Like the rest of Edna's character, her identity as a painter is not clear cut. She is neither a recreational artist like Madame Ratignolle, whose musicianship is another element of consummate domesticity, nor a serious artiste like Mademoiselle Reisz, who has a piano rather than a personal life. The progress Edna makes in her paintings and illustrations is more of an indication of her growth than a catalyst for it. Instead, it is music that engenders change in Edna, inciting her to experience great passions otherwise lacking in her daily life. In that sense, art does play a pivotal role in her emotional and personal awakening but Edna hardly represents the archetypal artist.
An evaluation of the role of music in Edna's life requires a comparison of her two friends, both musicians who play for her: Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz. Each woman represents a path Edna can take in pursuit of her art and her independence.
Edna always enjoyed listening to Madame Ratignolle play the piano; the pieces invoked certain mental images that represented the music's theme. Yet because Madame Ratignolle's played sentimental pieces in a rather mundane fashion, the images Edna envisioned were rather mundane, as well — a woman stroking a cat or children at play. When she hears Mademoiselle Reisz play, the powerful artistry of the performance causes her to experience viscerally the extraordinary passions of the piece rather than forming a sentimental image of those emotions. Once back in New Orleans, she comes to prefer Mademoiselle Reisz's violently emotion-provoking performances in the dingy apartment to Madame Ratignolle's domesticated performances at her fashionable soiree musicales. Madame Ratignolle plays it safe with her music and her emotions; Edna is ready to gamble with her emotions and her life.
