Edna's Solitude

It would appear as though once again Chopin has used birds to represent something within her novel. This time it seems to represent Edna’s desire to be independent of her husband and the Creole traditions. “When she heard it there came before her imagination the figure of a man standing beside a desolate on the seashore. He was naked. His attitude was one of hopeless resignation as he looked toward a distant bird winging its flight away from him.” (Chopin 34). This is the image in Edna’s head as she is listening to one of Mademoiselle Reisz’s songs being played. Edna knows the real name of the song but chose to call it “Solitude.” It seems to be that Edna wishes to be the bird and for her husband to be the man. She wishes to leave behind the culture she has been tied to and the one who tied her to it. Edna wishes to leave the man with nothing and move on to follow her own path in life. Edna’s only solitude would be in the fact of having her own independence.