Edna's Rebellion

Back in New Orleans, Edna systematically dismantles her conventional life. She stops receiving visitors on her designated afternoon, neglects her domestic duties, moves out of her husband's house into a small cottage she rents herself, takes a lover, and begins painting seriously.

Her husband Leonce consults a doctor, assuming that Edna's independence must signal madness. The doctor, more perceptive, suspects she is in love but advises patience. In Edna's world, a woman asserting autonomy was filed under only two labels: morally corrupt or mentally ill.