Kate Chopin’s works are different than anything we’ve read thus far. Even though we’ve seen differences in class status in previous works, we’ve mostly only seem class status as related to slavery and racism. Chopin’s work focuses on different class types: the Creoles and the Cadians.
I have to agree that the plot of “At the Cadian Ball” was lacking, and it was almost boring. Although the essay didn’t have much of a story, the descriptions Chopin presented made up for this. She has in depth descriptions of the people, the places, and the activities that were common to Southern Louisiana. She describes Calixta as a “little Spanish vixen”, her eyes as “the bluest, the drowsiest, most tantalizing that ever looked into a man’s”, “her flaxen hair that kinked worse than a mulatto’s.” Chopin puts effort into describing the tornado: “the cyclone came that cut into the rice like fine steel.” There were many more descriptions.
My point is that Chopin put effort into her descriptions rather than her plot. I’m not saying that Chopin is incapable of creating an elaborate story. “The Storm” proves this theory wrong. I think the point of her story was to show her appreciation of the south.
“The Storm” almost seems to be written by a different author. This essay has a more exciting plot, but with the same attention to the details. Chopin includes what would be considered a ‘racy’ adulterous affair in the same detail she used in “At the Cadian Ball.” Her face was “warm and steaming.” “When he touched her breasts they gave themselves up in quivering ecstasy, inviting his lips.” These are some vivid details.
I think the essay has such importance, especially for that time. Affairs and adultery are not socially acceptable, and for an author to write such a lucid description of one, was most likely unheard of. It exposes the constraints that marriages have, and the sexual desires that both men and women have.
It seems that Chopin incorporates romance and sexual topics in many of her works. As we examined with Edgar Allen Poe, maybe events in Chopin's life encouraged her to include these topics.
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It is interesting to me that you said that At the ‘Cadian Ball and The Storm seem to be written by different authors. This thought occurred to me too but for a different reason. Although the sequel was racier, I think that the sexual content was foreshadowed by the scandal at Assumption that is hinted at but not explained. It seemed to me that more sexual content would follow. Another possible reason she did not include such explicit details in the first piece is because maybe she knew it was unlikely to be published.
The reason I thought that the pieces almost seem composed by a different writer is because of Calixta’s speech. It seems like her English, while still no where near as good as Alceé’s, has improved by the second piece. Consider the line of hers from At the ‘Cadian Ball, “But I’m goin’ now. I ent goin’ wait fu’ ‘em. I’m plum wo’out, me” (628). In The Storm, Calixta’s dialect seemed less pronounced. “My! what a rain? It’s good two years sence it rain’ like that,” (306). I think that Calixta does not have enough lines to be sure.
I think she did include a lot of description in the stories. Especially during the seduction scene. That was also very controversial writing for the time. It did also show how adultery does take place. They just had a lust for each other and that's what happens. It was very wrong. You should never cheat on your husband or wife. In the end it's amazing to even see that they weren't punished and got away with it.
I find that there was plot to "At the 'Cadian Ball" that it was about two people from two very different world falling in lust with each other. I know that this is not just what the story was about but it is also about the class structures and how these people lived their lives. I find that this story was about something that we cannot experience today and that is beginning to love someone from a different class and knowing that you cannot even be with them, unless you shame yourself and the family. I find that your views are great and make sense but this story had substance to it even though it didn't seem like it did.
I agree with you that the Cadian ball wasnt very exciting or intresting of a piece. The discriptions were really in depth, but the plot didnt go anywhere. I think the Storm however was really good story. It had a good twist, and a lot of symbolism. I dont think that it was written by another auther though, i think it was just a sequal because it happened so much later in time, 5 years after the Cadian ball. that is a lot of time to change as a person.
I also thought it was interesting that "At the Cadian Ball" and "The Storm" were really different in technique it is almost like they were written by two different women, but I guess that can be attributed to her growing as a writer I was a little curious about who she was and googled her and found the following link: http://www.angelfire.com/nv/English243/Chopin.html
It was very in depth, but as we discussed in class today take it with a grain of salt, because it is written for the general public. She became a writer later in life and as a bit of a writer myself the editing process is never ending. I like "The Storm" and of course "Desiree's Baby" more then "At the Cadian Ball". I think the one thing that makes Chopin standout is that she's a woman and we haven't seen a southern woman author yet.
i agree with the fact that Chopin's writings are totally different than what we've been reading, but it is a good different in my opinion. The "Cadian Ball" unfortunately was boring, but "The Storm" was actually very interesting, maybe it's because its a sequel of "the cadian ball." Its the same way in movies, where its either the original movie or the sequel sucks its usually one or the other. in this case the original sucked. I agree tha Chopin put a lot of effort into her descriptions, but it took too much away from the plot.
I agree that "At the Cadian Ball" was quite boring judging by its plot. And it focused purely on description which was helpful since I was not aware of the social class structure or of the culture that was evident in this area of the South. It is as though Chopin had a sequel planned for the very beginning because "At the Cadian Ball" makes sense as an intro piece that sets the scene and the tone for "After the Storm." Without being aware of teh class conflict or the culture in Louisiana, "After the Storm" by itself would not have been anything more than a short story of an affair, the story would have been greatly lacking.
I don't know if I agree with you on the whole idea that At The Cadian Ball had a boring plot. I can definitely agree that it was a little slow moving, I felt myself wanting to skip ahead and see if they just got down to it. But at the same time, I think Chopin almost did that on purpose. She mad the story drag because that's how the characters felt, perhaps they felt the same thing I did as a reader. They wanted to just act on their passion and lust but couldn't because they knew they weren't supposed to.
I think that The Storm was more racy and fast paced because that's how it was happening. All of a sudden there's a terrible storm, BOOM Alecee happens to be riding by, next he's in the house. To me it was like the storm gave them an excuse to be bad. When everything was nice and calm they couldn't do anything about the passion- but since the weather was out of control they could be too.
I thought Kate Chopin's stories were really interesting because they were different from our other readings so far. Her writing seemed to have a twist to them, everything seemed to be unexpected. I also agree with you when you said that she had in depth descriptions, maybe that's why I enjoyed reading her stories so much. I thought the seduction scene was very fun to read.
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