In the beginning of the novel, the constrained parrot of the cottage that Edna and her family is staying in says,” Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi!”(9) Which translates to “Go away! Go away! For God’s sake! This parrot symbolizes Edna and her determination to break away the social restrains of women in the Victorian era. Edna’s husband, Léonce, is always unsatisfied with Edna’s treatment of their children. In addition, Léonce does not regard his wife as a partner in marriage but as a possession. When he notices that she is sunburned from the beach, he looks at her “as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage” (11) Léonce’s perception of his wife as property is common in the 1800’s of Louisiana society. At first, Edna acts as the typical Victorian woman who takes care of the house and its inhabitants. Robert, whom Edna will later have her affair with, asks Edna if she wants to go to the beach to swim. At first, Edna declines even though she wants to go with him. Later, Edna is “beginning to realize her position in the universe as human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her” (24). She decides to go to swim for the first time with Robert. Edna’s first swim resembles one of the most important steps in her process of transformation. It symbolizes her rebirth, sexual awakening, and self-discovery. After the swim, Edna has gained a new confidence in her own solitude.
Edna is gradually gaining her strength as an individual. Previously, she is afraid of standing up for herself and expressing her own thoughts of wanting independence but now she declares, “I would give up the unessential, I would give my money, I would give my life for my children, but I wouldn’t give myself” (70). After returning to New Orleans, Edna begins to allow this inner life to emerge and expand to the point that it also affects those that are around her. She occupies her time with painting rather then domestic chores that all motherly women do at that time. Her act of wanting to paint is something that symbolizes her motivation to express her own emotions. In fact, the Chopin tells the reader that Edna is “becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which appear to the world” (83). She also abandons her weekly routine of Tuesday receptions where she invites friends and families to dine at her house. Instead of doing these routines, she is always “moping around the house, and wandering the streets alone.”
Edna decides to move out of the house and decides to move into another house around the block. Her decision to move out of the house also shows that she is gaining strength by distancing herself from her husband’s possessive hold over her. Robert has now gone to Mexico for several days and Edna has no one to awaken with. Edna refuses to be treated or behave as a stereotypical Victorian woman. In her growing independence, she affirms that she will never again be the possession of another person and she abides by this statement in her affair with another person, Alcee. Just before the last and final act of resistance, Edna goes to the beach and removes all her garments in preparation for her last swim. She feels like “some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known” (160). She swims out into the water without a glance backward, and “swims where no women had swum before.”
In this realistic work of fiction, Edna starts out as the typical Victorian to someone who is filled with strength that leads her to the achievement of freedom. Edna’s final act of resistance which is committing suicide can be seen as her rebellious assertion of her own free will. Because Edna refuses to be controlled by her husband and to sacrifice herself, she bravely forfeits her life for the sake of maintaining her truthfulness and independent lifestyle. By drowning herself, she ensures that her last act is a self-determined one.
