he frequents races and parties. Edna evengoes to the extreme of moving out of the husbandshome. Edna stays married because divorce wasunheard of in that day and time. She wants to marryRobert, but he will not because it will disgraceher to leave her husband. Now, the wings that onceheld such possibilities for her new life wereshattered and "a bird with a broken wing wasbeating the air above, reeling, fluttering,circling, disabled down, down to the water."In the end Edna takes a death walk down to thebeach. When she arrives at the shore, she "caststhe unpleasant pricking garments from her." Thissymbolizing the shedding of her "unpleasant" and"pricking" life. She could hear the waves invitingher, and "She felt like a new-born creature,opening its eyes in a familiar world that it hadnever known." (p.558) As Edna swims towardseternity she thinks of many things. Now the shorewas far behind and her strength was gone, not onlyto swim, but live. Edna underwent an "awakening"and as a result chose the endless sleep of death....
