The powerful final scene of Kate Chopin's The Awakening provides a fitting end to Edna's long struggle between waiting and desire. Edna's traditional role as wife and mother prevents her from realizing her wish to be a free woman. The sea and birds in the novel are symbols of freedom in Edna's mind, and she embraces them willingly. Through the change of these two major symbols, we can conclude that Edna's death was a suicide motivated by despair. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The symbol of the ocean plays a pivotal role in Edna's awakening. Perceived very early as a “seductive” voice which “invite[s] the soul to wander for a moment in the abysses of solitude; getting lost in the labyrinths of inner contemplation,” the sea and its unlimited potential lead Edna into deep reflection on her life (25). Despite her infatuation with the ocean, Edna is unable to swim at the beginning of the novel. After Edna begins her awakening by growing closer to Robert and hearing the music that speaks to her soul, she is suddenly able to swim. This new ability is a sign that Edna is separating herself from the bound life she despises. Before Edna started spending time with Robert, she was simply going through the motions of life. She obeyed her husband and behaved like a devoted wife. But when she knows how to swim, she begins to explore the infinite limits of the sea. Edna's first step into the sea symbolizes her first step away from a life of conformity. Edna's first encounter with the sea produces interesting results. When she dives into the sea for the first time, she is overcome by a feeling of freedom that she has never felt before: "She wanted to swim far away, where no woman had swum before" (47) . However, as Edna swims, she realizes that she has gone too far and is overcome by "a rapid vision of death" (48). This scene makes it clear that although Edna has begun to change, she is still not ready to completely separate from her traditional role. The second major symbol in the novel is the bird, a colorful, caged parrot introduced in the opening scene. The parrot “could speak a little Spanish, and also a language that no one understood” (5). This parrot could easily be seen as Edna before she woke up. Edna has ideas about freedom that neither she nor anyone else understands, just as the parrot cannot be understood. The similarities become more evident when Léonce reacts to the parrot: he simply leaves the room when he becomes fed up with the parrot's words. One of Edna's main complaints is that her husband views her as a traditional woman who must care for his children and meet their needs. Léonce makes no effort to understand either the parrot or his wife; his habit of leaving the room when he tires of the parrot also suggests that he would reject Edna if she tried to explain things to him. The second mention of a bird in the novel comes when the adults of the complex are sitting in a room and listening. to Mademoiselle Reisz playing the piano. Edna thinks back to the time when Madame Ratignolle played her a song on the piano. The song, which Edna spontaneously named Solitude, evokes a unique image of a man standing next to a rock by the sea. The man was naked and watching a bird fly above the sea. endless ocean. This image in Edna's mind once again attaches the bird to herself. The bird symbolizes Edna moving away from her husband and children and living a life of freedom. After Edna's stay at the resort, she soon returns home to the city and takes a break.