Monday, February 26, 2007
Kate Chopin
Katja
ENGL 48 B
Journal # 25, Chopin
26 February, 2007
"The rain was coming down in sheets obscuring the view of far-off cabins and enveloping the distant wood in a gray mist. The playing of the lightning was incessant." (Kate Chopin 631)
Taken from Kate Chopin’s The Storm, this quote is a not so subtle reference to the sexual tension between Alcée and Calixta.
Although scandalous for her day, Chopin’s thinly veiled sexual references strike me as Harlequin-esque in style. The increasing strength of the storm, the exotic and somewhat loose woman, the strong man commanding his horse, the isolated setting.... While we all appreciate some bodice-ripping, steamy sex every so often, Chopin’s message of infidelity bothers me. She is clearly stating that women of lower class (i.e. the lusty ones) cannot expect to find sexual contentment with their husbands and must seek it outside of marriage. Her husband is, of course, a dolt and cannot possibly hold a candle to the dashing, manipulative and higher-class Alcée. The class/sexuality/gender theme is quite disturbing in its Victorian-ness. It makes me sick!
Chopin gives her characters allowance to do what cannot be avoided in shelter of the storm. The convenient pocket of invisibility also seems to give them immunity from any potential accusations as to their encounter: it was stormy, she was frightened, they became possessed, they could not help themselves. While reading, I could not help but think that Calixta’s husband somehow knew to stay at the little store during the storm, following the notion of what he does not know cannot hurt him. After all, why should he be discontent? He has gotten what he wanted: Calixta and a family, while she has given up everything she wanted, which is Alcée to a certain extent, but even more so, freedom and choice.
ENGL 48 B
Journal # 25, Chopin
26 February, 2007
"The rain was coming down in sheets obscuring the view of far-off cabins and enveloping the distant wood in a gray mist. The playing of the lightning was incessant." (Kate Chopin 631)
Taken from Kate Chopin’s The Storm, this quote is a not so subtle reference to the sexual tension between Alcée and Calixta.
Although scandalous for her day, Chopin’s thinly veiled sexual references strike me as Harlequin-esque in style. The increasing strength of the storm, the exotic and somewhat loose woman, the strong man commanding his horse, the isolated setting.... While we all appreciate some bodice-ripping, steamy sex every so often, Chopin’s message of infidelity bothers me. She is clearly stating that women of lower class (i.e. the lusty ones) cannot expect to find sexual contentment with their husbands and must seek it outside of marriage. Her husband is, of course, a dolt and cannot possibly hold a candle to the dashing, manipulative and higher-class Alcée. The class/sexuality/gender theme is quite disturbing in its Victorian-ness. It makes me sick!
Chopin gives her characters allowance to do what cannot be avoided in shelter of the storm. The convenient pocket of invisibility also seems to give them immunity from any potential accusations as to their encounter: it was stormy, she was frightened, they became possessed, they could not help themselves. While reading, I could not help but think that Calixta’s husband somehow knew to stay at the little store during the storm, following the notion of what he does not know cannot hurt him. After all, why should he be discontent? He has gotten what he wanted: Calixta and a family, while she has given up everything she wanted, which is Alcée to a certain extent, but even more so, freedom and choice.
# posted by Katja @ 9:05 AM 
