“that night she was like a little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who of a sudden realizes its power and walks for the first time alone...She could have shouted for joy. She did shout for joy, as...she lifted her body to the surface of the water. / A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before.” (908) / Edna Pontellier's euphoria at learning to swim pinpoints the conceptual, and feminist, dimensions of Chopin's complex metaphor of a turn-of-the-century woman's 'awakening' to her ability to 'control the working of her body and soul'. Compared as it is to a toddler's first independent walk - a first step in the development towards adulthood - Edna's midnight swim is much more than a victory of physical coordination. It establishes her sense of self-ownership, physical, mental and spiritual, which in turn triggers two fundamental insights that determine her progression from disengaged wife to autonomous subject: in control of her body, she becomes aware of its potential for pleasure and learns to claim her right to self-determination. The novel begins with Mr Pontellier's assertion of his ownership rights: his act of 'looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property' poignantly reminds her of the wedding ring she gave into his safe-keeping when she went for her seabath (882). It ends with the newly born New Woman Edna's declaration of economic and sexual independence: 'I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose' (992). Edna's proclamation of rights is the equivalent of Chopin's claim to independence in her choice of subject matter, as is the desire to venture 'where no woman had swum before'.