Edna as a mother

Throughout the novel, Edna expresses that while she does have children, she doesn't identify herself by them. She remarks with wonder at how Adele so easily takes on the role of mother, completely devoting herself to her children. Edna does not hate her children, but she refuses to let them define her as a person. She has to be her own person, in whatever way that may be. Throughout the time the novel encompasses, Edna's identity changes, evolving through many different things : wife, lover, artist. She even leaves her home in order to play out this search for herself, leaving her husband and children behind. I believe that by saying "I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself," Edna is telling the readers that even though she loves her children, she does not find her identity in them. She is also telling the readers her priorities: her identity, her children, her life. If she cannot be herself and decide her own identity, she would rather die. She sets herself apart from other mothers in this rearranging of priorities.