Literary Analysis of Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” Kate Chopin writes a short story about a storm and also the events surrounding the “storm”. She uses a family that includes Bobinot, husband to Calixta, Bibi, Calixta’s son, and Alcee who is a past love of Calixta to unfold the story. In Kate Chopin’s “The Storm,” the story works as a central symbol paralleling the plot and developing Chopin’s theme that people’s emotions & reactions are as volatile as a violent storm. Kate Chopin also writes about Calixta’s suppressed passions and urges that she has but keeps secret within her marriage. They are like the storm in which when unleashed, they take over.
The conflict of the story arises when Alcee arrives at the home of Calixta, his former love. Using the storm as symbolism Chopin foreshadows the impending storm of their relationship. Kate Chopin’s word usage and the descriptions of the characters lead the reader to feel sympathy for the two lovers and that their passion is something that cannot be helped. As the storm approaches Calixta is at home working while her husband Bobinot and son Bibi are out at the store. Bobinot points out the storm to Bibi by calling his attention to “certain somber clouds that were rolling with sinister intention from the west, accompanied by a sullen, threatening roar” (288).
Mykeia Fields English 132 October 7, 2010 Calixta: Housewife in a Storm During the storm Calixta was very worried about her husband and son, and needed comfort at the time. Temptation is a hard thing to try to avoid when it’s right in front of you. Not paying attention to her surroundings and what was going on, she was becoming an adulterer. Calixta was a good mother and wife who cared a lot about her family, but got caught in her feelings and desires as a woman While Calixta is airing out the clothes on the porch, Alcee enters the yard seeking shelter from the coming storm. When Alcee approaches Calixta asking for shelter, Calixta was deeply focused in her household chores.
When the action takes place, they are reliving that time when their passion is strong for each other. However, there is much deeper meaning to the title and the theme of the story. “The Storm” defies the sexual standards and the limitations of the nineteenth century. Kate Chopin illustrates the restraint of the time by using the title “The Storm”; it is associated with the terms like the conflict, uneasiness and social turmoil. The storm represents the sexual tension that builds between Calixta and Alcee.
The image of a creepy, old house complete with an equally creepy caretaker is a standard setting in horror stories and late night television. Faulkner opens “A Rose for Emily” by introducing us first to Miss Emily's old house with its “stubborn and coquettish decay” (237) and to her caretaker, “an old Negro manservant.” (237) By letting the reader know that only the manservant has been inside the house in the last ten years, Faulkner foreshadows not only the mysteries to be found in the dark and dusty shadows of Miss Emily's old mansion; but also provides the reader a sad comparison, just as Miss Emily's home has fallen into disrepair, so also has her mind. While her home is cluttered with treasures from the “heavily lightsome style of the seventies,” her mind is cluttered with memories of a generation past. (237) When the town's officials visited, of the furniture they noted that “the leather was cracked,” and that “a faint dust rose” (238) when shown their seats. At this time Miss Emily was around age 42, and yet there before the fireplace was “a crayon portrait of Miss Emily's father” displayed on a “tarnished gilt easel.” (238) These are all small
Women in Black – Theme Essay How is the theme of fear and tension presented in ‘The Woman in Black’? The main theme throughout the book is the fear of mysterious ghostly intrigue which is helped by pathetic fallacy of the weather throughout the book to create the atmosphere. When Kipps, the young London solicitor first visits Eel Marsh House, the sun is bright and the “tall, gaunt house” which “gleamed steelily in the light”, stood “like some lighthouse or beacon”. However, when the “thick, damp sea-mist…enveloped” the house the “suddenness..Unnerved and disorientated” Kipps, setting the air of mystery. Arthur Kipps has been sent to Eel Marsh House to sort out Mrs. Drablow’s papers and estate after her death.
Lavonda Cline Ms. Latoya Jenkins English 102-80 14 September 2013 The Influence of Settings on Kate Chopin’s “Calixta and Louise Mallard” Kate Chopin’s Calixta, from “The Storm” and Louise Mallard from “The Story of an Hour,” both married women, who demonstrate, through their own special circumstances, how one’s surrounding environment can influence a person’s rawest of emotions or behavior. Calixta, allows herself to not only feel passionate desires for another man, but also act on those emotions, when she succumbs to the temptations of an extra-marital affair. Louise Mallard, on the other hand, reacts to her circumstances through the most unnatural emotions, those of exaggerated happiness upon learning of her husband’s death. This overwhelming joy is eventually what kills her. One can conclude that the provoking atmosphere of these women’s stories, also dictates their inner-most thoughts, provoking them to act in a hazardous fashion.
Throughout the story “The Storm”, McKnight uses a creative and unique style of suspense that takes terror to the extreme. First, the great detail of setting is scary enough. McKnight goes into depth of the house, offering descriptions such as the coldness of the house, the dying plants, and the neatness of every room. McKnight is able to allow the reader to paint a perfect picture of the house, and puts readers in the eyes of the main character, Janet. This story
She is directly affected by the plague and therefore offers the reader an insight into the grief associated with the plague. Paragraph 2- The reader also witnesses AF’s change, one of the strongest character changes in the story. We see not only the changes in her character but also the changes in her retrospective writing (eg. She shifts from calling EM Mrs Mompellion to Elinor as their relationship develops. Anna’s description is very vivid, she includes much detail whether it be of the nature surrounding Eyam or a plague sore.
This can be seen when the writer talks about what happens “when extremes of temperature collide, winds being generated instantaneously behind a hell and crash upon without warning.” (Erdrich 191). The characterization of “The Leap” is developed through the technique of flashback. One day while the author, Anna Avalon’s daughter was sewing in the room of the rebuilt house, to which she returns after complications in her recent relationship. She hears a crackle from the stove downstairs which brings back the past memories of her talented mother. Even though her mother is half-blind (cataract) now, she walks without bumping into open