which she would accept her duties “like a man”, at least as far as their character development (Bogard, np). “Edna will choose neither of these alternatives, and that is precisely the point of the book.”(Bogard, np).The ending, as stated earlier, can also be viewed as Edna’s triumph in the sense that she “returns to the gulf to recapture the sense of freedom that exhilarated her by signaling her independence when...she learned to swim.”(Eichelberger, np) earlier in the novel. As she swims out away from shore, Edna, like the bird with the broken wing, steadily loses her strength. At this point she is well aware of being “flawed by her own mortality” (Eichelberger, np). Memories of her early childhood as well as that of Lonce and the children appear in sudden chapters through her mind, but to no avail. “Assuming the role of the courageous soul, one who dares and defies, she indicates no desire to return or to be rescued” (Eichelberger, np). Realizing that the freedom and happiness she so desperately desired had made her endeavors in vain due to its unavailability as a mortal brings to light her final phase of her awakening (Eichelberger, np).How the setting of the entire novel delivers an array of moods in which the reader is never allowed to wander away far from the water’s edge. “The way the scene, mood, action, and character are fused reminds one not so much of literature as an impressionist painting, of a Renoir with much of the sweetness missing.”(Eble, np). According to Kenneth Eble:It is not surprising that the sensuous quality of the book...[by incidents and symbolic implications]...would have offended contemporary reviewers. What convinced many critics of the indecency of the ending...[was] that the author obviously sympathized with Mrs. Pontellier. More than that, the readers probably found that she aroused their own sympathies....(np)In the c...
