SAY

The problem lay

buried, unspoken, for
many years in the minds
of American women. It
was a strange stirring,
a sense of
dissatisfaction, a
yearning that women
suffered in the middle
of the twentieth
century in the United
States. Each suburban
wife struggled with it
alone. As she made the
beds, shopped for
groceries, matched
slipcover material, ate
peanut butter
sandwiches with her
children, chauffeured
Cub Scouts and
Brownies, lay beside
her husband at night
she was afraid to ask
even of herself the
silent question is this
all?
But that night she
was like the little
tottering, stumbling,
clutching child, who of
a sudden realizes its
powers, and walks for
the first time alone,
boldly and with
overconfidence (47).

MEAN
The author is saying
that women feel
unsatisfied with their
lives. A womans daily
tasks are mundane and
make her feel bored.
Women wish that there
was more to their life
than simply abiding by a
routine.

MATTER
The mundane tasks
make women feel
unhappy. They might
feel that they are not
achieving anything
concrete. They are not
living for themselves;
instead they are living
for their husbands and
their children. It is
important to note this
because women may
feel that their lives do
not belong to them.
Society places norms
that we all have to
follow, but sometimes
what society says is
right might feel wrong
to us.

It was Ednas first time

swimming on her own
so she was nervous and
scared. Soon though
she overcame her fears
and begins to feel
more confident.

The author uses

figurative language as
she describes Ednas
first swim as a kind of
rebirth. This is
important because it
shows the beginning of
Ednas awakening. She
beings to recognize
feelings that were
once foreign to her.

She wanted to swim

far out, where no
woman had swum

Edna felt happy to be

able to finally swim on
her own so she wanted

This quote shows

Ednas newfound
courage. It is a

before (47).

Another time she

would have gone in at
his request. She
would, through habit,
have yielded to his
desire; not with any
sense of submission or
obedience to his
compelling wishes, but
unthinkingly, as we
walk, move, sit, stand,
go through the daily
treadmill of the life
which has been
portioned out to us
(52).
Edna began to feel
like one who awakens
gradually out of a
dream, a delicious,
grotesque, impossible
dream, to feel again
the realities pressing
into her soul (53).

to prove her strength

by swimming far out.

metaphor for Ednas

defiance of societal
norms. Victorian
women had many
restrictions, and in
that sense, Edna
wanted to break those
restrictions.
Here, the author is
The fact that Edna
saying that Edna once
refused to comply with
was complacent to her her husbands demands
husbands wishes. She shows that Ednas will
wasnt complacent
is growing stronger.
because she wanted to She no longer wants to
or because she liked to remain silent; she
be but because it was
wants her feelings and
out of habit for her.
thoughts heard. Her
Obeying her husband
sense of independence
was just second nature is tested here by
like it is to walk, move, standing up to her
sit, or stand.
husband for the first
time in their marriage.
It is a great leap in her
awakening.
This quote is saying
that Ednas feelings
are beginning to
change. It was as if her
feelings before her
first swim were only
part of a dream and
not reality. The
feelings she is
acquiring after her
swim are expressing
what is in her soul.

This is important
because it shows that
Edna is finally
awakening to her real
feelings and not those
feelings that society
says she must have.
Her repressed
emotions are finally
beginning to emerge.