Every writer has different views and perspective which grasps an audience’s attention. Often times these views come from their own experiences and judgments. More specifically, a writer depicting the opposite sex usually has to make an educated interpretation of the differences in views, personalities, traits, and feelings. These judgments differ from artist to artist allowing for literature and feminist criticism to be intriguing. Both, Ernest Hemmingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” and Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” illustrate the different perspective of the author’s characters from a male and female point of view. The short story, “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemmingway views gender roles as male dominant. There are many examples …show more content…
Her short story “The Storm” portrays females as equal to men but, in the end, criticizes women. The first example of this is when Calixta cheats on her husband with Alcée. “Her firm, elastic flesh that was knowing for the first time its birthright, was like a creamy lily that the sun invites to contribute its breath and perfume to the undying life of the world” (pg 178). During this day in age, it was not heard of for a woman to cheat on their husband. However, more often than not men cheated on their wives. Here, Chopin was trying to explain that women have a right to their sexual desires just as much as men do. As Chopin would say it’s a “birthright”. Another example of equality is when Calixta acted as if she was worried about her boys, Bibi and Bobinot being out in the storm. “Calixta felt him to see if he were dry, and seemed to express nothing but satisfaction at their safe return” (pg 178). This quotation proves women can be just as deceitful as men. Calixta was not worried about her boys at all, she was too busy with Alcée to care. However, when the gentlemen came home, she acted like a concerned mother as a tool to hid her true actions. Lastly, Chopin is convinced these equal gender roles won’t ruin marriages. This is proven at the end of the story when she states “and the sun was turning the glistening green would into a palace of gems” (pg 178) and ”So the storm passed and everyone was happy” ( …show more content…
The characters in their stories are displayed in two very different forms. Hemmingway’s character is more male dominant and Chopin’s female character takes on a stereotypical male role. Chopin is trying to portray equality while Hemmingway describes stereotypical men being careless and dominant. Both these writers developed their characters from their own experiences and made educated judgments on the character’s traits, feeling, and actions. These differences in opinions, views and experiences allow for diverse
The world has always known that women were not given all of their rights. During the 19th century and even before then, most of the time women were just forced to do what they were told and what the society expected from them. Women didn’t get to make their own choices. They couldn’t fall in love, work, or be part of the society in any possible way. They were born to get old, marry, and take care of their husbands, house, and kids. Kate Chopin was one of the authors who wrote multiple stories about women and feminism. In Kate Chopin’s “The Storm,” Calixta was married, but when she saw Alcee she ignored the fact that she was married and she committed adultery with him. Kate Chopin describes how Calixta is unhappy with her married life, and how she finds happiness in adultery.
In “Desiree’s Baby,” a short story by Kate Chopin, there were three major themes: identity, racism, and gender roles. Armand has demonstrated his actual true character. He was a coldblooded, one-sided, and non caring man who was not worthy of Desiree and her kid. Armand broke his marriage promise to Desiree and his parental obligation due to his prejudgment toward the child's race. Chopin also noted a lady’s place in marriage in the mid-nineteenth century. They had nothing to do with money related transactions, political, or social issues. Everything had its place with the man including the
Like in many feministic works, that struggle constantly to point out the corruptions of a patriarchal society, which subordinates women to men and subconsciously make them accept their inferior position without defending, their opinions, their interests and themselves, Kate Chopin in her short story “The Storm”, does something completely different of what was consider as acceptable in the 18th century´s literature. She creates the character of a woman who breaks the socially accepted conception of how a woman should be and act in a relationship, or in this case in a marriage, to express her sexuality. In this society women were put in an inferior position and were deprived of many privileges and rights given to men, especially in the sexual aspect; but Chopin, with her viewpoints, went ah...
In a well-written short story, different literary elements and terms are incorporated into the story by the author. Ernest Hemingway frequently uses various literary elements in his writing to entice the reader and enhance each piece that he writes. In Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway uses symbols to teach the reader certain things that one may encounter during daily life. Symbolism may be defined as relating to, using, or proceeding by means of symbols (Princeton). The use of symbols in Hills Like White Elephants is utterly important to the plot line and to the fundamental meaning of the story. Through this use of symbolism, the reader can begin to reveal the hidden themes in this short story.
There is a never ending list of what makes some people amazing story tellers. Some writers have vast imaginations, other writers use the lives of others in their stories and other writers use their lived experiences in order to write moving works of art. Most books, works of poetry and short stories that revolve around lived experiences share a common theme of love, hate or both. As these are emotions that all humans share, However, there are some stories that have far more unique. Stories like “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. Both O’Brien and Hemingway come from two completely separate walks of life but were both able to write stories using the same theme of emotional and physical
Many short story writers have written about the gender and role of woman in society. Some of these stories express what Barbara Walter calls, “The Cult of True Womanhood” meaning the separation of both man and woman in social, political and economic spheres. In order to be considered a “true woman” woman were to abide by the set of standards that were given to her. Women were expected to live by the four main principal virtues - piety, purity, submissiveness, and domestication. In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Storm,” Calixta the main female character breaks away from “The Cult of True Womanhood” when she has a sexual encounter with her past lover Alcée. The storm goes through many twists and turns that tie with their adulterous actions. Although she breaks away from the four main principal virtues, she in the end is considered to be pure innocent of heart because the action in which occurred happened instantly, and as white as she was, she was taken away from her innocence.
...me. Were Calixta's actions correct? Chopin makes a great statement by describing women's feelings and needs identical those of any other man . The Storm is much more than just a storm but it's Calixta's state of mind, it also personifies women needs and faith as a natural unstoppable force. Chopin makes an extremely strong arguments for woman's equality. How a woman can act independently of a man, and how a man can supply the energy of a storm of emotions that can ultimately result in their personal freedom. I recently heard the following quote on the news and I believe is the perfect closing statement for this paper, " The oppressor is in power as long as the oppressed allow it to be so."
Chopin’s use of symbolism throughout the text establishes a method of conveying the opposition of structural gender roles in Victorian society to readers in a magnificent way.
Chopin’s story “Desiree’s Baby demonstrates many points of racism, sexism, prejudice and the perception of characters throughout the story. Throughout the story there are many examples of how Chopin relates to these topics in Desiree’s Baby. The setting plays a huge role throughout the story because it takes place during the time of the Civil War. This was a time where women weren’t allowed to speak their minds and had to follow whatever their husbands decided upon them.
Patriarchy evince the arrogance in men, not giving women a say in what they desire to do in their lives. An example of patriarchy is in page 79: “You are are too lenient, you are too lenient by far, leonce, authority, coercion are what is needed. Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife.” Edna’s dad tells leonce he is weak, he needs to take charge by forcing Edna to do whatever he wants. Both Edna's dad and her husband, Mr. Pontellier, are controlling of their wife, they want to be a dominant figure in their life. Chopin criticizes men by evincing their haughty characteristics, which diminishes someone’s perception of them. An example of patriarchy is in page 119: “ I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where i chose.” and “I should laugh at you both.” Edna does not want to be a possession of any man anymore. She is tired of being someone’s “possession.” Edna wants to be an independent woman that is not having to following any expectations to live by. Edna laughs because she is tired, she thinks marriage is a joke, it only leads back to society oppressing
...er that their future freedom and individuality was in, and also to denote such a condition to society as a whole so that it might cease to foster its false and detrimental stereotypes of the female populous. Chopin recognized the disparity between the true needs and wants of women and those that society forced upon them, and provoked women to speak out against such oppression by pointing out the negative consequences that would result from their continual acquiescence. The central themes and social commentary conveyed through Chopin's vivid imagery and meaningful diction lead both past and present readers to reflect upon the role of women and society's effects upon those of all gender, race, and ethnicity.
English literature has a history of simplifying female characters to boost likeness for male characters in writing. Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author of The Blithedale Romance discusses how there is a disparity in developing characters amongst different genders. The novel describes Hawthorne’s time at Brook Farm and his experience with people whom shared some of his beliefs about the world. Hawthorne’s work suggests that men are important to the narrative because the tool is an effective way to relate to one’s audience.
Xuding Wang writes in her essay, Feminine Self-Assertion in “The Story of an Hour”, a strong defense for Kate Chopin’s classic work, “The Story of an Hour”. Wang provides powerful proof that one of the pioneering feminist writers had a genuine desire to push the issue of feminine inequality. Even decades later, Xuding Wang fights for the same ground as Kate Chopin before her. She focuses on critic Lawrence I. Berkove, who challenges that Louise Mallard is delusional with her personal feelings of freedom once she discovers the news that her husband has passed away. The story opens with the line “Knowing Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble” (Chopin). [1] Chopin uses allegory to describe
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
Indisputably, roles and characteristics of opposite genders have been ubiquitous, since historical evidence proves so – dating back to when the practice of oral tradition was favored over written language. This historical evidence is especially apparent in literature from previous time periods. In these works of literature, men and women often have very different social and economic positions within society. Particular duties, or tasks, are practiced depending on the gender of these individuals. However, in the advancing world we are currently living in, these duties are beginning to intertwine in an effort to allow equal rights amongst opposite genders. This effort to break the sexist barrier, which encompasses our world, has already begun rattling the chains of politicians and the like. However, with the progressions made thus far in retaliation to sexism and unequal gender privileges, the United States of America is heading in a positive direction towards gender equality. Nonetheless, the female gender is perceived as a lesser entity in society while the male gender is dominant and controlling. The masculine individuals in literary works usually govern, or direct the feminine individuals. These characteristics are often evident in various literary works – including “Hills Like White Elephants,” and “A&P” written by Ernest Hemingway and John Updike, respectively. The slow and steady transformation from a sexist society to one that allows inferior genders to perform similar tasks, if not the same as their superior counterparts, may disturb the ideological mindset of figures with authority; however, it provides inferior genders with the opportunity to branch out socially, economically, and politically.