The Awakening by Kate Chopin

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…buried guilt that would never fully disappear. Her Awakening begins when she realizes hat she is no longer fearful of the water. So very possibly, her ending her physical life by wading and drowning in the water is simply the last and final step of the awakening process. She was naked. Are we not naked when we are born? Edna was reborn in her final defiant step in her long journey to her final awakening.