This has always read as optimistic to me. In the first half, she's trying to be more of what he wants (when he said he liked the clothes I wore, I became a tailor), while in the second half her actions are chosen independently, with no real thought as to what he thinks.
"When he said he was leaving, I took up the violin" seems like a very positive sentiment to me. She's free now, "who am I" meaning, essentially, "now that I don't have to please this man, what am I able to be?" She is a whole person, and recounts it as she moves forward into an autonomous life.
This has always read as optimistic to me. In the first half, she's trying to be more of what he wants (when he said he liked the clothes I wore, I became a tailor), while in the second half her actions are chosen independently, with no real thought as to what he thinks.
"When he said he was leaving, I took up the violin" seems like a very positive sentiment to me. She's free now, "who am I" meaning, essentially, "now that I don't have to please this man, what am I able to be?" She is a whole person, and recounts it as she moves forward into an autonomous life.