Jamaica Kincaid

Kate Chopin's short story 'The Storm'; describes an encounter of infidelity between two lovers during a brief thunderstorm. The story alludes to the controversial topic of women's sexuality and passion, which during Chopin's time no one spoke about much less wrote about. So controversial was 'The Storm,'; that it was not published until after her death in eighteen ninety-nine. The story is broken up into five sections, each filled with small clues and hints that reflect her message. In short, Kate Chopin's 'The Storm'; is about a confirmation of feminine sexuality and passion and a rejection of the suppression of it by society.

Society is often seen to have different biases or perspectives on topics such as the role and perception of women. The short story, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, consists primarily of a catalog of commands and instructions, the purpose of which is to make sure that the mother’s daughter is constantly in check and not getting into any trouble. Jamaica Kincaid utilizes a wide range of techniques such as symbolism and diction in order to showcase the theme of how the depiction of women rely mainly on how they present themselves in the public and how they are so easily described as impure or filthy.

“ You educate a man; you educate a man. You educated a woman; you educate a generation” stated by Brigham Young. Jamaica Kincaid in her short story Girl, this is the message she wants her readers to understand.Kincaid sets up a “ how to” format for the way a woman should behave. The mother gives her daughter advice on being a woman through her past experiences and shows her that being feminine revolves around maintaining a home, but the daughter disagrees. When the mother corrects her way of thinking, it is implied throughout the story that the daughter is trapped by the rules of femininity. Kincaid lists countless stereotypical roles of a woman which appears to be sexist and puts a limit on what women can and cannot do. However, Girl empowers women and gives power, freedom and control.

In the story "The Storm", Kate Chopin plots a situation in which two people surrender to their physical desires. Chopin wrote fiction stories in the late 19th century. She was condemned due to the immorality presented in her work. At her times, woman was considered to be very innocent, and always faithful to her husband. In Chopin's work one sees a totally different view of a woman's behavior. She is not a popular writer of her era because of her crude works; the audience of her period could not justify her stories. In the story "the storm", Kate Chopin by hiding the immoral behavior of her characters behind the fear of bad weather is being ironic.

“Girl” is a short story in which the author, Jamaica Kincaid, unofficially presents the stereotypes of girls in the mid 1900s. Kincaid includes two major characters in the story “Girl”, they are the mother and the girl. Although the daughter only asks two questions in this story, she is the major character. The mother feels like her daughter is going in the wrong direction and not making the best decisions in her life. The whole story is basically the mother telling her daughter what affects her decisions will have in the future. The mother believes that because her daughter isn’t sitting, talking, cleaning, walking or singing correctly it will lead her to a path of destruction. “Girl” is a reflection of female sexuality, the power of family, and how family can help overcome future dangers.

“ Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and “If” by Rudyard Kipling are 2 poems that have a parent writing to their kid trying to teach them in a different way. In “Girl”, there is a mother writing to her daughter to tell her directions to become the perfect girl. In “If”, the father writes to his son to teach very important life lessons. These two poems have a similar topic but a different setting and theme. There is going to be some evidence and reasoning to back up the similarity and differences.

The poem “Aunt Ida Pieces a Quilt” by Melvin Dixon and the essay “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid are both from the book Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing edited by Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. In “Aunt Ida Pieces a Quilt” by Melvin Dixon, the author describes a story of Aunt Ida and expresses her deep grief and memory of her niece through their former experience of making a quilt. The author wants to let readers understand that numerous people die because of AIDS, and all of them will be remembered in another way. The author tries to spark the readers to sense the sadness and frustration in Ida. In the reading “Girl,” Jamaica Kincaid uses a narrative mode to describe the heavy and tedious work a girl should do in her daily life. This poem-like essay contains a list of instructions given by a mother to her daughter. It seems that she cannot bear these rules anymore and begin shouting in the following article. She demonstrates her strong attitude of her annoyance and discontentment. The author argues the injustice between men and women and shows her willingness to live like men in the freedom. Both the poem and the essay use a lot of strategies in common to present their perspective towards gender such as they both use a narrative mode and they both can give us a feeling that we are at a rapid pace, what’s more, both authors are good at using comparison method in their work. Despite their similarities, each of them has some

“The Storm”, was written by Kate Chopin, who was a feminist writer who insinuated that women had an unspoken sexual appetite and longed for independence. She wrote stories that were considerably taboo of her time, including “The Storm”, which was about a woman in a content marriage, longing for attention and excitement who leans on another man for it. On the other end of the American literature spectrum, there is John Steinbeck, who was also a feminist writer. Steinbeck wrote the short story “The Chrysanthemums” about a woman’s brief extramarital sexual encounter during a storm. Steinbeck understood the struggles of women of his time, sympathizing with them and ultimately becoming a voice for them. “The Chrysanthemums” and “The Storm” both have similarities in terms of subject, gender roles, and influences which amplify how normal these stories “taboos”, really were and still are today.

The 1800s served as a turning point for the role of women in society. Nearing the end of the century, the idea that women should not work outside the home began to be challenged, and women started to hold jobs of their own (Fischer et al., 2000). Great opportunity was given to unmarried women, as they gained independence in living apart from their families (Fischer et al., 2000). Women began to fight for their independence, opposing the idea of only being known as a housewife. Kate Chopin was among the individuals who challenged what the role of women in society was during the late 1800s. Chopin shares her perspective in her two short stories, “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm.” In “The Story of an Hour,” the main

In Jamaica Kincaid’s story, Girl, a mother is talking to her daughter about all the proper things she must do to be considered a good girl to her family and to the public, and when she grows up, a proper lady. She must follow the rules that are given to her by her own mother and by society. The mother also teaches the daughter how to act when things don’t go her way. She is told that along with being a proper lady, she must also be able to get what she wants and be independent. This story was written in the late 1970’s and gender roles, for women, back then were not being “followed” because women wanted equal opportunities (Women In the Workforce). “Gender stereotypes are beliefs regarding the traits and behavioral characteristics given to individuals on the basis of their gender” (Deuhr). This essay will discuss the gender roles that were given to women in the story, during the late 70’s, and in today’s society.

In “The Storm” Kate Chopin makes the setting an essential and entwined part of her action and ideas. The story focuses on the two main characters, Calixta and Alcee and their short love affair. The action is taking place in a small town in Louisiana where all of the characters live. The story is set in the late nineteenth century when adultery was not expected from anyone, as woman were considered to be innocent and faithful. The integration of setting and story can be followed in details about the storm itself, setting of the atmosphere/mood, and also the complexities of married status in the society.

A storm can represent and symbolize many different meanings. The impact of the word can be brought about in many different views and aspects that arrange themselves to create and portray detailed information and great definition to the subject of the short story as a whole. By using the storm as a symbol, it gives way to a passage that will encounter the relationship and parallel aspect of both the fervent thunder that occurs and the sexual passion that is encountered throughout the story. Kate Chopin opens up an interesting view and tentative explanation of human sexuality and the strong point of view of regulations placed on human sexuality as well as the aspect of trying to control a storm. By tying up these two ideas with one word,

Dissimilar to a large portion of Kate Chopin's short stories and both her books, “The Storm” was not publish until the 1960s, numerous years after it was composed. Clearly Chopin did not submit it to magazines since she understood that no editor at the time would publish a work as sexually express as this one. The story composes that sex in this story is a power as solid, inescapable, and normal as the Louisiana storm which touches off it. The finish of the story is vague, since Chopin covers just a single day and one storm and does not reject the likelihood of later hopelessness. The accentuation is on the transitory delight of the irreverent astronomical power. In this story, Kate Chopin was not intrigued by the shameless in itself, but rather in life as it comes, in what she saw as common or positively inescapable articulations of all-inclusive Eros, inside or outside of marriage. She concentrates here on sexuality in that capacity, and to her, it is neither wild eyed nor base, however as ‘healthy’ and beautiful as life itself. In Kate Chopin’s “The Storm,” the storm can represent a temperamental unstable relationship that can cause several of contentions and issues and women wanted more out of life.

During the Victorian women were sees as slaves to their house hold. Kate Chopin uses the beginning, climax and resolution of the story as a storm. Throughout the story she uses vivid imagery and careful word choices in order to add detail to the dramatic plot of the story. Kate Chopin’s "Storm" represents something much greater than a weather phenomenon but a metaphysical symbol that represents freedom of choice, and women birthright"; Kate Chopin also describes how men are the creators of these storms.

Through their works, Kate Chopin and Virginia Woolf were able to portray a certain relationship between women and society. While some literary pieces are optimistic towards women, others are not. In this case, The Awakening, a novella written by Kate Chopin, focuses on the inner battle that the main character Edna faces throughout her life. On the other hand, Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, discusses ideas related to gender inequality. Both women seem to be facing inner turmoil that correlates back to the relationship between women and society during these time periods. Ultimately, their experiences are what drives them to change how they fit into societal norms. Therefore, the texts in this essay theorize the relationship between women and society in a way that can be encouraging towards women.