Throughout the course of the narrative, Edna is faced with opposition that should not exist. Her yearning for a broader life is not a crime, yet wanting that level of freedom ultimately cannot be met and she takes her own life. Society, principally during the time period that the book takes place in, was unjust in its expectations for its individuals, especially women. To be perceived as an object of possession, to be expected to care for children that are not solely their obligation, and to have to sit underneath the position of their fathers, husbands, brothers, friends in order to meet society’s presumptions is incredibly damaging to one’s own image. The mental strain of being a human ornament is insane.
Edna’s awakening should not have been an awakening — it should have been a way of life that she was allowed to choose right from the start. She was damned to an untimely demise the moment she realized that her current situation was not one she wanted, but was thrust into by generations of misogynistic ideology. She does not become dissatisfied with her life, but rather realizes that she had been dissatisfied all along.