Analysis

After finishing the novel, I realized that Edna, though probably a worthy figure in early feminist literature, was still a very weak character. I was still on her side, not only because she’s the protagonist but because she was certainly more likeable or at least more interesting than most of the characters in her inner circle. However, she was not a character I completely respected. Robert’s departure, correspondence with Madame Reisz and mention of her, and his return were all events that were able to completely shift Edna’s mood from depressed to ecstatic, hopeless to hopeful. She was extraordinarily capricious, a word that was used to describe her at one point by another character, when it came to her feelings for her husband and children, who she sometimes cared for and sometimes didn’t. It was almost as if she was trying to convince herself that she didn't care about her children at all when she truly did. She fell for Arobin’s womanizing tricks despite convincing herself that she was the one in charge of that relationship. She went through her awakening, but her life continued to revolve around men, their moods, and their actions, and she allowed it to be that way. Even in this world of literary fiction, the protagonist was not allowed a chance to reach a solution that did not call for her end, and she was partly to blame.