Awakening Post #3

Ending? Could you have predicted it? Does it make sense? Is it satisfying?

The Awakening ends with Edna returning to Grand Isle for some extended solitary time. Once there she bumps into Victor Lebrun and she is pleasant towards him and asks him to arrange a place for her to sleep and for a meal. She then strolls down to the ocean and, instead of swimming in a bathing suit, she opts to swim naked. As Edna swims out into the ocean she goes as far as she had ever gone, and didn’t stop there. Eventually she became too tired to continue and she gave into her exhaustion. The book never directly states her death but instead references her exhaustion and how she was giving up. Her death can make sense as she had been growing bolder and she simply overestimated her abilities when getting into the water. The ending is far from satisfying as it only leaves more questions and doesn’t answer anything. We never get to know how Robert responded to the news of Edna’s death.  It isn’t known if Leonce was crestfallen or if he simply decided to pick a new wife. It is never made clear if Edna’s awakening had any real impact on anything or anyone at all. All that is learned from the ending of the book is that Edna is not a strong swimmer and that she is dead because of that fact.