Discussion Post #4

In class, we read the story, "The Storm" by Kate Chopin. The story was very easy to do a feminist analysis on because it was written at a time when women did not have equal rights with men and were seen as inferior. The protagonist is Calixta, a seemingly uneducated housewife. She is the stereotypical women of that specific time period because she does all of the cooking and cleaning and feels defenseless when a man isn't around to protect her, especially during the storm. When Alcee comes to Calixta's house looking for shelter from the storm, they become attracted to each other and kiss. Even though they both cheated on their spouse, Calixta would be the one to blame. She would be seen as a whore. Nobody would care as much that Alcee was also apart of it because he is a man.
I decided to do my second feminist analysis on the poem, "Night Waitress" by Lynda Hull. The narrator is a waitress who seems to be lonely and has no self-confidence which is noted when she says, "my face has character, not beauty" (26). The men probably treat her like scum because she mentioned that "the men all look as if they'd never had mothers" (27). I think she is trying to say that the men are very rude and obnoxious to her. The waitress probably doesn't like her job because of the way she is treated but it is probably at a time period where woman can't have jobs as lawyers or the owner of a company so she has no other choice. She is just seen as a waitress.