Kate Chopins The Storm and Desirees Baby
Kate Chopin has always been known for her exploration into matters ofhuman identity and sexuality. Two stories that focus on these themes are"The Storm" and "Desiree's Baby." Through metaphor, setting, imagery, andforeshadowing, Chopin explores and represents issues of human sexualitythat have two very different outcomes. In "The Storm," Chopin uses the setting of the storm as a metaphor ofthe storm that Calixta will experience when Alcee appears on her doorstep.We are told that "sombre clouds were rolling with sinister intention fromthe west" (The Storm Chopin 648-9). This image indicates that somethingunexpected is about to occur. In addition, just as their sexual escapadeis over, we read that the "growl of the thunder was distant and passingway" (651). In short, the storm is very significant to the development of In addition, Chopin employs imagery to heighten our interest in thecharacters. Christopher Baker notes that Alcee "enters Calixta's houseamidst nutrient rain and warmth, a fore-shadowing of his sexual entrance tocome" (Baker). We also read that just before the storm, Calixta "felt verywarm and often stopped to mop her face which the perspiration beads
Her name suggests that in her moment of love . Another example offoreshadowing can be seen when Madame Valmonde exclaims at the sight ofDesiree's baby. In addition, he told her he wanted her to and did not evensay goodbye when she left. Big, solemn oaks grew close toit [the house] and their thick-leaved, far-reaching branches shadowed itlike a pall" (176). According to Miner, Desiree is a: product of a patriarchal and racist culture, this husband insists upon a wide gap between positions of power and powerlessness; he assumes determinative power over his wife and children, deciding who bears his name, who belongs to his family. Madonne Miner observes that "Desiree's Baby" is a representative of"Chopin's work as it concerns the instability of boundaries with which wehope to contain and control our lives" (Miner). her identity becomes one with the unfolding reproductive power of nature itself. In addition, when he tells her she is aswhite as La Blanche, we are told he "went away leaving her alone with herchild" (179). Desiree becomes the victimof such boundaries that she cannot control, and, as a result, chooses toend her life rather than cope with them. Baker also observes that Calixta's name is significant to the story. For instance, whenshe asks him why the baby looks as he does, Armand "coldly but gentlyloosened her fingers from about his arm and thrust the hand away from him"(Desiree's Baby Chopin 179).
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