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19 Comments
Bernardo Sarti
7/3/2013 06:04:54 am
Yep... THAT ending! Valid warning, Ms. B. I'm not exactly sure if I love it or hate it. In a way the reader never knows what is really going on inside Edna's mind given the detached and ambiguous narration. I think it was a fitting ending in that it was completely liberating and Edna was finally being consumed by her Awakening. Just as the sea was where she began to free her body and soul, the sea and her become one as she dies. However, Edna does not dread death itself, she finds the touch of the sea "sensuous,enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace" (Chopin 156). She welcomes death as the final stage of her awakening, the last step in becoming resolutely free. The use of symbolism in the last few pages is also overwhelming. We can see that the bird going "down, down to the water" is a reflection of Edna's predicament (Chopin 156). Throughout the novel, Edna has been compared to birds and in her demise, a bird is also collapsing. Furthermore, an interesting dynamic in this final section was Edna and Robert's relationship. Even though they are trapped by Victorian costumes, they profess their love physically to the other. However, the major factor I believe causing Robert's abandonment was Edna's refusal to be objectified as she states "If he were to say 'Here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours', I should laugh at you both" (Chopin 146). Edna's freedom and independence ranks higher than her infatuation for Robert. In conclusion, this ending is prone to multiple interpretations, which I am eager to explore more deeply in class.
Bernardo Sarti
7/29/2013 01:45:23 pm
Title: Enveloped and Liberated by Death
Cecilia Pacheco
7/9/2013 06:26:35 pm
We can drown in dreams too! - Pgs. 139-157
Gabrielle Dutra
7/16/2013 11:35:11 pm
Pages 139-157
Gabrielle Dutra
7/16/2013 11:37:05 pm
The text cut again, here`s the rest:
Samantha Louise A. Cavalcanti
7/24/2013 04:07:18 am
Title: “The Sea’s Soothing Song of Solitude”
Maria Laura
7/31/2013 12:33:58 am
No body no proof
Heather Freeman
7/31/2013 07:12:25 am
I am forced to disagree with your ideas. I do not believe that Edna's death was completely random. This ending obviously has a meaning and the author seemed to slyly plan it out to lead to such a point. Instead of stating that she had reached the freedom that she wanted, I believe we first must try to understand why the author made the story end the way that it did. In chapter 39 when she states "How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! How delicious! “She felt like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known." The words awful and new-born already lean toward some sort of happening, and since the novel is approaching the end, it is obvious that this foreshadowing increases even more. Along with this, during the whole novel there are countless referenced to freedom, and as you questioned, and I answer now, the only path to complete peace is in fact death. The only absolute freedom that one has in life is in fact the freedom to kill themselves (although there are other influences on this).
Marcus Avena
7/29/2013 10:33:25 am
The Beauty of Surprises
Giulia Molinari
7/29/2013 03:34:56 pm
A Sea of Questions
Camila Rocha
7/30/2013 10:40:48 am
Giu,
Marcia Lagesse
7/29/2013 06:43:34 pm
Venus in birth and death
Júlia Fávero
7/30/2013 05:56:35 am
"Everlasting Flight"
Leandro Campos
7/31/2013 01:09:56 am
Chapters 35-39 - The Only Alternative
Justice Howard
7/31/2013 08:38:42 am
Blog entry #4: Chapters XXXV- XXXIX (35-the end)
Matheus Portela
7/31/2013 09:22:12 am
Freedom
Amaryllis Gounin
7/31/2013 10:44:50 am
“Last Encounter”
Elen Bianca Souza
7/31/2013 01:12:14 pm
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