The Awakening Close Reading: Impromptu; the Key to Understanding Edna's Awakening Main Menu Introduction Introduction of the Close Reading Impromptu and Edna's awakening Birds and the Impromptu Conclusion Works Cited

Life is an Impromptu

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              Edna finds herself oscillating between liberating herself and falling back to conventional ways, as she goes through the process of awakening. In the end, however, Edna chooses to do without “love” after realizing that Robert would just become another Leonce in the end. Acknowledging this, she felt like an empty shell. Feeling empty, Edna's heart was broken, her soul was discouraged, and she realized that she won't be able to fully discover love and life within the framework of the Victorian era, and thus chose death over a life she cannot fully live.

              Edna’s choice of death over life, however, was also an impromptu. In the Final Chapter of the novel, Edna tells Victor that she is hungry before going out to the ocean, which can be understood that at that very moment she is still planning on coming back home. Consequently, Edna’s decision to remain in the ocean for the rest of her life can be considered as a spontaneous choice she makes as she experiences the euphoria of being naked and embraced by the ocean. Eventually, Edna's life itself was an impromptu.

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  1. Impromptu; the Key to Understanding Edna’s Awakening Jungin Lee

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