The Storm by Kate Chopin

Biography

Kate Chopin is categorized as one of the most famous feminine authors of 20th century. Before Kate's husband died, she was spending her life as a conventional housewife. Her life was considerably altered with the tragedy of her life, her husband's death (American Literature.com, 2013). She began to write short stories and got fame mainly for her story, “The Awakening”. Some of her famous short stories include, “the story of an hour”, “regret”, “desiree's baby”, “the storm”, and “at the Canadian ball”. In “the storm”, Chopin has boldly addressed the subject of female sexual desire. The story was written in the time, when women were not considered socially equal to men. They were not allowed to experience their sexual desires while the men were.

Connection between Author and Story

Kate Chopin lived in the time, when American women had to behave well. The society had set very high standards for deciding about women virtues and purity. Due to the settings of society, women did not have the rights to express and practice their sexual desires, as the men did. Chopin has excellently portrayed her views about sex and relationships in her story; the story is explicitly about women sexuality. It is due to the norms of Chopin's society, that she could not attempt to publish her story, when it was written in 1898. She knew the fact that she could not made the society accept writings on the topic of women sexuality. Throughout the story, Chopin stressed on the inversion of gender roles. The characters simply represent the females of her time enjoying and feeling refreshed as they got liberty from their marital relationships.

Claxita, the major character of the story is in fact the personification of Chopin's ideas. Claxita plays the character of a woman who was tied and repressed to her husband. However, she felt relaxed and happy when she let her inhibitions go. This concept reveals the Chopin's idea of marriage; she believed that marriage is a relationship which takes the free will away from both partners. On the other hand, Alcee probably did not have guilt because he had been separated from his wife Clarisse, for many years, while Claxita was in a relationship. The feeling of Clarisse was not different from Claxita; she felt relaxed and breathed freely when she was away from her husband. Chopin has successfully described the point in her story that relationship of marriage strips away the chance for women to experience and enjoy their sexual liberty. Also, she suggested that the husband and wife should live apart from each other for some time to enjoy liberty; it would also help to discard the oppression which the women may feel with their relationship.

The major idea author wanted to depict in her story is rather feminist, not only opposing the social norms but also questioning the religion. Chopin has carefully developed the characters and scenario in which she got an open chance for expressing her views. The storm took ...