Some critics view Ednas suicide at the end of the novel as a failure to complete her escape from convention an inability to defy society. Others view her suicide as a final awakening a show of strength and independence that defie

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Some critics view Edna’s suicide at the end of the novel as a failure to complete her escape from convention – an inability to defy society. Others view her suicide as a final awakening – a show of strength and independence that defies social expectation. Which interpretation do you find more compelling, and why? Throughout detailed discussion of “The Awakening”, explore the outcome of this novel and compare it with the outcome of Jane Eyre.

While reading the book “the awakening”, you can interpret Edna’s suicide in many ways, ranging from her lack of emotional and sexual desires too how the society appeared to look down on her. Either way she is the main protagonist throughout, and in time you feel you get to know her character, often sympathising with her, as the narrator makes it clear, by frequently showing the support of Edna.

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I think that Edna’s suicide was a final awakening, to show her strength and independence. She was a respectable women of the late 1800’s who finally awoke to the understanding that her life hadn’t been spent the way she had wished it to be, then finally acknowledges her sexual desires and also has the courage to act on them. Some people may not see what she’s done as strength, because in ways she’s representing selfishness by almost disregarding her “role” in the household, as a mother and as a wife. In the 1800’s, women had strict rules to abide ...

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