While I was reading The Awakening, it became apparent to me that the moon holds great significance to our main protagonist, Edna. The symbolism of its appearance in the book is profound and plays a huge role in defining Edna’s character. It speaks to her ever-evolving personality and showcases how influential we are over our own lives. Yet the moon is not solely defined by Edna, but is also used to express a sense of feminism. The moon holds great significance with women as a whole, and how authoritative it is in terms of mythic power. It creates a connection between both Edna and the goddess Selene, and furthermore conveying the associated implications of that parallel. Like Edna and her new sense of meaning, the goddess is strong and commanding — as she is the goddess of the hunt. Simultaneously, with it being depicted several times throughout the novel, moonlight comes to signify Edna’s internal struggles and strifes. When she has moments of breakthrough, it is during the night. For example, on the night Edna learns to swim, the “white light of the moon had fallen upon the world like the mystery and the softness of sleep.” Another particular struggle being highlighted through her diluted concept of both romantic and sexual longing. As shown by the end of chapter 10, her strong, sexual feelings “the first-felt throbbing of desire,” are insinuated with the delicate and soft descriptions of “strips of moonlight.”