Let the Emotions Spill In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess “That outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions.” In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is a character who outwardly conforms while question inwardly. Prynne is humiliated and is publicly shamed by wearing the scarlet letter upon her bosom for seven years by everyone.
Calixta is ambitious and attempts to gain her momentary freedom by her own actions, where as Louise Mallard obtains her short-lived freedom only by accident, when she learns of her husband’s death. The consequences for the characters differ also. Louise Mallard is so disappointed that her husband is alive and that she will not obtain the freedom she has been longing for that she dies from a heart attack. In contrast, the only consequences for Calixta, being as she didn’t get caught is the guilt for her actions that lives in her conscious.
Calixta is not the only one who felt the overwhelming feeling of pure happiness, Alcee also experienced it. Therefore, when Alcee writes a letter to his wife he uses love and tender words. Chopin writes, “Alcee Laballiere wrote to his wife, Clarisse, that night. It was a loving letter, full of tender solicitude” (353). In other words, the same night after Alcee met with Calixta he wrote to his wife a loving letter.
Essay 3 Unfulfilling Marriage The Storm written by Kate Chopin takes place on a stormy day, with a cyclone approaching. Calixta sat upon a sewing table diligently sewing while her husband Bobinot and son Bibi went to the Friedhelmers store. Bobinot watched as the storm and using his conceses Bobinot decided to stay at the store to keep out of the storms path. Back at the home, Calixta was rushing to prepare for the storm, Alcee a towns man, came riding up asking for shelter until the cyclone passed.
Desiree says good-bye to Armand and goes to the deserted field with her child and never came back. Armand was burning all of Desiree’s and the child’s materials into the bonfire. Then he found some letters from Desiree, but one was from his mother to his father, the letter said that she was grateful that Armand would never find out his mother was of slave heritage (Chopin). In “Desiree’s Baby, “ Kate Chopin uses imagery, foreshadowing and allusion to develop the ominos, mystery and sad story.
She also says that the bed of Calixta is the color white and is enormous. Chopin also states that Bibi’s bed sits right beside Calixta's. She also states that the atmosphere in the room was cozy, and sexual? Although the setting of the story is clarified, it does not capture the intimacy of the
To the untrained eye, a story could be viewed one-dimensionally; a tale might only appeal to emotion while logic is left out in the cold. Equally, logic may be forgotten while emotion is heavily focused on. However, through the use of Critical Lenses, readers can begin to see greater depth in literature. As readers find connections through Critical Lenses, they become more educated on various topics, more aware of social, political, and even logical abstractions. Instead of failing to retain the intent and content of the material, they even can remember details of stories more vividly when truly examining literature rather than reading it once for entertainment (or chore).
This is where the film and “The Storm” differ greatly. Once Calixta’s family returned home safely, she bombarded Bobint with questions about their well-being and “kiss[ed] him(Bibi) effusively”(Chopin, 6). Calixta showed genuine happiness when her family arrived, something Francesca had not done. In “The Myth of the Latin Woman”, she talks more about her culture than family. However, there is a part in the story where she shouts out her family and thanks them for giving her a chance at an educated life style.
At first, she is oblivious to the storm and trouble it may bring. However, once she first speaks to Alcee, she is startled, and becomes nervous. As the story progresses and she and Alcee go inside to escape the storm, she “ nervously began to gather up from the floor the lengths of cotton sheet which she had been sewing” (14) this shows her recognition of the dangers present. When a bolt of lightning strikes the chinaberry tree, she is startled, but “Alcee’s arm encircled her, and for an instant drew her close” (20). This short embrace reminds Calixta of the time before her marriage to Bobinot.
Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” centers around a woman called Calixta; who has a sexual encounter with a former lover in midst of a storm. The storm centers on lost love and being in unwanted marriages. The raging storm outside the house unfolds simultaneously with the emotional and sexual passion between Calixta and Alcée. Throughout the story, Chopin inverts gender roles, specifically in terms of sexuality. Chopin presents that women should experience desire and act on it, just as men have been allowed to do
During the era in which this short story was written, southern authors had a major influence on the way the culture was going to grow with racism, and also the way people loved each other. Kate Chopin, a traditional author who believed in southern ways, exemplifies how race and the characteristics of conditional love played a role in her story. In “Desiree’s Baby,” the author, Kate Chopin, provides an illustration of conditional love exemplified by the character, Armand, towards his wife and child; furthermore, Chopin provides instances of irony, elements of surprise, foreshadowing, and symbolism to prove that Armand’s love for both of them was not the unconditional love typically felt and portrayed by women, such as Desiree, during this era. Throughout the story, the readers notice different times where Chopin uses elements of surprise. One major surprise is when Armand opens the letter from his mother and finds out that he has African American in his bloodline.
The mere presence of sexual desire in Calixta is a feminist statement itself, as sex was considered out of a woman’s metaknowledge, which is shown as the storm passes by. The thunderstorm is used to illustrate the time span of the sexual encounter between Calixta and Alcee. For example, Calixta’s hesitant behavior ends as the first lightning strikes, her sexual desire grows as the storms roars while progressing and the two depart as the storm ends. Chopin paints sensual images in our minds as she describes the experience along with Calixta’s honesty of enjoying it, making a feminist statement again. Chopin boldly reveals the truths about sexual relationships, targeting those not in a sacred marriage and empowers women to appreciate their bodies and
Her characteristics can be described differently before and after various turning points in the short story. Since Desiree is the centerpiece of Chopin’s literary work, it is obvious that she must develop in some way to make the story what it
Themes in “The Storm” Kate Chopin was an American author that wrote many stories that are based in Louisiana. She bases most of her work on women’s movement of the nineteenth century. One of Chopin’s prevalent stories called “The Storm”, focuses on the expectation of women’s marriage in the 1800’s. This story demonstrates numerous significant elements that give the reader a sense of what is going on throughout the story.
The first theme that Kate Chopin provides an image of is patience. One way Chopin show’s patience in her writing is through her usage of comparing Maman-Nainaine to Babette. When she says, “Maman-Nainaine was as patient as the statue of La Madone, and Babette as restless as a hummingbird,” Kate Chopin is providing a visual image of what patience looks like, and how Babette’s character is at an impatient point in her maturity (26). Also, this image contrasts the impatience of youth with the desireable patience that comes with time. Another way Chopin represents Babette’s patience in the story is through time perception.
