Illustration #1
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/0/2/39028779/4773926.png?478)
This is a picture of the score of Frederic Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu. This is the piano piece that Mademoiselle Reisz played for Edna. I have played the piece before so I can fully understand what and how Edna was feeling as the music awakened passions unknown inside her. I chose this picture as it represents a crucial “awakening” of Edna’s, her first, in fact. (pg 26, ch 4)
illustration #2
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/0/2/39028779/1798048.png?413)
This illustration depicts the setting Edna was in as she slept in the hammock, waiting for her husband. When her husband requested that she join him inside and go to bed, she refused. She stayed in the hammock the entire night with a shawl. This is her first bout of resistance and noncompliance considering her husband’s wishes. (pg 31, ch 11)
ILLUSTRATION #3
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/0/2/39028779/5535683.png?461)
Because everyone is on vacation, a lot of their time is spent on the beach, walking, talking. In chapter ten, as she walks to the beach, she reaches an epiphany and has overconfidence as she attempts to swim. This is a another one of Edna’s crucial steps in her “awakening” process. This picture represents the general importance of location of the Grand Isle and the ocean. There is much symbolism surrounding the sea. (pg 27, ch 10)
ILLUSTRATION #4
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/0/2/39028779/2389324.png?480)
This is a depiction of Edna as she swims by herself for the first time. She feels overconfident and independent as she can know swim by herself. She wonders why she never did this before. She suddenly feels very cared and freaks out in the middle of the ocean. She swims back to shore fine though. This is represented of Edna’s physical awakening. Before this, she has always been her husband’s possession but now, at least physically, she is her own perosn and in charge of her own movements; she is free. (pg 27, ch 10)
ILLUSTRATION #5
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/0/2/39028779/3164931_orig.png)
This is a portrait of Mademoiselle Reisz. She is quite interesting looking and not in typical appearance of a lady in the 18th century. Madame Reisz shares a similar reputation as a rude, ill-tempered woman. This is an important picture as it represents Edna’s ideal. Through her awakening, Edna becomes an artist. Madame Reisz embodies the free, courageous, and obstinate spirit that Edna hopes to (but doesn’t) achieve. (pg 48, ch 16)
ILLUSTRATION #6
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/0/2/39028779/7214754.png?262)
This picture shows the cleaning that Edna and her maid went through as she moved into her new house. This is also the scene that greets Arobin as he enters the house, looking for Edna after a night of intimacy. This picture is important as it is indicative of Edna’s transfer to her own ‘pigeon house’, where she is no longer under the roof and monetary support of her husband Leonce. The young maid in the picture can be replaced with Edna in the scene when Arobin walks into her new home to visit her.(pg 84, ch 29)
illustration #7
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/0/2/39028779/9620237.png?426)
This image represents the going away party that Edna held at her old house. Everyone is dressed up very nicely, with good food and drink. Edna also gets annoyed by Victor’s singing at this stage and breaks a glass, thereby ending the party quite quickly. This is an important picture as it represent Edna’s transition in her life to her own person. (pg 24, ch 9)
ILLUSTRATION #8
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/0/2/39028779/9822539.png?321)
This is an image depicting Edna’s time at Mademoiselle Reisz’s house where she entertains herself by losing herself to the passions of music. Here, she also reads the love-sick letters that Robert writes. One day she receives a letter saying he is coming back. She reads the letter and ponders his intentions and her feelings while listening to Madame Reisz play Chopin. (pg 63, ch 21)
ILLUSTRATION #9
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/0/2/39028779/1416354924.png)
This is the image of Edna and Robert talking in a cafe after they had met over dinner a few days prior. Although the conversation is awkward and not as pleasant as before when there, the two are still tolerably in each other’s company. The image represents the struggle in their previously passionate relationship. (pg 101, ch 34)
ILLUSTRATION #10
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/0/2/39028779/1416354990.png)
This is the final scene depicting Edna’s departure from her sorrows and joys as she leaves everything behind for the peace of the sea. In the end, Edna realizes that to follow her ideals, and shun social conventions, she will mostly be alone from male affections. This suicide represents her failure in becoming truly independent. (pg 116, ch 39)