Edna Surrenders her soul before Nature

"Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi!," the parrot repeated over and over again because it realized that it was in a cage, locked up and therefore, wanted to be free. Similarly, Edna's behavior at the end of the novel wasn’t a cop out rather it was a self realization, a realization that she was defeated by the society because of her inability to hold onto her beliefs. She realized that she can't live a life according to the standards of the society she was in; a mother and wife who cares for her children and husband. This is what Madame Reiz was implying to when she said, "The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth"(138). She was trying to tell Edna that in order for her to be free as a free bird, then she needs to hold strong to her belief, no matter how much the society might oust her or criticize her. If she fails to stay strong, then she will fail before and be suppressed by society. Therefore, the ending illustrates her failure to hold on strongly to her belief when she decides to commit suicide. "A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water"(175), this quote clearly illustrates the "sad spectacle" Madame Reiz was talking about earlier in the novel. Therefore, the "bird with the broken wing" represents Edna and her inability to continue her life in a society that doesn't accept her beliefs and denies her the right to be free. Several times in the novel, Chopin uses birds to illustrate Edna's condition. Edna symbolizes the birds that are described in the novel: "green and yellow parrot" that is locked up in a cage, the pigeon house she decides to live in and the bird that beats its wing in the air. I think the author uses a bird in order to illustrate Edna's nature as similar to a free bird but at the same time, a bird that is trapped, hurt and struggling. According to her, one of the reasons she was trapped was due to her children:
"The children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul's slavery for the rest of her days."
She believed that the children are one of the reason that she couldn't be free and that her obligation towards them made her a slave. Even though she said she wouldn't give her soul for her children, after Madame Rat. told her to "remember the children" she realized that she had to love them, but she still didn't want to give up herself for them. This was one of the reasons she killed herself, so that she wouldn't have to be locked up due to her obligation towards her children. Therefore, it was a self realization that caused her to commit suicide because she realized that she wasn't free. Leonce was another reason she believed she wasn't free because her marriage forced her to live a life in the society has a Pontellier, which meant she had to live in a mansion and be a maternal women who cared for her husband and children only. She had to embrace the culture of the Creoles. However, she was a women who lived in the wrong place at the wrong time because she had no desire to exhibit any of that. Nevertheless, she committed the suicide because she realized that there was no one in the world who she could trust "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"(175). In the end it said that, "...for the first time in her life she stood naked in the open air, at the mercy of the sun...the waves that invited her"(175). This illustrates that she can only be free in one place and that is before nature. That is why she decided to express her freedom before nature. However, I still wonder? If she was determined to never give up her soul to anyone, then why did she give it up to nature? Her committing suicide by drowning in the water and standing before the sun naked is surrendering her soul before nature. Does it mean that nature was the only thing she was willing to give up her soul to? However, all these are self realizations she experienced before she died, therefore, it wasn't because she wanted to cop out but rather self realization is what powered her to accept defeat before nature and surrender her soul to nature.