The Awakening- Edna's "rebirth" -Julia Parzyck

In the beginning "The Awakening" Edna begins to go through a transformation from the Victorian Feminine Ideal to the "New Woman". At that time woman were supposed to be like Adele, who worshiped their husband and cared for their children, that was their job, and it was their only job. Edna however does not want to conform to this ideal and I felt I began to see the most significant change in her transformation in Chapter X and Chapter XI. In Chapter X Edna decides to go for a swim and feels this empowerment to keep swimming. She begins to "splash like a baby" which to me signified her "rebirth" and suddenly felt like her own person. However she does swim out too far and worries she will not have enough strength to make it back. I felt as if the water was her new world and the land was her old one and to survive in the new world she had to be an individual and use her own strength to make it back. After this new, empowered feeling Edna has she also sticks up to her Husband in the next chapter. In Chapter XI, Edna defies her husband by telling him she will stay outside and not go to bed. She can tell he is angry and has never defied him before. Leonce decides to stay up and I felt like it was a battle of who could stay up the longest. Sadly, Edna becomes to tired and heads to bed while Leonce stays out and smokes his cigar over his win. I believe these two chapters are where Edna finally begins to realize she can be independent and she can defy her husband, but she has to be strong enough to do so.