The Awakening Critical Essay

1. Robert Treu writes an essay in the spring of 2000 to discuss Edna's death. True says that the ending of the novel, The Awakening, has many different meanings.  Is it really a suicide or an accidental over estimate of her swimming abilities?
2. The novel ended with a cliff hanger.  All the readers can do is guess what will happen to the children and Edna's husband. The novel never straight forward told if Edna's death was a suicide.  It hinted suicide because the novel said Edna gave up.  This could mean that she could no longer tread water anymore and drowned.  Edna necessarily did not set out to the sea with intentions of death.  She could have just over estimated her swimming ability. There was another theory in the essay that explained the whole incident symbolically. The sea was supposed to represent reality. Edna kept swimming to escape from her reality; she wanted to leave her family behind. The sea can also represent rebirth. The sea gives Edna a new life.  This could mean that Edna did not die but escaped from her present life style and was reborn; Hence the title, The Awakening.
3. I feel this argument was poorly presented.  There was way too many words that just made the essay drag out.  The author should have been straighter forward to get to his point. The author also used too much outside references instead of using the novel to support his thesis.
4. I agree with the Robert Treu's idea of the sea giving rebirth to Edna. This would explain the reason for giving the novel the title of The Awakening.  Edna only wanted to escape her current life of responsibilities and commitment.