Comparing Kate Chopin's The Storm And The Awakening

Immoral. Sensual. Daring. These words reverberated into a woman’s world while society forcibly stamped their disapproval and rejected the Kate Chopin outright. Unconventional, intelligent, and gracious, she matched society with her quick Irish wit and charmed anyone who knew her. Not satisfied with the women’s role in society, she provocatively stirred emotions, thoughts, and ideas in her writings. Two such classic examples are “The Storm” and The Awakening. The idea for a woman to have sexual desires, human connections, and forthright adultery shocked and revolted the society she lived. This unconventional, innovative poet did not deter away her own personal thoughts and feelings from her judgmental peers. She relied on and stayed
Her stories often deal with marriage and would provoke an unconventional perspective on the theme. “She forced her characters to face choices between what society expects of them and what they really desired” (Bonner Jr.). When the characters decided to follow their own path rather than that of society, it forces the reader to explore the problems and dilemmas that women face. “Chopin also is unafraid to suggest that sometimes women want sex -- or even independence” (Baker). Women accepted their roles forced upon them by society, even though a void in their inner selves longed to be filled. Chopin used her writings to put longings and feelings in written form on a page. The Awakening and “The Storm” opened an awareness that women and society needed to address and change for the better. Naturally, sexual feelings are something to embrace not confine. Putting restrictions on these feelings is not healthy and confines a woman to not blossom and grow. Letting a woman blossom would bring out the true beauty of her inner being. She also gave us a glimpse of possibilities when the decision of an adulterous affair is acted upon. No judgment or condemnation came from her writings. Kate did want to show that outcomes could have different collateral and consequential paths. No matter what decision has been made, the cause and effect implemented as soon as a decision has been reached. Either bad or good outcomes are one’s own personal choice. Every individual has to live with every decision acted upon. The consequences can lead an individual down a bittersweet path. To have the freedom or liberty of being one’s true self is worth the outcome. Every individual is unique and created to bloom from this uniqueness. People around us would not see the beauty the individual is meant to be unless we allow ourselves to bloom to