The short story “The Storm,” is about a woman who attempts to conform to society’s norm of marriage, but discovers a different way to satisfy her sexual needs which in the end results in happiness and fulfillment. Chopin brilliantly revolves the story around a storm, hence the title. Literally, a storm means a disturbance of the normal condition of the atmosphere, manifested by an unusual force, which is exactly what she depicts throughout the story with the affair between Calixta and Alcee.…
A mackerel schooner, fishing in one of the most dangerous fishing areas on the planet, found a bottle floating at sea. One of the sailors took it out of the water and handed it to the captain, who took the note out and read it to the crew. The note was from a boat named the Falcon that had been sailing for a year and one of the crew members wrote that there was no hope because their cable and rudder was gone and water was leaking onto their boat. It ended with, “The one that picks this up let it be known. God have mercy on us.” The narrator wondered what a man does in his last moments once he’s lost all hope, and this one, decided to write.…
“Groom Service” and “The Return” are two short stories taken place in a terrible setting with the main character who deals with relationship problems. Both stories have common themes related to acceptance, acknowledgement, and recognition. The protagonist in “Groom Service”, Bernard, had the ability to survive with his hunting skill, but did not dare to seek his own love. He seeks acceptance from Marie and her family. On the contrary, Kamau in the story “The Return” seeks acceptance from a village, but finds acceptances in the change that had taken place. Due to the influence of the internal and external forces created by their family and personalities, protagonists, Bernard and Kamau, did not end up with their desired partner.…
In her story Happy Endings, author Atwood speaks of various possible plots on what a happy ending is, almost like “what ifs?”, giving the reader a rush in each situation with a distinct “happy ending”. “Intended to ‘reveal the logic of traditional behavior and the many textures lying beneath ordinary life’” quotes the textbook. Causing the reader to wonder, “What is a ‘happy ending’?”. Everyone has a different interpretation of what a happy ending is and Atwood encourages her readers to explore their thoughts through her writing.…
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…
The theme of everlasting and all-consuming love is revealed by the writer's message that no matter what happens in life, extreme love is reachable. In this moment, nothing is more important than his love. His message is introduced as a hopeless question, "So what good would living do me?".…
In Women who love too much (1985), Robin Norwood describes women who gain their sense of mission by loving broken, emotionally needy man at expense of self-sacrifice and who blur the boundary of romantic love and suffering itself. She also notes that sometimes, it is through over-involvement in a one-sided, even destructive relation can women achieve sense of control and strength (ibid.).…
The Perfect Storm, written by Sebastian Junger, is a novel about a six-man crew on a commercial fishing boat called the ""Andrea Gail"". It takes place in October of 1991. The crew of the "Andrea Gail" leaves from Gloucester Massachusetts on a sword fishing expedition. They fish from Georges Bank, which is off the coast of Massachusetts, to The Grand Banks, located off the coast of Newfoundland. They also travel to the Flemish Cap which is located in almost the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. On their way back home, they encounter a freak storm that consisted of a hurricane, a low coming from over the great lakes, and a cold front coming from the Canadian Shield. This is now known as the "Perfect Storm."Georges Bank, 1896In this chapter a mackerel schooner found a bottle with a note in it. The note was a goodbye letter to anyone who found it. It told about how the crew struggled but everyone knew it was the end. Also a ship named "The Falcon" set sail one year earlier and never came back.…
In the first short story “The Storm” the setting was a small store in Louisiana that was located not far from the home of Bobinot and Calixta. The location of the store set the tone of events that followed when the storm approach the area. The graphic notion of sexual interest between Calixta and Alcee is brought to life in the secluded store during the storm. Now for the second short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the setting is a family road trip though portions of Georgia and Tennessee and other unknown southern states. The important of random location in the families round leads up the climax of their journey. The grandmother in the begging is emulated to be a person who has been there and seen it all.…
When you love somebody you experience a full range of feelings such as tenderness and anger, calmness and annoyance, jealousy or despair. You have difficulties of controlling these feelings, because you understand that you are dependent on the person whom you love. When everything is great in your relationships you are “on heavens” but when something goes wrong, you are in despair and want to cry out loudly. Sometimes you think that it would be better that you have never met your current passion, but in few minutes later you might be the most joyful person because of your love.…
Often times people believe that there are no consequences in loving a person dearly, because being with the person you love will make life a happily ever after. In the book, “Like Water for Chocolate,” Laura Esquivel takes on this misconception and states otherwise. She beautifully writes about the love story between a secretive couple, Pedro and Tita. Though their love for each other is real and grounded in truth, they face many challenges and hardships that separate them being together. Then once they are allowed to have each other, they discover the consequences their love had cheat them into. Through the romantic symbols of Tita and Pedro’s relationship, the author makes the comment that true love cannot be achieved without facing the eternal…
In the three marvelous works, Matchstick Men, Punch-Drunk Love, and "Mama Day", people are all changed greatly, and for the better by romantic or father/child love. How everyone knows that there is no one on Earth who is perfect, yet when there is love, we come so close to it. Within these three works of art, one can analyze how there is actual change through people when there is love present.…
In Barbara Graham’s “The Future of Love”, she says long-term fairy tale romance inspires true love believers and their perspective towards love itself. Graham expresses the idea that to her, a lot of relationships fail because both partners in the relationship fall in love with an idealistic view of who the other person is. She explains that couples jump into relationships thinking their significant other was this perfect image they made him/her out to be only to come to realization that it was a figment of their imagination. Graham also defies the sappy happy endings that she says everyone believes in since heartbroken romantics oversee a lot of the incompatibilities and faults in a relationship to make it more romantic for them. In our society, it seems that people who are not with a significant other will eventually go through her outlook in love. Not being in perpetual affection with somebody apparently makes one to constantly yearn for attention. Although many rhetorical strategies are used and her assessment has many valid points, there are still some aspects that can be disputed.…
What is this constant need for more in life? Can’t we just be happy with what we have? Curiosity and a desire to push the limits stunt the worthwhile goal of a lasting contentment. In Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Anna’s life is spiritually empty, and so she fills it with earthly pleasures (such as adultery) to fill the void. Levin, the other protagonist, also feels throughout the story as though something is missing in his life, but ends up actually discovering what will maintain his happiness in the long run. A main theme in the book is whether or not it is possible to preserve a happy life in a healthy way. Both characters, Anna and Levin, demonstrate how and how not to accomplish this. Filled with despair and hopelessness, as well as completeness and awareness, Anna Karenina shows what an effect, whether positive or negative, people can impose upon themselves.…
In “About Love” we read the dynamics of romantic love which tries to show that ‘love’ as such is not bound by marital relations. Anton Chkhov presents accounts of love affairs expressing his personal experience which makes him feel that love is just a hindrance and a source of dissatisfaction and irritation.…