Edna\'s awakening is her swimming and, finally, her drowning. She now is able to swim without fear and she can experience complete freedom, because she is not drawn back to the secure but restrictive life. When Edna removes all her clothes and swims far out, she \'did not look back now, but went on and on, thinking of the blue-grass meadow that she had traversed when she was a little child, believing that it had no beginning and no end\' (Awakening, 176). The same childhood memory comes to her mind which she has described earlier, when she has stepped from her sleeping into the dreaming phase. This memory symbolizes complete freedom: the meadow has no limits for Edna, just as the ocean has no restrictions. Edna overcomes her fear and realizes that she cannot swim back to the shore, because she does not want to give up her freedom and independence. Returning to the shore would mean sacrificing herself. Because Edna has awakened, there is no place for her in that society any more, except for a place that means self-sacrifice and suffering.
4 Conclusion
Hopefully this paper has made clear that Edna\'s awakening was not a sudden one, but rather a gradual awakening. Edna has developed in the course of the story. She started to question social codes and conventions because she realized that her position as a woman, wife and mother was a subordinate one. In contrast to the \"typical mother-woman\" of that time, she had the courage to disapprove of these social structures openly. For Edna it would have been much easier to accept her role and sacrifice her individuality in order to live a relatively decent life as \"Mr. Pontellier\'s wife\". But she rather chooses to stand up and find the way which is best for her - an unusual way for women of her time.
Edna is not awakened in the story, she awakens herself, step by step. She questions her role as a mother and wife, and also questions the \"supremacy\" of men. She starts expressing herself, thus provoking society. And finally, after a long phase of dreaming, she realizes that she can only achieve ultimate freedom by committing suicide, because society is not yet ready for a woman like her. Edna has to commit suicide because she could only live in this world if society as a whole would change.
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