A dainty death

Ultimately, The Awakening offers no tangible evidence that attests to Edna being a considerate person, which ultimately might have established her in some way as sympathetic, admirable, and perhaps some sort of heroine.  This book offers no shadow of an explanation for Edna’s behavior, some idea for the source of her pain, or her final decision to end her life.  I suppose it is up to the reader to see the silver lining of her heart of gold?

No.  Her suicide is the ultimate rebellion against the world because she couldn't get her way.

Keep in mind, this is somebody's mother--two young boys, in fact.  Does that make it alright that she abandoned young men, because they too will grow up to be oppressive?  Is that not sexist, and oppressive as well to assume that a man is incapable of learning of the patriarchal pressure women experience?  Or was Edna's suicide her "gift" of enlightenment to her boys?  All these arguments you could make on her behalf, to which I'd imagine she'd appreciate if she were around to hear them.  But the fact is, her suicidal gesture was the ultimate dismissal of all that women have worked to prove--that we are equal. 

I am not oblivious to the possibility that given the time which it was written, perhaps Edna’s whimsical resignation from the confines of Victorian aristocracy served as a great and inspiring fantasy among Chopin’s female audience.  Perhaps the gaping holes in the development of one of the most self-indulgent characters in literature were filled in by Victorian readers, who could have very quickly formed an intimate bond with Edna’s character.  Over a century stands between the modern reader and Edna Pontellier, and not even the most thorough history book can retrieve the lingering feelings shared among the people of a different era.  As far as the evidence I have as a reader, Edna Pontellier makes her thoughtless choices for one reason: she felt like it.