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).
When Alcee approaches Calixta asking for shelter, Calixta was deeply focused in her household chores. The writer describes Calixta's suppressed emotions and passions for Alcee which were now aroused after the encounter between both of them. Constrained by the boundaries set by her marital status, Calixta had not seen Alcee very often after her marriage and never alone. She allows him inside and talks excitedly about the stuff going on at her place and also talks about her preparation for the storm helping to demonstrate the arousing sexual tension that she is feeling while Alcee is around. The subject of adultery was first introduced soon after Alcee asked Calixta if he may take refuge from the approaching storm within her house.
The woman stuck in the wallpaper does circles and is sometimes able to crawl out through the window. Jane is reflecting her situation onto the wallpaper because much like the woman in the wallpaper, she’s stuck in her situation as well. Her husband confines her because of her sickness and he wants to keep her sheltered from the outside world. She is not allowed to work and has to stay in or around the house at all times. Her husband also babies her, treating her like she
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. Calixta, is a married woman, who finds herself in a very tempting situation when she allows Alcee, a lover from her past, to wait out a bad storm inside her home, together alone. This situation presents Calixta with an unknown opportunity to go astray from her marital vows, she allows her built up sexual tensions for Alcee to let her cash in on sinful passions. This blinds Calixta from stopping to think through any logic surrounding these unwarranted feelings that she is experiencing. In the following passage, “the fear in her liquid blue eyes had given place to a drowsy gleam that unconsciously betrayed a sensual desire” (177), the term ‘unconsciously’ that is used in this context gives credence to Calixta’s sensual vulnerabilities.
This is done not as an attack on white society, but as a sort of trial that Janie must face to prove her blackness. The hurricane uproots the thriving black community living out on the muck and carries away the life that Janie loves. But she is still with Teacake and tells him “Ah’m wid mah husband in uh storm, dat’s all… if you kin see de light at all. Ah wuz fumblin’ round and God opened de door.”(p.151) her love for TeaCake is so strong- he has given her a life of love, equality and adventure. The events at the end of the book test the love and Janie must prove her dedication to TeaCake to end his miserable rabid state, Janie feels the wrath of the ‘boys’ from the back of the courtroom.
Throughout this book Shakespeare chooses to mix references of weather into his text to make it more stimulating and cultured. One of the roles this plays in this book is developing the atmosphere of what is going on in the plot at the time. Using weather is good way to do that, because weather can have a big effect on peoples’ minds. People tend to relate the weather with certain moods, actions, events and types of people. Near the start of the story this idea of weather setting the mood becomes present when Macbeth and Banquo meet with the witches.
The unnamed narrator of the story is advised to abstain from any and all physical activity and intellectual stimulation. May it be reading, writing, or even to seeing her new baby. To ensure the narrator receives the full effect of this form of treatment, the woman’s husband takes her to a country house where she is kept in a former nursery decorated with yellow wallpaper. Over time she becomes obsessed with the wallpaper in every aspect whether it be the look or even smell of it. She eventually becomes so absorbed by the wallpaper that she sees a woman trapped inside of it and then tries to free her by peeling off the wallpaper.
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
In this short story written by Ray Bradbury, the author wants to emphasize the negative effects of the technology on the family. In order to have a well written short story, the author must use many literary devices. During this tale, Bradbury uses metaphors, foreshadowing, dialogue, similes and tone levels to accentuate the emotional experience. One example of foreshadowing is right at the beginning of the story. George’s wife is so concerned about the nursery that she bothers to ask for a second opinion.