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It would be easy to say that Edna Pontellier emulates both Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, however, throughout the novel, it is evident that Edna steps out beyond this assumption and asserts herself as another person altogether. This is obvious in the defining features of each of the women. Madame Ratignolle, for example, is always represented in a very flamboyant nature and is usually associated with clothes, whereas, Mademoiselle Reisz, in contrast, has no relation …

…to say she hated it. So, all in all, Edna Pontellier presents herself as one singular self with no predilection to one woman or another. It is sad that she could not deal with the awakening of her soul, that she could not be one of the few to “emerge from such a beginning [of an awakening].” It is very unfortunate that Edna’s soul was one of those “souls [that] perish in its tumult.”