"...and the musky odor of pinks filled the air."(Chopin 157)

As we all mourn the loss of our protagonist, Edna Pontellier, we have to ask ourselves, the most basic questions. Why did Edna smell pink? What made her choose that exact moment to do it? Why did she even do it in the first place? What exactly was Kate Chopin intending to do with the death of Edna Pontellier? And why was it so fast? Only a mere paragraph was enough to kill Edna.

These questions may never be answered, but with a little research I was able to find some of the keys that may one day unlock what the ending of the story really meant, because I refuse to believe that Kate Chopin would just randomly kill off a character for effect, especially a main character who is the embodiment of everything Kate Chopin stands for.

The color of pink. A delicate color, representing femininity, tenderness, charm, but there is nothing feminine or charming about a cold, lifeless body forever lost on the ocean floor. I think Chopin used this as a sort of “death of gender-roles” type death. Edna would have never stood for anything less, and I doubt Chopin wouldn’t grant our favorite protagonist her final request. So in the end, I believe that pink was used for two purposes: the death of femininity and the irony of something so sweet being associated with something so terrible.

I found it odd that the death took place in the ocean, and I only have one theory why: mystery. It is argued as to what the ocean represents. In some pieces of literature, it is seen as god-like, some see it as danger, some as safety; some see beautiful sunsets and sunrises in it, while others see an ugly raging storm. I think the point of it was to obscure Edna’s death, to rest in peace forever. If her body was ever found, she would be buried in a dress, one day her coffin would be right by her husbands, her epitaph reading “here rests a mother and wife.” She would not want that. In the ocean, she is whoever she pleases, among sea creatures with no societal gender roles, they would not look upon her dead body with shame, but merely as a piece of the landscape. In the ocean, she would never be judged again, for the rest of eternity.

We may never know exactly the motives behind Edna Pontellier or Kate Chopin, but we now know one thing: they sure are good at making me spend like 2 and a half hours working on a final blog post over a single paragraph of writing. My hand is cramping.