CHAPTER 39

Summary

Edna travels to Grand Isle on the pretense that she wants to rest there. Walking on the beach, she meets Victor and Mariequita, a pretty young Spanish girl, who delights in flirting with the men who holiday there. The pair is surprised to see Edna during the off-season. She arranges to lunch with them later.

The beach is empty and all she sees is a bird with a broken wing attempting to fly. She decides to undress and stands naked as the sea laps around her feet. She finds her bathing suit still hanging on its peg near the water, puts it on and walks out into the water. She begins to swim away from shore without any regrets having finally found freedom. As exhaustion takes over, her last thoughts are memories of her childhood and she succumbs to the ocean.

Interpretation

This scene was foreshadowed back in Chapter 6 where you will note the quotation, "The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude."

Edna's awakening has brought her solitude. No one in her immediate circle understands her true feelings, and why she has broken away from the bonds that have tied her down.

The reader may well ask, "Why commit suicide?" Like many good books, the reader is left to draw his own conclusions. Was it an act of cowardice or bravery? What was the motive?

Firstly, one has to decide whether Edna has achieved her goal of independence and freedom. The answer is yes, even though it was obtained through her death. She could not have remained alive and enjoyed the freedom that Mlle. Reisz enjoys because she would always have the bond with her children.

We note Ad'le's last words to Edna. She realizes that she would always be the object of gossip and disdain, and this would have harmed her children. This must therefore be considered as the main motive for her suicide.

What Edna did not anticipate when she embarked on this road to freedom was the solitude she would face at the end.

Robert, in some respects, was playing a part during the holiday vacation on Grand Isle where the social niceties were less formal. He is unable to break away from the tight New Orleans society and be with Edna. He is in fact quite shocked at Edna's show of independence, and we sense that he has some sympathy for L'once.

Although it is not made plain in the book whether he knows of the affair between Edna and Arobin, he clearly has his suspicions. This does not diminish his love for her, but it is not the same type of passion that Edna has for him. He perhaps justifies his withdrawal from his liaison with Edna with the fact that she is untrustworthy because of her growing independence. This too is another factor in Edna's suicide.

Robert is unable to go that last furlong and share a life of romance with her.

The book began with bird imagery and concludes with a similar reference to birds, "A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water."

You will recall Mlle. Reisz suggesting that the bird that tries to fly above the broad plain of convention must have strong wings. We now see that Edna does not have strong enough wings to escape the cage wherein her soul is trapped and her only freedom lies in the sea.