1) Chopin, Kate. ‘The Awakening’; ‘At the ‘Cadian Ball’; and ‘The Storm’
2) Sexuality
3) The stories of ‘The Storm’ and ‘At the ‘Cadian Ball’ involve dynamic characters which Chopin uses in order to embrace and contrastingly criticize the actions of impulsive sexuality; whereas other stories, such as ‘The Awakening’ embrace the exploration of a woman’s sexuality. 4) “Her firm, elastic flesh that was knowing for the first time its birthright….the generous abundance of her passion without guile or trickery was like a white flame.” 5) Chopin is saying that a pure passion is like a ‘white flame’; and a woman’s sexuality is referred to as her birthright. Chopin uses the subtleties to imply her criticism or support of the protagonist’s sexuality as presented in the text. 6) (Chopin, Page 284) 7) In ‘The Storm,’ Chopin mainly criticizes the actions and results which originate from impulsive thinking. From a feminist standpoint, she is criticizing the overly liberal ideal that encourages extramarital affairs; however, during the scene in which Alcee Laballiere and Calixta are committing adultery, Chopin calls the experiencing of passionate sexual affairs the ‘birthright’ of Calixta’s flesh. It may seem that Chopin is contradicting herself; however, the main concept of the passage is her disapproval of the affair-then the subtle placement of a woman’s right to enjoy sexuality. Chopin is conveying the support of a sexually liberated woman, but within a certain means. White flames are those of the hottest fire, which also consume and destroy everything around it. Calling Calixta’s passion a ‘white flame’ is denoting how deeply and with how much impact a desire can burn. By using this image, Chopin is showing the duality of the situation in which Calixta and Alcee spontaneously placed themselves.
1) Chopin, Kate. ‘The Storm’ 2) Sanctity of Marriage
3) Although Chopin believed in the mentally liberated woman, she did agree with some societal boundaries that were placed, such as the sanctity of marriage. 4) In ‘The Storm’ Calixta and Alcee Laballiere violate this sacred relationship, and Chopin uses their adultery to convey the limits of a liberated woman. Two main images can be referenced for this criticism. 5a) The first is taking place when the storm is about to hit and Calixta realizes she needs to take in the clothing. 6a) “She had hung Bobinot’s Sunday clothes to air and she hastened out to gather them before the rain fell.” 5b) The second is Bobinot admonishing Bibi, his son, for getting dirty during the storm. 6b) “’You ought to be ashame’. An’ that mud on yo’ collar! How you got that mud on yo’ collar Bibi?’ ...Bibi was the picture of pathetic resignation.” 7) (Chopin, Page 282, 285) 8) The true criticism of the extramarital affair comes in through the dialogue and actions of the characters in ‘The Storm.’ Using implications from both selections, Chopin advocates the sanctity of marriage. Primarily, the storm that is taking place in the story must be recognized as a symbol of the sexual infidelity. It, through various means, violates every aspect of Bobinot and Calixta’s house physically, and reaches its most violent stages at the peak of the sexual act itself. The first quote, by specifically indicating that the clothes were those worn on a Sunday denotes to them a level of sacredness associated with the day of worship, which is about to be ruined by the approaching storm. Following the adulterous act, the son of Calixta and Bobinot is dirty. In this case, Chopin is using Bibi himself as a symbol of the marriage, where two symbolically become one, and Bibi being the literal biological semblance of two becoming one flesh. The purity of Bobinot and Calixta’s marriage has been dirtied, and to demonstrate the relevance of this fact, Chopin enforces it by using a symbol to convey it. Chopin thus summarizes the marriage as ‘reduced to pathetic resignation.’ The importance that is placed on showing the damage and impurity following the extramarital sex is purporting Chopin’s personal views of the limits of a woman’s liberation.
1) Thornton, Lawrence: ‘The Awakening: A Political Romance’
2) Awakening, Chopin’s time conflicts
3) According to Thornton, the society in which Edna lived only gave enough freedom to women to tempt them or satisfy them. 4) Society did not meet the needs of Edna, but rather confined them; therefore, Edna Pontellier turned to inward contemplation as a source of personal satisfaction which leads her into conflict with her French Creole society, and eventually conflict with her own contentedness of existence. 5) In general women were satisfied, however, Edna was a unique individual of her society and isolated in many ways, ultimately physically and socially. The society being ‘solidly conventional’ reveals the existence of patriarchy in that the society is following traditional gender roles. 6) The deception of Creole Society which seems to accord women with greater latitude than it is willing to grant. That women could smoke cigarettes, listen to men tell risqué stories, and read French novels soon appears as only a veneer covering a solidly conventional society that titillated itself with flourishes of libertinism. 7) (86) 8) Gender Roles present themselves in the Awakening in the form of being the initiation of need to rebel. The realization of Edna as being ‘personal property’ caused her to feel an oppression and a need to rebel against the society which condoned that oppression. Ironically, the gender role is not escaped despite Edna’s attempts in that Robert is how Edna first discovers her need to rebel. Edna later determines that she is her only source of liberation, and swims out into the ocean, the ultimate reversal of gender role. Edna continues reaching for it herself; however she cannot find the satisfaction that her romantic illusion has created for her therefore her act of swimming out into the sea is the recognition that society has no place for her. (88) By creating a character which provides Edna with support (Mme. Reisz), Chopin is advocating the free spirit of Edna’s new self which she is discovering by giving a characterized support. Mme. Reisz is the confidant of Edna which plays her the music where she temporarily finds her escape. The ultimate point to which Edna is driven, she goes alone, without a friendship supporting her, and thus Chopin’s statement that suicide as escape of society induced gender oppression is not the proper response. As Edna reaches to develop herself, she becomes increasingly detached from reality. As Edna attempts to get away from the romanticism of her Creole society, she falls into another form created by herself. By defying society, Edna recognizes who she is as defined by herself and society, and she is temporarily set free by it; however because there is no place for her, her awakening becomes a burdensome fact which makes her miserable to the point of death. Chopin conveys the benefits of the liberated woman along with the personal detriments especially if the liberation is against the societal norms. By overly depending on the world which liberation provides and detaching from reality, Edna had created for herself something that was unattainable and therefore unbearable.
1) Berkove, Lawrence I.: “’Acting Like Fools’: The Ill-fated Romances of ‘At the ‘Cadian Ball’ and ‘The Storm’” 2) Strong Female Protagonist 3) The strong female protagonist can be viewed as either revolutionary and heroin, or as foolish and immoral. 4) Although Calixta may seem to be a character with endorsed actions because of their boldness, she is criticized by Chopin. In ‘The Awakening,’ the quantity of Edna’s friendships throughout her journey of self discovery reflects the amount of support which is given her actions. As Edna grows as a character, she is eventually narrowed down to a single friendship and then left to herself. 5) Chopin presents an indefensible moral position that she portrays in her prose, seemingly a proponent of the act, but with in depth reading, the action is criticized and weakened. 6) Berkove believes that Chopin’s extraordinary skill is her ability to subtly undercut bold but morally untenable positions that she has sympathetically represented. 7) (188) 8) ‘The Awakening’ was written in the same year as ‘The Storm,’ and displays some similarly sensual content such as Edna’s relations with Alcee Arobin and her longing for Robert LeBrun. The main difference in character is that Calixta’s adultery is not premeditated, and Edna clearly intended for something to take place during her encounters. In the primary incident in which Calixta is shown to be lacking in strength, Clarisse seizes control from Calixta in ‘At the ‘Cadian Ball’ by bidding Alcee Laballiere come with her. In ‘The Storm,’ Calixta’s strength as a character is actually undermined when she defies the confines of her marriage through sexual infidelity in that she gave herself up in a moment of passion without premeditation. Calixta merely has enough power to commit the affair, but to deceive her family into believing that life as normalcy continues. The act was not the result of love originating between Calixta and Alcee, but of lust; therefore they are able to continue unchanged as a result of the lack of emotion involved. Calixta, although seemingly in control and strong is fundamentally lacking in strength because of the absence of intent. Contrastingly, Edna is a character that intentionally ventures out on her own to find what she wants rather than stumbling upon it. Both women defy their husbands. Ironically, Edna’s journey seems to be more supported idealistically than Calixta’s. This may be the result of the multifaceted nature of Edna’s development and the contrast of the single nature of Calixta’s affair. Both women experience subtle criticism from the author for the amoral action. Edna is a strong character, stronger than Calixta in that she controls her own journey on several levels of consciousness. The ideals of feminism are not undermined by a strong female character because the bold actions of Calixta do not originate in strength, and those actions of the strong Edna are for the majority supported and reasonable.
2 Comments:
1) Chopin, Kate. ‘The Awakening’; ‘At the ‘Cadian Ball’;
and ‘The Storm’
2) Sexuality
3) The stories of ‘The Storm’ and ‘At the ‘Cadian Ball’ involve dynamic characters which Chopin uses in order to embrace and contrastingly criticize the actions of impulsive sexuality; whereas other stories, such as ‘The Awakening’ embrace the exploration of a woman’s sexuality. 4) “Her firm, elastic flesh that was knowing for the first time its birthright….the generous abundance of her passion without guile or trickery was like a white flame.” 5) Chopin is saying that a pure passion is like a ‘white flame’; and a woman’s sexuality is referred to as her birthright. Chopin uses the subtleties to imply her criticism or support of the protagonist’s sexuality as presented in the text. 6) (Chopin, Page 284) 7) In ‘The Storm,’ Chopin mainly criticizes the actions and results which originate from impulsive thinking. From a feminist standpoint, she is criticizing the overly liberal ideal that encourages extramarital affairs; however, during the scene in which Alcee Laballiere and Calixta are committing adultery, Chopin calls the experiencing of passionate sexual affairs the ‘birthright’ of Calixta’s flesh. It may seem that Chopin is contradicting herself; however, the main concept of the passage is her disapproval of the affair-then the subtle placement of a woman’s right to enjoy sexuality. Chopin is conveying the support of a sexually liberated woman, but within a certain means.
White flames are those of the hottest fire, which also consume and destroy everything around it. Calling Calixta’s passion a ‘white flame’ is denoting how deeply and with how much impact a desire can burn. By using this image, Chopin is showing the duality of the situation in which Calixta and Alcee spontaneously placed themselves.
1) Chopin, Kate. ‘The Storm’
2) Sanctity of Marriage
3) Although Chopin believed in the mentally liberated woman, she did agree with some societal boundaries that were placed, such as the sanctity of marriage. 4) In ‘The Storm’ Calixta and Alcee Laballiere violate this sacred relationship, and Chopin uses their adultery to convey the limits of a liberated woman. Two main images can be referenced for this criticism. 5a) The first is taking place when the storm is about to hit and Calixta realizes she needs to take in the clothing. 6a) “She had hung Bobinot’s Sunday clothes to air and she hastened out to gather them before the rain fell.” 5b) The second is Bobinot admonishing Bibi, his son, for getting dirty during the storm. 6b) “’You ought to be ashame’. An’ that mud on yo’ collar! How you got that mud on yo’ collar Bibi?’ ...Bibi was the picture of pathetic resignation.” 7) (Chopin, Page 282, 285) 8) The true criticism of the extramarital affair comes in through the dialogue and actions of the characters in ‘The Storm.’ Using implications from both selections, Chopin advocates the sanctity of marriage. Primarily, the storm that is taking place in the story must be recognized as a symbol of the sexual infidelity. It, through various means, violates every aspect of Bobinot and Calixta’s house physically, and reaches its most violent stages at the peak of the sexual act itself. The first quote, by specifically indicating that the clothes were those worn on a Sunday denotes to them a level of sacredness associated with the day of worship, which is about to be ruined by the approaching storm. Following the adulterous act, the son of Calixta and Bobinot is dirty. In this case, Chopin is using Bibi himself as a symbol of the marriage, where two symbolically become one, and Bibi being the literal biological semblance of two becoming one flesh. The purity of Bobinot and Calixta’s marriage has been dirtied, and to demonstrate the relevance of this fact, Chopin enforces it by using a symbol to convey it. Chopin thus summarizes the marriage as ‘reduced to pathetic resignation.’ The importance that is placed on showing the damage and impurity following the extramarital sex is purporting Chopin’s personal views of the limits of a woman’s liberation.
1) Thornton, Lawrence: ‘The Awakening: A Political Romance’
2) Awakening, Chopin’s time conflicts
3) According to Thornton, the society in which Edna lived only gave enough freedom to women to tempt them or satisfy them. 4) Society did not meet the needs of Edna, but rather confined them; therefore, Edna Pontellier turned to inward contemplation as a source of personal satisfaction which leads her into conflict with her French Creole society, and eventually conflict with her own contentedness of existence. 5) In general women were satisfied, however, Edna was a unique individual of her society and isolated in many ways, ultimately physically and socially. The society being ‘solidly conventional’ reveals the existence of patriarchy in that the society is following traditional gender roles.
6) The deception of Creole Society which seems to accord women with greater latitude than it is willing to grant. That women could smoke cigarettes, listen to men tell risqué stories, and read French novels soon appears as only a veneer covering a solidly conventional society that titillated itself with flourishes of libertinism.
7) (86) 8) Gender Roles present themselves in the Awakening in the form of being the initiation of need to rebel. The realization of Edna as being ‘personal property’ caused her to feel an oppression and a need to rebel against the society which condoned that oppression. Ironically, the gender role is not escaped despite Edna’s attempts in that Robert is how Edna first discovers her need to rebel. Edna later determines that she is her only source of liberation, and swims out into the ocean, the ultimate reversal of gender role. Edna continues reaching for it herself; however she cannot find the satisfaction that her romantic illusion has created for her therefore her act of swimming out into the sea is the recognition that society has no place for her. (88) By creating a character which provides Edna with support (Mme. Reisz), Chopin is advocating the free spirit of Edna’s new self which she is discovering by giving a characterized support. Mme. Reisz is the confidant of Edna which plays her the music where she temporarily finds her escape. The ultimate point to which Edna is driven, she goes alone, without a friendship supporting her, and thus Chopin’s statement that suicide as escape of society induced gender oppression is not the proper response. As Edna reaches to develop herself, she becomes increasingly detached from reality. As Edna attempts to get away from the romanticism of her Creole society, she falls into another form created by herself. By defying society, Edna recognizes who she is as defined by herself and society, and she is temporarily set free by it; however because there is no place for her, her awakening becomes a burdensome fact which makes her miserable to the point of death. Chopin conveys the benefits of the liberated woman along with the personal detriments especially if the liberation is against the societal norms. By overly depending on the world which liberation provides and detaching from reality, Edna had created for herself something that was unattainable and therefore unbearable.
1) Berkove, Lawrence I.: “’Acting Like Fools’: The Ill-fated Romances of ‘At the ‘Cadian Ball’ and ‘The Storm’”
2) Strong Female Protagonist
3) The strong female protagonist can be viewed as either revolutionary and heroin, or as foolish and immoral. 4) Although Calixta may seem to be a character with endorsed actions because of their boldness, she is criticized by Chopin. In ‘The Awakening,’ the quantity of Edna’s friendships throughout her journey of self discovery reflects the amount of support which is given her actions. As Edna grows as a character, she is eventually narrowed down to a single friendship and then left to herself. 5) Chopin presents an indefensible moral position that she portrays in her prose, seemingly a proponent of the act, but with in depth reading, the action is criticized and weakened. 6) Berkove believes that Chopin’s extraordinary skill is her ability to subtly undercut bold but morally untenable positions that she has sympathetically represented. 7) (188)
8) ‘The Awakening’ was written in the same year as ‘The Storm,’ and displays some similarly sensual content such as Edna’s relations with Alcee Arobin and her longing for Robert LeBrun. The main difference in character is that Calixta’s adultery is not premeditated, and Edna clearly intended for something to take place during her encounters. In the primary incident in which Calixta is shown to be lacking in strength, Clarisse seizes control from Calixta in ‘At the ‘Cadian Ball’ by bidding Alcee Laballiere come with her. In ‘The Storm,’ Calixta’s strength as a character is actually undermined when she defies the confines of her marriage through sexual infidelity in that she gave herself up in a moment of passion without premeditation. Calixta merely has enough power to commit the affair, but to deceive her family into believing that life as normalcy continues. The act was not the result of love originating between Calixta and Alcee, but of lust; therefore they are able to continue unchanged as a result of the lack of emotion involved. Calixta, although seemingly in control and strong is fundamentally lacking in strength because of the absence of intent. Contrastingly, Edna is a character that intentionally ventures out on her own to find what she wants rather than stumbling upon it. Both women defy their husbands. Ironically, Edna’s journey seems to be more supported idealistically than Calixta’s. This may be the result of the multifaceted nature of Edna’s development and the contrast of the single nature of Calixta’s affair. Both women experience subtle criticism from the author for the amoral action. Edna is a strong character, stronger than Calixta in that she controls her own journey on several levels of consciousness. The ideals of feminism are not undermined by a strong female character because the bold actions of Calixta do not originate in strength, and those actions of the strong Edna are for the majority supported and reasonable.
Coming soon.
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