Assumption, Irony And Love In Kate Chopin’s The Storm

In this short story the meaning of the title symbolizes the former lovers Calixta and Alcée affair with one another. The title has an important job by bringing/driving the two into one another’s arms and giving them the time and space to take part in an extramarital entanglement before everything outside returns back to normal. As a thunderstorm creates uproar and conceivably some harm/decimation to things, Chopin propose that this love affair is just as extreme as a storm (which eventually passes). Throughout this short story the authors use of different literary elements such as symbolism and irony really help with understanding Calixta and Alcée relationship, along with the themes of Love (romantic) and Alienation/Otherness (gender/feminism).

Symbolism is clear when Assumption is referenced in the story. This is an unassuming community where Calixta and Alcée got together and shared kisses some-time within the past. That information can also be considered explicit and implicit in light of the fact that its expressed that they didn’t surrender to their sexual wants previously, which infers they never really had intercourse there. The name Assumption has a specific meaning that helps the reader to remember the blamelessness of virginity and celibacy/chastity. Rather than taking part in sexual relations in a spot related with virginity, the spot Calixta and Alcée finally perfect their expressions of love for one another is in Calixta’s home. Nonetheless, it’s the memory of their time together in Assumption that matters/has meaning. That moment was the start of an increasingly develop special interval between them.

Verbal Irony and Dramatic Irony is utilized in this short story. Alluding back to the town Assumption, verbal irony is used. Alcée entertained the thought on whether or not Calixta could recall the memory of what occurred between them in the past (“The Storm” 1898, p. 4, part II). As referenced in the previous paragraph nothing sexual occurred between the two because they were both able to control those desires at the time. The incoherency here is that Alcée is making a profane assumption or an uncertain belief that him and Calixta will need to rekindle similar feelings they displayed for each other years ago (which later comes true). The following instance of verbal irony is when Calixta expresses her concerns aloud over the security of her husband (Bobinot) and son 4-year-old Bibi out in the weather. Subsequent to hearing her Alcée at that point responds by saying, ‘Let us hope, Calixta, that Bobinôt’s got sense enough to come in out of a cyclone’ (“The Storm” 1898, p. 1, part II). His startling reaction is the thing that strikingly prompts the current enticement. Last but not least dramatic irony comes into play towards the end of the story where Alcée sends a letter to his wife encouraging her not to spare a moment to stay in Biloxi with the children for one more month since that would be ideal (“The Storm” 1898, p. 6, part IV). She expresses her feelings as, ‘her first free breath since her marriage,’ that ‘seemed to restore the pleasant liberty of her maiden days’ (“The Storm” 1898, p. 7, part V). The irony here is that Clarisse is appreciating the chance of being far away from her husband (as he is of her) and she’s enjoying her “alone time” so-to-speak.

Next is the theme of Love (romantic). “Romantic love is distinct from other, non-romantic forms of love (e.g., familial love, spiritual love), from other social bonds (e.g., friendships), and from mere sexual desire (Berscheid 2010; Diamond 2004; Hendrick and Hendrick 1992)” (Mende, et al. 2019). According to Mende, et al. all will not respond to “romantic love in the same way” (2019). “Rather, a person’s attachment style determines distinct beliefs about the course of romantic love, including differences in how people think, feel, and behave in romantic relationships (Hazan and Shaver 1987)” (Mende, et al. 2019). Mende et al. mentions “romantic consumption evokes the concept of romantic love and its accompanying romantic thoughts and feelings” (2019).

Last but not least is the information on the theme Alienation/Otherness (gender). By acknowledging female sexuality in ‘The Storm’, Chopin challenges controls on society and presents that women have a state in their sexual wants/needs. One of the things that “feminism explores, is the thoughts on sexuality as a domain of exploration” (Squires and Kemp). At the point when women’s very own wants/needs were not tended to nor accompanied by their lovers, Calixta’s character fills in as an exhibition of the women of the time allotment. Chopin likewise fundamentally impacts ladies by clarifying that when fulfilled, their inward wants will die down. Exactly like how ‘ the storm passed and every-one was happy’ (“The Storm” 1898, p. 7, part V).

In summary, Kate Chopin’s short story “The Storm” brings the meaning of the story to life so to speak with the author’s use of literary devices and specific themes. With Chopin being a feminist writer, the theme Alienation/Otherness comes across with a powerful meaning. She basically renegotiated women’s roles. Making the bold statement that women are/can be far more than wives/mothers’ and they have a right to express their sexual need/desires.

Works Cited

  1. Chopin, Kate. “Kate Chopin (1850-1904) The Storm (1898).” Lonestar, www.lonestar.edu/departments/english/chopin_storm.pdf.
  2. Mende, Martin, et al. “The Marketing of Love: How Attachment Styles Affect Romantic Conception Journey.” Galileo, Mar. 2019, eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxygsu-ecor.galileo.usg.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=789e4ebb-0cba-41e3-b206-dd94c50d50f3@sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ==#AN=135411924&db=bth.
  3. Squires, Judith, and Sandra Kemp. “Feminisms.” Galileo, 1998, eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxygsu-ecor.galileo.usg.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=efebfda8-80d9-4b09-9dd0-6af76fbea5bd@pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ==#db=nlebk&AN=12335.

Depiction Of Local Color In The Fiction Of Bret Harte, Thomas Nelson Page And Kate Chopin

Thomas Nelson Page, Bret Harte and Kate Chopin used local color in their stories through the presentation of the features and peculiarities of a particular locality and its inhabitants in writing and the usage of it makes their stories more interesting and exciting for the readers.

Thomas Nelson Page was an American novelist who excel in the themes of slavery and racism. His works behooves any race-realist today who reads him and understands him. The story took place during the Civil War and it was speculated that if Lincoln became the president, he will put an end to slavery, “If he is elected, it means the end of slavery.” The Red Rock also reflects the local color through the description of locality as has been described in the very beginning of this book: “THE old Gray plantation, Red Rock, lay at the highest part of the rich rolling country, before it rose too abruptly in the wooded foothills of the blue mountains away to the westward.” This description gives us a clear picture of the area where the story happened.

Bret Harte is another author who vividly used the elements of local color in his works, such as Yellow Dog. In my point of view, the general idea of the story is the discrimination of people on the hands of other people’s greed, where he takes a yellow dos as a representative of victims in the Old West mines of America. The author. In several parts of the story he precisely illustrates the stereotype and shows a rude attitude of the community towards a yellow dog, as it can be seen in a citation from his story, “Men who habitually spoke of a “YELLOW bird,” a “YELLOW-hammer,” a “YELLOW leaf,” always alluded to him as a “YALLER dog.”

The final author Kate Chopin in her work illustrates racism and slavery. The main hero is a Desiree and her husband Armand, who disowned their baby after realizing that their baby’s skin color is dark. This shows the rudimentary ideology of the French settlers. But once when Armand gets to know that his mother was black he was devastated and he had already done the biggest mistake of his life, and he is not able to change it. And here is the letter of Armand’s mother which shows him his reality, ‘Night and day, I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.’

To sum up, we can say that Bret Harte, Thomas Nelson Page and Kate Chopin in their books have presented the local color in an admirable way. They have used the elements of local color such us dialect, manners, description of the landscape, believes and much more for making their story clearer, understandable and authentic for the readers.

Kate Chopin: Way Of Life And The Story Of An Hour

Kate Chopin published her short story “The Story of an Hour”, on December 6, 1894 (Koloski 2019). The story revolves around the character, Louise Mallard, who feels repressed by her marriage to Brently Mallard. She learns that her husband has died because of the railroad disaster, and she feels as if freedom from her marriage was within her grasp, only to find out he was alive. Then, she dies, ironically, at the end. The setting of the story takes place in England in the late 19th century. During the Victorian era, women were expected to desire marriage and becoming a mother, so it is no wonder that Louise felt an overwhelming sense of freedom when she learns of her husband’s death (Hughes 2014). I believe that Kate Chopin’s character, Louise Mallard, embodies her desire for freedom and individualism from a society restricted belief of how married women should behave in marriage.

The short story starts off with the death of Brently Mallard, Louise’s husband, and how her sister, Josephine, and Brently’s friend, Richard, tries to break the news to Louise gently because she had heart trouble, symbolizes problems of love in her marriage. When Mrs. Mallard learns of the news, she requested to go up to her room alone. In the room, she sat down on the chair and began to sob in grief, at first, but then realizes she will live the rest of her life entirely to herself, as she whispered under her breath, “free, free, free!” (Page 570). Louise drank in the “very elixir of life through that open window”, and the “open window” represents new opportunities that are now available to her, and the “elixir of life” symbolizes Louise’s rebirth into a favorable new life (Page 570). She then descends down the stairs triumphantly like the Goddess of Victory and this can be regarded as obtaining freedom with her husband’s “supposed” death (Page 570). But the victorious feeling soon evaporated the moment her eyes landed on her husband, standing alive near the door. In the end, she had died, according to the doctor, from a “joy that kills” (Page 570). The last three words are ironic because Louise died from extreme disappointment, not joy, from witnessing her husband alive when she was so close to grasping the idea of being “free, body and soul.” (Page 570).

Throughout the majority of the short story, Louise Mallard was referred only as Mrs. Mallard or “she”, and the only time her first name, Louise, was used is when her sister, Josephine, calls out to her near the end. A reason for this is because married women were seen as the husband’s property, so they had to take on their last name (Holliman 2015). While Josephine was Louise’s sister and fellow women, so the use of the first name is appropriate. This further exemplified the restrictions placed on married women during this century. It was after Brently’s death and awareness of the freedom that followed was she identified as Louise, an individual not bound by her husband’s name (Holliman 2015).

Kate Chopin was nineteen when she married her husband, Oscar Chopin, who later died from malaria. Chopin was widowed at the age of thirty-two with six kids and a twelve thousand dollar debt left behind by her husband (Kronstadt 2012). According to the article, “Oscar’s death offered Chopin, like Louise Mallard (albeit fleetingly), a chance to live as a free woman.” (Kronstadt 2012). Chopin eventually paid off all the debt herself, by managing Oscar’s store and plantations; she even refused offers to pay off the debt from her husband’s creditors, because she wanted to be independent and self-reliant (Kronstadt 2012). Women, married or not, during that era did not manage businesses or deal in fiances, because society’s standard for them was motherhood, and their job description included, caring for the husband, kids, and household chores (Hughes 2014). So the fact that she dealt in business and understood fiances is very noteworthy, and uncommon of women during this time period.

Throughout the eighteen hundreds, married women led very restricted lives, and were obligated to their husbands. And Chopin wrote her character, Louise Mallard as one of those confined women, who experienced, though briefly, a taste of freedom (Kronstadt 2012). Women were expected to marry men who were five years or older than they were, and this made taking over the finances easier for the husbands (Huges 2014). This further limited women’s self-reliance and freedom. Like those restrained married women of this era, Louise must have also felt the same sense of minimal freedom. She felt “physical exhaustion” from her marriage, and this leads me to think that her marriage was not fulfilling and joyous (Page 569). So, when Brently supposedly died, Louise felt a “monstrous joy” possess her and realizes she can live the rest of her life for herself (Page 570). Louise believes that imposing a will onto others, even kind intentions was a crime, and felt that self-assertion was more important than love (570).

Louise’s character was based on Kate Chopin’s own marriage life experiences and thoughts. As the article stated, “Oscar never tried to control Kate, and yet her fiction suggests that she found even well-intentioned love to be a form of entrapment. (Kronstadt 2012). Although Brently Mallard, Louise’s husband, loved and treated her very well, she still felt that “self-assertion… was the strongest impulse of her being” (lines 17-18). She wanted to live for herself and be free from the standards and restrictions that are placed on married women during the Victorian era. Both Chopin and Louise felt that marriage was a form of imprisonment, which constrained them to only live for their husband’s fulfillment and needs.

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, reveals the struggle of Louise, a conflicted woman in a restrictive marriage to a loving husband. Louise longs for freedom and a life where she is able to live for herself, and not tend to her husband’s needs. Despite the fact that Louise’s husband loved her dearly, she still felt the physical and mental weariness of her marriage to Brently. As shown in Chopin’s story, “ the face that had never looked save with love upon her…”, and “Free! Body and soul free!”, expresses her spirited vigor of renewed energy (Page 570). Although Louise loved him, she also hated him, for he was the cause of her limited liberty. Kate Chopin created her character, Louise to portray her desire for autonomy, based on her marriage to an equally caring man, Oscar, despite the standards of society for women in marriage.

Plot And Character Advancement In Kate Chopin’s The Story Of An Hour

In spite of the fact that it is hard to be against the general public’s convictions, writer Kate Chopin beats that to bring perusers a quality intriguing writing. Using traditions of story stories like character improvement, plot control, and incongruity further bolstering her good fortune, she draws the peruser into the universe of feelings that the general public would laugh at. Kate Chopin shows her incredible abstract ability in ‘The Story of a Hour’ by interconnecting the plot and character advancement, with her utilization of captivating vocabulary and account incongruity.

Chopin gloriously incorporates two traditions of record fiction, plot and character improvement. The plot of a story is the grouping of occasions in a story and their association with one another as they advance and normally resolve a contention. In the plot of account stories there is an article, ascend to activity, peak, and a tumble from activity. The character improvement is the other thing that permits Chopin compose this intriguing story. Character is the thing that stays with you after you have wrapped up a story. The activities in the plot are performed by the characters in the story. Characters get something going or produce an impact. Chopin uses character advancement to strengthen the plot so much that perusers can feel the feelings very intently. In ‘The Story of a Hour’ both of these parts are progressively interconnected to each other.

The plot basically happens in the hero, Mrs. Mallard’s brain, which makes it pivotal for perusers to comprehend her identity and where her considerations originate from. She is depicted as a delicate lady who endures some heart inconvenience. This is critical to the plot as it clarifies why her sister practiced alert to break the news to her. Mrs. Mallard is additionally depicted as being ‘youthful, with a reasonable, quiet face, whose lines bespoke suppression and even a specific quality’. This is an essential snippet of data as it clarifies why she laments her better half’s demise just quickly. In straightforward words, constraint implies the activity or procedure of smothering an idea or want in oneself so it stays oblivious. Mrs. Mallard’s marriage was limiting as it were that she never could convey what needs be uninhibitedly aside from in her oblivious. We can see that Mrs. Mallard turns out to be very confounded on hearing the news; she opposes her recently procured opportunity as it is her trademark attribute of being bashful and frail and weak. As she acknowledges the sentiment of freedom, she begins considering herself a ‘goddess of Victory’. A goddess implies a lady who is so lovely, splendid, and healthy that she is dislike some other ladies on Earth and in this manner has a type of remarkable profound component that while is can’t be firmly characterized it is plainly present. Mrs. Mallard starts to feel lovely and glad as she wins the skirmish of wills following quite a while of persecution in her marriage. She first shows off her newly discovered magnificence and quality when she gives her sister access to see the ‘triumph in her eyes’ (Chopin).

The previously mentioned mix of character and plot improvement not exclusively to the hero, Mrs. Mallard, yet in addition to Mr. Brently Mallard. The main impression we get into Mr. Mallard’s character is from this piece of the content: ‘Chopin states ‘There would be no ground-breaking will bowing hers in that visually impaired determination with which people trust they have a directly to force a private will upon an individual animal. A benevolent expectation or a barbarous goal influenced the demonstration to appear to be no less a wrongdoing… ‘. In any case, considerably more is revealed through the section. He was depicted as, rather than Mrs. Mallard, ground-breaking and unaware of how he was tormenting his better half. As the other minor characters don’t assume a noteworthy job, they are left to the peruser’s creative energy. Chopin utilizes incongruity, a basic normal for authenticity, to bring shock and to extend the plot.

The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin: The Marital Roles

Marriage is supposed to be beautiful and coping with each other. Where love is the main reason to still be together. The spouses can’t imagine life without each other. But what if it all turns upside down, death. The death of someone will impact the other and might fall into depression and sadness. In this case, it wasn’t so. The story, “The Story of an Hour”, by Kate Chopin published in 1894 was an excellent story that left us in awe and didn’t expect the ending (Chopin, 1894). This story was full of surprises. Louise Mallard was married to Mr. Brently Mallard who apparently was dead, wasn’t. The story of an hour has a twist in the end.

“The story of an hour” is about Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard suffers from heart trouble and Mr. Mallard procures on caring for her – too much. She was loved and taken care of by her husband when news hit her that her husband is dead from an accident that occurred. Mrs. Mallard was at her home when her sister Josephine told her the deaths new with fear knowing that Louise suffers from a heart. Louise felt in awe but to her surprise, she felt free and relieved. Mrs. Mallard was already feeling and imagining her freedom when she had a shock and collapsed – her husband is still alive.

In the short story ‘The Story of an Hour,’ different literary devices are depicted. The one that is mostly illustrated is irony. There are three ironies read Verbal, Situational, and Dramatic irony. Verbal irony in this story is that at the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mallard is said to have ‘heart trouble’ (Ln. 1) not a heart condition, but the soul, as Mrs. Mallard suffers from repression. Secondly, a situational incongruity was when Mrs. Mallard was told the news of her spouse’s passing. It appears that she is so discouraged and despondency stricken that she wishes to be separated from everyone else, except to the pursuer’s shock, Louise wishes to be distant from everyone else (Ln. 10) not to lament to herself but rather to fathom her opportunity as a Victorian wife. Thirdly, dramatic irony is when Mrs. Mallard won’t permit Josephine to help her upstairs (Ln. 10), it appears that she is so melancholy stricken that she wishes to be separated from everyone else. To watchers shock, rather than lamenting as Josephine considers, Louise celebrates for her new opportunity. This sensational incongruity is in light of the fact that the pursuers realize Mrs. Mallard’s actual sentiments, however, Josephine and Richard don’t.

The theme of this story is illegal joy. At the point when Brently Mallard dies, Mrs. Mallard goes to the cheerful acknowledgment that she is currently a free individual. Despite the fact that her contemplations are private, she endeavored to conceal the delight she feels and endeavors to beat it back with her will. Her opposition towards her actual feelings uncovers how prohibited her pleasure is. Whatever is left of society will never acknowledge or comprehend Louise and her Independence. This is the reason the delight of autonomy is taboo for her. Since this satisfaction is detracted from her, she departs this life as a curb and limited lady because of her significant other and society.

As pursuers, we felt partitioned with respect to whether we enjoyed or disdained “The Story of an Hour. We loathed it by one way or another in light of the fact that we as pursuers felt befuddled while perusing. This is on the grounds that Mrs. Mallard’s sentiments changed exceptionally unexpectedly all through the story. For instance, when she was given the news of her spouse’s demise, she was crushed and loaded with melancholy. Be that as it may, when she was disregarded, she all of a sudden wound up cheerful and felt free (Ln. 31). This befuddled us since we were never certain concerning how she felt and this made it hard to remain dazzled and to comprehend the story. In the midst of this, we had a few likes in the story. We preferred how this story could take such intricacy, for example, ladies perfectly fine disentangle in a couple of sentences. We likewise like how this influences us to acknowledge the opportunity we were honored to have been given.

The occasion that begins the story off with Mr. Mallard’s passing is totally fixed in the end. In the interim, Mrs. Mallard’s life, which her loved ones made a decent attempt to ensure toward the start, is lost toward the end. In this way, the story closes with an occasion the characters endeavored to evade toward the start. That is unexpected. Pursuers can remove one thing for sure from this: Mrs. Mallard has died. The specialists’ referenced state it was a result of the ‘joy that kills’ (Ln. 64). Mrs. Mallard felt after understanding her better half hadn’t died in the accident as mentioned in the beginning.

Evaluation Of Themes And Characters In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening

Kate Chopin was a female author of New Orleans. She was notable for writing rather controversial short stories and a highly controversial novel, The Awakening. Growing up, Chopin knew very well about the “etiquette” that women had to follow in the 19th-century, mainly because she lived in this time period. She wrote the novel The Awakening to show some of these “social norms” that women had to follow and how many of them may have struggled with the thought that they should not have to go through these norms. The novel follows a protagonist, Edna, a mother who grows tired of the social etiquette that women had to follow during this time period. To express her weariness, she begins to rebel against these norms, but in the end of the novel, she eventually gains freedom in a very unexpected and controversial manner. Chopin uses Edna as an argument that women deserve to live their lives without any conformation to social norms. In my opinion, the novel is not successful in this argument because the tone of the novel and Edna’s character makes it seem like she is unable to progress in her freedom.

In the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Edna Pontellier. She is married to a man named Léonce and together they take care of their children. Edna is an artist and shares a decent amount of wealth with her family. In other words, she was a middle-class woman who had some advantages over other women of her time period. However, Edna is very conflicted on whether she wants to be a mother, or her own person who can do as she pleases. It is implied that she wants to be independent, but gaining this freedom proves to be more challenging than she may have hoped. In one scene, it shows how Edna might not be successful in freeing herself, because she eventually gives in and returns to the norm that she has to be in bed not long after one o’clock (Chopin 33). In this scene, Léonce orders Edna to return to the house, not sitting out on the porch. Edna rebels, and she “settled herself more securely in the hammock. She perceived that her will had blazed up, stubborn and resistant” (Chopin 33). As Léonce orders Edna to go to bed, Edna refuses and refines her posture in the hammock. However, this does not last for long, and alas “Edna arose, cramped from lying so long and still in the hammock. She tottered up the steps, clutching feebly at the post before passing into the house” (Chopin 34). Edna grew weary of sitting in the hammock, and thus she got up and walked back inside. Notice Chopin’s use of the word “feebly”. This could either imply that Edna was just weakened from sitting in the hammock, or it could imply that she felt feeble for surrendering her authority and giving in to the norm. Even though Edna tried to assert her right to live freely, she eventually gave into the norm in the long run.

Another reason why Edna cannot seem to gain freedom is because she seems conflicted about who she wants to be married to; as the novel goes on, it’s revealed that a man named Robert keeps entering her thoughts. According to Chopin, Robert was a friend of Edna’s who left on a long-term trip far away (Chopin 48). As the novel goes on, it is heavily implied that Edna is in love with Robert. Chopin writes that “Robert’s going had some way taken the brightness, the color, the meaning out of everything” (Chopin 48). Chopin uses words like “brightness” to indicate that Edna’s life changed after Robert left her life. In a later passage, Chopin writes that as Edna was taking a walk one day, “she was thinking of Robert. She was still under the spell of her infatuation. She had tried to forget him, realizing the inutility of remembering. But the thought of him was like an obsession, ever pressing itself upon her” (Chopin 56). Chopin writes this passage in a way that it feels like Robert is haunting Edna’s thoughts. It is heavily implied that she cannot stop thinking about him, even though she is currently married to Léonce.

Later in the novel, Edna goes on a drive with her friend to the suburbs. There, she finds Robert, who is very surprised to see her. The dialogue seems to imply that he wants her to keep away. Chopin writes this conversation between her and Robert; “‘Why have you kept away from me, Robert?’ [Edna] asked, closing the book that lay open upon the table. ‘Why are you so personal, Mrs. Pontellier?’ Why do you force me to idiotic subterfuges?’ [Robert] exclaimed with sudden warmth” (Chopin 107). This seems to imply that Robert is not upset to see Edna at all, but Edna isn’t buying it. Chopin sets up Edna’s dialogue to express her anger; “‘You are the embodiment of selfishness,’ she said. ‘You save yourself something—I don’t know what—but there is some selfish motive, and in sparing yourself you never consider for a moment what I think, or how I feel your neglect and indifference. I suppose this is what you would call unwomanly; but I have got into a habit of expressing myself. It doesn’t matter to me, and you may think me unwomanly if you like.’” (Chopin 107). Edna is clearly upset with Robert because he left her all those years ago, leaving her emotionally scarred. Robert eventually reveals to Edna that he left her because he knew what kind of conflict she was dealing with back at home with Léonce. According to Chopin, Robert says that “‘Now you know,’ [Robert] said, ‘Now you know what I have been fighting against since last summer at Grand Isle; what drove me away and drove me back again.’ ‘Why have you been fighting against it?’ she asked. Her face glowed with soft lights. ‘Why? Because you were not free; you were Léonce Pontellier’s wife,” (Chopin 108). Robert tells Edna that he had left her because he wanted to help her be free. Being married to anyone would only rob her of her freedom, and Robert was only trying to help her accomplish that sense of freedom.

The ending of the novel is the final piece of evidence on how Chopin’s argument was conveyed in an unsuccessful manner. One night, Edna decides to go out to the gulf one last time. There, she took off her clothes and stepped into the water. Chopin writes how “strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! how delicious! She felt like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known” (Chopin 116). The novel implies that Edna is finally getting a sense of freedom. This could give a sense of accomplishment, but then comes the tricky part. Edna “walked out. The water was chill, but she walked on. The water was deep, but she lifted her white body and reached out with a long, sweeping stroke.… She went on and on…. She thought of Léonce and the children. They were a part of her life. But they need not have thought they could possess her, body and soul.… the shore was far behind her, and her strength was gone” (Chopin 116). Edna has taken on the route of freedom in a much different sense; she has freed herself from life. She was enraged with everyone using her, so she drowned herself in the open sea. This passage has heavy emphasis on Edna’s strength giving out as she swims out to sea. Even as everyone she knows and loves enters her mind, she continues because she is exasperated.

Another point of interest during Edna’s suicide is the repetition of a quote by Robert; “‘Good-by—because, I love you.’” (Chopin 116). In the preceding chapter, Edna is quite distraught to find a note on her couch left by Robert after he came to visit; it says those words on the note (Chopin 113). Chopin writes that “Edna grew faint when she read those words. She went and sat on the sofa. Then she stretched herself out there, never uttering a sound. She did not sleep. She did not go to bed” (Chopin 116). Chopin uses imagery to imply that Edna was devastated by this note. After thinking she wanted to end up with Robert, he ended up abandoning her in the end yet again. It appears that Robert is very adamant on Edna gaining her freedom, therefore he refuses to take her as his partner. When this quote repeats in her mind during her suicide, it implies that Robert’s second abandonment of her was the final blow after everything she went through. She had enough, and whether or not she had anything left was irrelevant. She wanted her freedom and was now going to get it. However, she took the path of “Freedom” in a much darker and more chilling sense. She escaped life, leaving behind everything she loved for an eternal freedom.

With all of this information in mind, it appears that Edna has not progressed in character as much as the novel seems to build up at first. Even though Edna tried to fight against Léonce, she eventually gave up and left her position on the hammock. The scene where Edna walks the streets could be a sign of internal conflict. Regardless if Edna wants to be her own independent person, she seems to be conflicted on whether she truly wants that, or if she wants to be with Robert. However, being with Robert could be giving up her freedom if she wants to give up the label of a “woman-mother”. Robert’s actions haunt Edna to the point where she becomes emotionally scarred. The scene at the gulf where Edna drowns herself does not convey the idea of freedom. In a way, it only adds to the old stereotype that women were nothing but motherly figures, and not their own independent persons. Whether or not they wanted to be independent, the etiquette set up for women before the 20th-century trapped them to be nothing but “women-mothers” for as long as they live. While the fact that Edna resorted to drowning herself to find freedom could be argued as character progression in a much darker sense, it could also be argued as a regression of her character. After she tried to find her own identity for so long, it personally feels jarring for her to suddenly give up with one note she found on her sofa that would crush her hopes.

This novel is very controversial, and not everyone will agree that Chopin fails to convey the idea of freedom. Some critics argue that this novel was a success. Larzer Ziff author of The American 1890s, claims that the message of freedom is not what Chopin was trying to accomplish in this novel. Ziff writes that whether “girls should be educated free of illusions, if possible, whether society should change the conditions it imposes on women, or whether both are needed, the author does not say; the novel is about what happened to Edna Pontellier” (Ziff 216). Ziff claims that Chopin intended to write this novel as a “sympathetic” novel. We as the reader are only expected to sympathize with Edna. However, Ziff also points out that “Kate Chopin sympathized with Edna, but she did not pity her” (Ziff 216). The difference between sympathy and pity he just pointed out could create a red herring. Sympathizing with a character does not necessarily mean we feel bad for them. I personally could sympathize with Edna’s feeling of distraught when Robert left the note on her sofa, but ultimately, I do not think that drowning in the gulf was the best option. Edna’s character development does not justify her suddenly taking her own life in my opinion. In addition, I feel that this argument of “sympathizing with Edna” is a red herring to the overall argument, meaning that it might be a distraction to what is actually being analyzed and evaluated. We are asking if whether or not Chopin proves her argument, not whether or not we should sympathize with Edna.

While I think Edna took her own life because she felt she had no other option, it could be argued that she took her life because she was merely exasperated with how her family was using her as their “mother”. She wanted to abandon everything she originally held dear to her in order to gain her independence. Jules Chametzky, another critic who evaluated Chopin’s novel, claims that the novel is about Edna trying to free herself as an individual being rather than a tool for her family (Chametzky 236). Even though Edna has “middle-class advantages—money and the freedom to pursue a talent—Edna Pontellier, the heroine, is finally unable to overcome by herself the strength of the social and religious conventions and the biological mystique that entrap her” (Chametzky 236-37). Chametzky writes that Edna should be able to overcome her entrapment with all of the advantages. This claim could show that Edna had even less excuse to feel trapped because she was actually in a better position than many women of this time period. Therefore, any sympathy that we might feel for Edna during this scene could be thrown clean out the window when we realize these advantages. With this dilemma comes a question concerning her actual choice: Did she really have nowhere else to turn at the end of the novel, or did her internal struggle overwhelm her to the point where she lost all sense of judgement? It is a possibility that Edna was so focused on how her family used her as nothing but a pawn that she failed to realize how many advantages she had compared to other women of this time period. Regardless of how many options she had, it seems that her desperation to gain freedom got the better of her. So, she took the only option that she thought she had.

In conclusion, Kate Chopin made a valuable effort to make the argument that women have the right to be independent with her novel The Awakening. However, the protagonist Edna is developed in a way that does not feel “progressive” enough to prove the argument. The overall tone of the novel’s ending feels too jarring after all the development and feels like a “regression” in her character. This arc only shows that women of this time period felt “trapped” and that there really was no freedom in sight for them. While it could be argued that Edna’s suicide was more of an act of triumph, for she finally gained freedom, her middle-class advantages makes it more difficult to sympathize with her. The lack of sympathy makes it harder to justify her choice in the long run. It is important to view these character traits and the overall development to get a full understanding on whether an argument is truly successful.

Works Cited

  1. Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Chopin and Culley, pp. 4-116.
  2. Chopin, Kate and Margo Culley, contributors. The Awakening: An Authoritative Text, Biographical and Historical Contexts, Criticism. Norton Critical Edition, 3rd ed., W. W. Norton, 2018.
  3. Chametzky, Jules. “Edna and the ‘Woman Question’.” Chopin and Culley, pp. 236-37.
  4. Ziff, Larzer. “The American 1890s: Life and Times of a Lost Generation.” Chopin and Culley, pp. 214-16.

The Story of an Hour Analysis Essay

Introduction

‘The story of an Hour is a short story written by an American author, Kate Choplin. This story takes place at Mallard Residence, the home of Brently and Louise Mallard. As we read the passage of the story, we will know how Mrs. Louise Mallard mourned her husband’s death -Mr. Brently Mallard. It only shows how Mrs. Mallard loves her husband. As the story goes on, one thought came up in Mrs. Mallard’s mind, that is being free. Does it only mean that she can do anything she wanted out of being single? But cannot change how distressed and lonely she is. In this story, we will be able to understand how important accurate news is. We should not spread or speak fake news does it may lead to someone’s death. The story first appeared in Vogue in 1894 and is considered one of Chopin’s most popular works nowadays.

The Story of an Hour Summary

In the short story by Kate Chopin, ‘The Story of an Hour’ we can read in paragraph one sentence the use of the word Mrs. which emphasizes the main character is already married. ‘The husband’s friend Richard was there, too, near her’ (par.2 sen.2). We can observe the comma between ‘there’ and ‘near’. It highlighted the meaning of the sentence that Richard was there to tell what happened to Mrs. Mallard’s husband. The word ‘killed’ in sentence two, is still in the same paragraph; the author used the two colons (‘) to point out that Mr. Mallard has been killed by an accident. In paragraph number three, the author used the word ‘paralyzed’ in the line ‘……. With a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.’ Which means ‘hard’ the main character is having a hard time accepting the sudden death of her spouse. The figure of speech is also present in the text. ‘The delicious breath of air’ the author used metaphor to add flavor to the story. Aside from metaphor, we can also see that hyperbole exists in the text. In the line ‘she did not stop ………… Or were not a monstrous joy that held her’ the word monstrous is used to describe the extreme feeling of the character towards her situation. We can see the punctuation Em dash (—) in the story. It is used by the writer to give pause and connect the thought of the sentence. It is also used to enhance the readability of the text. For example ‘and yet she had loved him—sometimes.’ ‘Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door—you will make yourself ill’ and ‘when the doctor came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills.’

The lexico-semantic analysis of Kate Chopin’s short story entitled, The Story of an Hour used unfamiliar words that are difficult to comprehend especially for readers that are not English native speakers. Dramatic phrases and expressions are found in the piece. It carries a deep meaning and sense to the composition of the text. The line, ‘Go away. I am not making myself I’ll.’ The fifth paragraph from the bottom shows dramatic expression. Louise, the one who spits that phrase is also the one who lost a husband telling that she is fine while locking herself in the room after hearing the news about her husband’s death due to a railroad accident. Realistically said, a wife will endure so much pain and grief because of her husband’s departure forever but in Louise’s case, she acted in different ways for a reason. Throughout the passage, it was revealed the reason for her actions. It is because she thought of freedom for herself. The author also uses compounding of words like what we can see in the second paragraph of the second sentence from the bottom ‘It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella.’

The Story of an Hour Analysis

The syntactic structure of “The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin in terms of structural techniques makes the point app or more intense the drama. This story can be read quickly but it makes more power and it involves using a specific text or style. In terms of the grammatical arrangement, it applies specific structural and stylistic techniques to make the drama strongly point up one of the examples of this line ‘she did not stop to ask if it were or was not a monstrous joy that healed her. The series of paragraphs also applies three sentences. The rule of English is also applied in certain paragraphs for example in a short sentence ‘she was young, with a fair, calm face, whose line bespoke repression and even a certain strength’. The story of Kate Chopin it didn’t apply the cohesion of the story because it did not use the word I or me. The author uses coherence in writing every paragraph of the story and connects the ideas of every sentence. It also uses repetition of the ideas of every paragraph to highlight the important point of the story just like the line ‘free! Body and soul free. After being told that Mrs. Mallard’s husband is dead, the character escapes being alone. However, this escape is when the transformation occurs. She sits in an armchair and “physical exhaustion… gave the impression to reach her soul” (Chopin 1894, line 15). Once the soul is met the mood of the story begins to alter. this could be observed through the imagery of the piece still as irony. “The tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin 1894, line 16-17). it’s ironic that the trees would be described as “quivering” with life during an instant that ought to be saddening and heartfelt. Also, the suggestion of the latest life makes the reader associate this with spring, rejuvenation, and rebirth. However, during mourning, imagery is meant to be dark, gothic, and depressing. The word choice during the scene identifies the shift in mood and alter in the plot. Chopin uses language to hint to the reader about the swing in emotion felt by Mrs. Mallard at the belief of her husband’s death. Another shift can be observed within the language further down in the story as Mrs. Mallard transforms from happy to sad. The reader observes Mrs. Mallard looking through the open window at the blue. From here, Mrs. Mallard goes from saddened to blank. This climax between emotions is described as “subtle and elusive” by Mrs. Mallard, yet the reader can understand that something is amidst, (Chopin 1894, line 30). Before it is often understood that she is laughing hysterically, the image is given to the audience that, “her bosom rose and fell tumultuously” (Chopin 1894, line 32). However, the reader doesn’t fully understand the change in the atmosphere until she utters, “free” (Chopin 1894, line 34). within the next paragraph, the audience gets the oxymoron, “monstrous joy” (Chopin 1894, line 37). This also precludes the reader from the tip of the story. The monster then foreshadows itself at the top of the story.

Conclusion

The Story of an Hour written by Kate Chopin used different stylistic devices. These devices can be observed in the piece to contribute a great impact to making the whole story remarkable. The repetition of words, opposition, words conveying deep meaning, and meaningful words are some of the techniques that can be noticed throughout the passage. Also, figures of speech and formal words are applied in the short story. The theme of Chopin’s piece discussed essential issues about the world of marriage – an unhealthy marriage. Louise Mallard thought that her husband’s death will make her independent and free.

The Storm’ by Kate Chopin: Critical Analysis Essay

Literary analysis

Married people having affairs is viewed as an immoral act in many cultures and societies. It’s viewed like that because it’s often something that can destroy families and relationships. However, in “The Storm” Kate Chopin demonstrates that an affair is not a very bad thing, perhaps it could even be a good thing depending on the circumstances. In “The Storm the main theme that sticks out is. That people get their fulfillment through the wrong means when they’re oppressed. Also, in “The Storm” Kate Chopin shows what role women had in society during the time. She also touches on arranged marriage, and class differences and she demonstrates how that can limit women’s needs and drive them to live depressing and unfulfilling life.

In “the storm” Chopin doesn’t show any love or romance or passion between Bobinot and Calixta at all. And even though there’s no passion shown Calixta still must perform her duties as a woman and a wife towards Bobinot. She still must clean the house, make food for her family, sew and wash the clothes for her family, and even please her husband in bed and give him kids whether it was passionate or not. That’s how Chopin portrays the role of women in society during that time. She also demonstrates how the role of women was sad and depressing and limiting to their freedom because of all the things that they were expected to do. And how because of that women can feel oppressed and frustrated with no way to let out that frustration or stress. She does that by showing that Calixta didn’t even realize a storm was coming because she was very busy with her duties as a housewife which is very consuming. “Calixta, at home, felt no uneasiness for their safety. She sat at a side window sewing furiously on a sewing machine. She was greatly occupied and did not notice the approaching storm. But she felt very warm and often stopped to mop her face on which the perspiration gathered in beads.” (Chopin 1). That can also demonstrate that Calixta is very busy with her role as a housewife that she might be neglecting her love needs as a woman. And that makes sense because Calixta and Bobinot are both of low class, which can indicate that Bobinot is a man that has to work to be able to provide for his family which can make him neglect his wife’s needs

Furthermore, Kate Chopin uses the storm throughout the story as a symbol of the passion and love between Calixta and Alice. The storm is a natural strong natural power that cannot be ignored or denied, just like the strong love and passion between Calixta and Alice. Of course, the passion between both cannot be fulfilled since they’re both married to other people and Alice is of a higher class than Calixta. Yet they also couldn’t ignore or deny the fact that they both had a lust for each other. And that’s where the storm comes in to allow the both to be alone together where they can let the love and passion, they have for each other out. Also, wherever they’re together and things start to get intense between them the storm becomes more intense which indicates that the storm is a symbol of the passion between Calixta and Alice. “The playing of the lightning was incessant. A bolt struck a tall chinaberry tree at the edge of the field. It filled all visible space with a blinding glare and the crash seemed to invade the very boards they stood upon. Calixta put her hands to her eyes, and with a cry, staggered backward. Alcée’s arm encircled her, and for an instant, he drew her close and spasmodically to him” (Chopin 3).

To sum it all up “the storm” by Kate Chopin is a great work of literature that uses literary devices to shape the story including the storm. That’s because without the storm there is no story or plot. It’s also a very controversial piece of work for its time since Kate is challenging the role women had in society during that time. Also, she touches on a sensitive matter during that time which is married people having affairs. During that time affairs were something that is not acceptable and looked at as an immoral and sinister acts. That’s what makes “the storm” a great piece of literature the quality of the writing and the controversial matter that the writing is about.

Essay on ‘The Awakening’ Themes

The Awakening is a novel with the really helpful useful resource of Kate Chopin, first posted in 1822, set in New Orleans and the Southern Louisiana coast at the cease of the nineteenth Century. The plot amenities spherical Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her an growing vary of unorthodox view on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social kingdom of mind of the flip of the century. The novel is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women’s issues barring condescension. It is in addition drastically viewed as a landmark of early feminism. The e e e book was once once as rapidly as as unexpectedly as criticized due to the reality of its ethical as nicely as literary standards. Since a vary of many years it has been considered as an imperative feminist work. The e e e e book is too a prolonged way in beautify of the time and hence now now no longer socially embraced.

The novel’s mixture of brilliant narrative, incisive social commentary and psychological complexity make The Awakening a precursor of American modernism. It pre-figures the works of American novelists such as William Faulkner and Earnest Hemingway and echoes the works of contempories such as Edith Wharton and Hentry James. It can in addition be considered amongst the first southern masterpieces of Faulkner, Flannery O’ Lonner, Eudero Welty, Katherine Anne Porter and Tennessee Williams.

Instead of taking Chopin to mission for her frankness and irreverence, the reviewers uniformly centered on Edna Pontellier’s creating independence from her socially built role, discovering her behaviour ‘ sickening’and ‘selfish’. The Globe- Democratic Reviewer’ characterised The Awakening as ‘not a wholesome book’. ‘The Post-Dispatch ran each and every favorable and horrific reviews on successive days, the latter containing perhaps the generally quoted horrible line about the novel: The Awakening is too sturdy drink for ethical babes, and have to be labelled ‘poison’. Soon the National Press joined the chorus, expressing dismay that a creator as ‘refined’ and ‘poetic’ as Chopin had created a novel that one reviewer recognized as ‘nauseating’

On the floor Chopin apologizes for the behaviour of her heroine, then as soon as greater her mocking tone tells us that she is now no longer in certainty repentant. Rather, what she conveys is that, given Edna Pontellier’s situation, each and every her awakening and her dying had been vital and a vary of freedom used to be as shortly as inevitable. Like the reviewer for the St. Louis Republic, Chopin recognized that many woman yearned for the vary of freedom that Edna claimed for himself, even if their testimonies had been seldom told, and she in addition realized that most efforts to act upon such yearnings had been doomed to failure.

Although there is no proof that The Awakening used to be once ever banned or eradicated from library cupboards in St. Louis, the overwhelmingly horrible opinions efficaciously eradicated the novel from big circulation and have an have an have an have an effect on on on on for fifty years following its publication. The closing end end result of its imperative placing off from literary archives is underscored with the useful useful resource of the usage of the utilization of Eline Showalter in her essay ‘Tradition and the Female Talent: The Awakening as a Solitary Book ‘. Kate Chopin was once as soon as as quickly as heir to three successive traditions in women’s fiction: the domestic sentimentalists who have been sizable when she used to be a youthful girl; the post- Civil hostilities close by way of shade writers, such as Mary E. Wilkins and Sarah Orne Jewett who considered themselves devoted to the artwork form; and the ‘New Women’ writers such as Sarah Grand, who estimated dramatic new probabilities for women’s lives. The Awakening attracts upon all three traditions, creating a synthesis of their subjects and modes of expression. Identification with the fabric and domestic is embodied in Madame Ratignolle and in Edna’s love for her very very non-public children; the woman as artist is present day in Mademoiselle Reisz and Edna’s­ revolutionary aspirations. Edna’s vague pick out for a life preceding social conventions echoes the agenda of late nineteenth-century feminists.

We accomplice ‘awakening’ with new beginnings, new maintain shut all of which are positive. Moreover we prefer to have a show up at that Chopin did no longer title her novel ‘ Edna’s Awakening’ or ‘One Woman’s Awakening’ on the other hand as a replacement The Awakening , which suggests that Chopin determined some factor every day in Edna’s experience and in a identical fashion ,that she supposed the novel as a ultra-modern critique of a subculture that severely limited women’s probabilities for emotional fulfilment and self-expression.

Chopin’s recollections commonly deal with marriage and modern an unconventional standpoint on the theme. Here characters face preferences between what society expects of them and what they clearly want and they often parent out to comply with their non-public path as an desire than that of society. In her fiction, Chopin explores the one-of-a-kind troubles and dilemmas that ladies face and is afraid to advocate that now and once more ladies determine upon sex or even independence. All of these topics exhibit off up in Kate Chopin’s 2nd and closing novel, The Awakening. After the public uproar over – The Awakening, Chopin wrote completely seven quick recollections between 1900 and 1904. Her existence ended on August 22, 1904, after she suffered a stroke while journeying the St. Louis World Fair. However, a lengthy time after her death, literary critics rediscovered her work and commenced to have a proper time her recollections for their sturdy views on girl independence and sexuality.

The Storm’: Calixta Character in a Book by Kate Chopin

In most stories, there are characters that the author will use to help develop and tell the plot of the tale. Villains, superheroes, and monsters–all of these are characters with which the reader is familiar. Authors use many techniques to develop the personalities of these characters to the readers. Authors use literary elements such as inner dialogue, appearance, and name meaning to create the characters. In “The Storm” by Kate Chopin, Chopin uses the plot of the story, Calixta’s reactions to others, Claixta’s dialogue, and her name and appearance to show how she is the protagonist of the story.

Chopin uses the plot of “The Storm” to develop her protagonist: Calixta. She is the protagonist of the story because she is the type of woman that wants the best for her family and herself. When Alce ends up staying at her house during the storm, Calixta and Alce have a sexual encounter where Calixta ends up enjoying herself and not feeling bad at all about it afterward. “She was a revelation in that dim, mysterious chamber; as white as the couch she lay upon. Her firm, elastic flesh that was knowing for the first time its birthright, was like a creamy lily that the sun invites to contribute its breath and perfume to the undying life of the world” (Chopin). Calixa realizes that she needs to be able to enjoy herself too, even though her husband isn’t the one to help her do that. “Chopin offered an unusually frank depiction of a joyful and pleasurable extra-marital sexual encounter with positive effects on both partners and their families” (Ewell). The plot of the story shows Calixta as the protagonist because she takes care of her family and does the housewife and motherly duties. However, she also engages in this sexual encounter to take care of herself.

Calixta’s reactions to others develop her more into the protagonist of the story. In “The Storm”, Calixta responds in a very caring way when she sees her family walk through the door after the storm. “Calixta was preparing supper. She had set the table and was dripping coffee at the hearth. She sprang up as they came in” (Chopin). Her reactions to seeing Bobint and Bibi walk in show that she loves her family. Being the protagonist, Calixta is concerned about the security of her family and now feels comfort knowing that nothing bad happened to them while they were gone.

Chopin uses dialogue to further develop “The Storm’s” protagonist. Calixta says, ‘Oh, Bobint! You back! My! But I was uneasy. W’ere you been during the rain? An’ Bibi? he ain’t wet? he ain’t hurt’ (Chopin). Calixta’s statement to Bobint and Bibi shows how she was genuinely concerned and truly cared about their well being while the storm was going on. ‘I got enough to do! An’ there’s Bobint with Bibi out in that storm if he only didn’ left Friedheimer’s” (Chopin). This quote from Calixta shows how throughout the story she worries about the safety of her husband and child, all while she knows that she has chores to do around the house. Her dialogue shows that she is the protagonist because she plays that housewife and motherly role of caring for her family and house.

Calixta’s name and appearance add to the fact that she is the protagonist of the story. The name “Calixta” means ‘she that is most beautiful” (Calixta Name Meaning & Origin). In “The Storm,” Calixta is described as “…and a little fuller of figure than five years before when she married; but she had lost nothing of her vivacity. Her blue eyes still retained their melting quality; and her yellow hair, disheveled by the wind and rain, kinked more stubbornly than ever about her ears and temples” (Chopin). Her name and appearance show that she is a gorgeous, spirited, and bright person. Generally, the protagonists are charming and beautiful characters, and that is why Calixta fits the description of one.

Kate Chopin uses many techniques in her short story “The Storm” to show how Calixta is the protagonist. In the plot of the story, Calixta is a strong woman and cares about not only her family’s needs, but her needs as well. Calixta’s reactions to others show that she is a concerned person when she finally sees her family walk into their house after the storm. Finally, Calixta’s dialogue, name, and appearance reveal how she is a beautiful and protective wife and mother giving her qualities of a protagonist.