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Women In The Storm By Kate Chopin

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Women have always been given guidelines to follow and if they are not followed they are judged by others, this still holds true today;8 however they have a bit more leeway. In the late 1800’s, there was no leeway at all, there was a set of virtues women must follow to be seen as the ideal woman. In the short story, “The Storm,” written by Kate Chopin, she uses symbolism and repetition to show that woman can still be an individual outside of the virtues they are assigned to follow and live up to, to argue that the reality set in place for them was not the only reality they had to live, they could be themselves as well. These cardinal virtues being, “piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity” (Welter,57). Are coming from, Welter’s, “The Cult of True Womanhood.” If these cardinal virtues were not withheld the woman would be looked down upon by society and shunned for her actions. Chopin makes her argument to show that even with these specific guidelines set on them, they have the choice to be an individual within a society that judges women solely on a system of virtues. Chopin uses symbolism very vividly throughout the entire story, she does this by using a storm to symbolize the affair that is happening at the same time. This statement was far too bold for the time she wrote it in 1989, she held off to publish this story till 1969 because her ideas were far too complex for society during her time. Her depiction of the affair was almost idealistic and it was as
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