Edna’s final moments on the beach at the end of novel evidence her broken self-reliance and inability to feel free from society. “A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water” (176). The image of the bird alludes to Edna “beating” against societal expectations with a “broken” ability to escape the encompassing “waters” of society. Direct allusion to Edna’s battle against society through the image of the seagle serves to show Edna’s inability to obtain her desired freedom. The question of Edna’s freedom is brought up at her death. Chopin makes it unclear as to weather Edna’s death acts as a final sense of freedom. However, Edna’s final thoughts home remembering, “her father’s
