Reading the story 'The Storm', by Kate Chopin reminded me of a bad romance novel, I have never read one myself, but this story fits the archetype I have in my head perfectly. Everything is described in rich, vomit-inducing phrases such as "Her lips were as red and moist as pomegranate seed," and "...when he possessed her, they seemed to swoon together at the very borderland of life's mystery." The plot line doesn't fail to disappoint either, with the innocent housewife being swept off her feet in the middle of a big storm by a passionate, muscular former lover. They cherish the moment, then the storm passes and he rides off into a glistening sunset described as a "palace of gems," while she stands on the porch watching him ride away. The most interesting part of the story is that even though both the woman and the man are married, neither of them seem to experience any kind of regret or guilt after their fleeting affair, in fact, both seem to be happier and more content with their lives after it is over.
Looking deeper into the text however reveals some deep and introcate points for a feminist critique. The general characters seem to be very demeaning to women, with Calixta being portrayed as this sweet, innocent, perfect housewife. She seems to be completely content sitting at home sewing, cooking and worrying while the men of the story take action. The men are the ones out in the storm, the former lover was the one that put his arms around her to protect her, he had to quiet her and soothe her because she was frightened of the storm. The text refers to Calixta using a lot of adjectives, likening her to a flower and a dove, while at the same time refering to Alcee using action words, he is the one that kissed her, he "touched" her, he "possessed:" her. Calixta is made out to be this completely innocent, defenseless creature that just wants to be taken by this passionate muscular man. I feel that if taken for face value, this story seems to be very off-base with reality.
The ending of the story is what gives it new meaning though. Something about this infidelity with a complete lack or remorse or bad feelings really made me start thinking about any alternate meanings that the text could hold. One that came to me after reading through the story a couple times is that maybe this is a story about a woman who has something lacking in this perfect housewife life of hers, and uses the storm and the former lover to take back control of herself and realize that she is her own person and not just some stereotype set by society.
The second story that I read was, 'To His Importunate Mistress', by Peter De Vries. This short poem has some very masculine overtones to it, with the general plot being that the subject of the poem is frustrated with this gold digging love of his, and how he doesn't have enough money for it, but he really wants to sleep with her. The poem is actually quite humorous as it pulls back and forth between his infatuation with this woman, and his apparent lack of funding. From a feminist perspective, this poem really alienates the woman and draws all the attention to the man, as a lot of people could probably relate to this sort of archetype. The woman in this poem is not named, and the only way she is described throughout the entire text is in terms of how expensive she is. But inversely, this might be a story about how much of a cheapskate this guy is, and how he is just looking for an excuse to get out of it. While the text doesn't set you up to feel that way in the first place, this man is clearly not a picture of chivalry, talking about how anyone that ends up with this woman, "Must rue the undishevelled bed" and hoping to spend time in "rented bowers." It is hard to glean any kind of universal truth from this text, but I feel that it does serve to highlight how easily negative stereotypes can be put onto women.
Wesley Marin
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