Finding one’s self and realizing the error of the old ways is core to Edna’s story. This search for herself and who she is are similar to Pygmalion and A Doll’s House as both those stories also involve rivaling the power that be and subverting them. Edna eventually comes to the same conclusion as them all to “never again belong to another than herself”(P.85). This path she sets herself on to find love and meaning are timeless questions that conclude in a vast sea of despair at her finding no meaningful propose in the world. Her last hope was her love for Robert and her children, but on the realization that those would not last forever, she said, “There was no human being whom she wanted near her except Robert, and she even realized that the day would come when he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of her existence, leaving her alone.” (P.136) This is sad to me Edna having so little to live for and finding no meaning is disheartening and with no feasible solution, especially after all she tried to do fix it is tragic.
Discovering one’s self-identity is a thing everyone goes through it is something to be considered throughout life but is especially important in the stage of life I am in now as the decision I make now and who I am or want to be now will have an impact on the next decade of my life. At this stage in my life, I am gaining some of the anatomy that Edna is only experiencing for the first time, even thought she is 26. I still have limitations, but those are rapidly fading away and, within a matter of years, disappearing completely. Edna does not have this freedom and comes to the realization that there is no place in the world for her.
The similarities between The dolls House, Pygmalion, and Awakening are very much alike all three feature oppressed women who are seen more as objects than people and men who care more for how the world and their societies see them. All the women eventually leave due to similar circumstances. Edna can’t find a meaningful place in the world and a meaningful self-identity, so she drowns herself, leaving her children and husband, who cared for her well-being. Nora doesn’t know who she is and leaves to try and find out after realizing the world is not how she thought, leaving her children and caring husband. The story is the same with Eliza she leaves to go and find herself and not be molded by the ideas of others. These similarities to me seem like beating a dead horse. They are all different but come back to the same point of self-identity and unfulfillment in life and breaking free of that trend.