Kate Chopin is an outstandingly creative writer who brilliantly writes so that even if you are not the strongest reader, you will still get a compelling story; but if you are a strong reader, you’ll go further by receiving the true meaning behind her wit and intelligent writing styles. Chopin is great about letting you scratch the surface of a topic that needs to be brought to attention and then just exploits the details by placing wordage exactly where it needs to be to realize just how pressing these issues are, and especially how different times were back then than how they are currently. In her short stories, specifically “The Storm” and “Desiree’s Baby”, Chopin is portraying the need for spousal voices to be equal by contrasting the responsibilities
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If a woman was rich, she got to lay around in her bed all day and do absolutely nothing, just as Desiree was permitted to do. She had maids to do her housework, nannies to watch her children, and slave boys to fetch her anything and everything she wanted (75). She could go out and party, shop, hang out with friends, all without a care in the world. When her husband was around, she probably didn’t have to do much of anything for him, just acknowledge him if he chose to talk to her (75, 76). If he did ask certain things of her, she had to respond and submit quickly. A poor woman, like Calixta on the other hand, had it really rough. She had to cook, clean, do yard work, take care of her kids, stay home all day, wait on her husband hand and foot, and be submissive in all areas (81, 83). These are all tasks Desiree would never imagine having to do. Men were quite different than the women. A rich man, such as Armand, had slaves and workers to do his work for him (74). Other rich men of this time were wealthy from family, ran their own businesses, owned their own property, owned stock, and were so well off that they got to “work” from home if they chose, and sometimes were even able to do nothing all day. Unfortunately, poor men had to work long, hard, hot days, usually 12 hours long to just barely get by and support their families, with extremely low and unfair wages and working conditions, like Bobinot. One good thing for the poor men was that they still were dominant and got to do as they pleased (81, 83, 84). All in all, if you were a woman, you stayed home, and if you were a man, you worked in some way or another, but your hierarchy determined your roles as a spouse even further, because this determined your privileges. Yet again, Chopin displays that the men are put above the women and have less work to do than them, but still
If a woman was rich, she got to lay around in her bed all day and do absolutely nothing, just as Desiree was permitted to do. She had maids to do her housework, nannies to watch her children, and slave boys to fetch her anything and everything she wanted (75). She could go out and party, shop, hang out with friends, all without a care in the world. When her husband was around, she probably didn’t have to do much of anything for him, just acknowledge him if he chose to talk to her (75, 76). If he did ask certain things of her, she had to respond and submit quickly. A poor woman, like Calixta on the other hand, had it really rough. She had to cook, clean, do yard work, take care of her kids, stay home all day, wait on her husband hand and foot, and be submissive in all areas (81, 83). These are all tasks Desiree would never imagine having to do. Men were quite different than the women. A rich man, such as Armand, had slaves and workers to do his work for him (74). Other rich men of this time were wealthy from family, ran their own businesses, owned their own property, owned stock, and were so well off that they got to “work” from home if they chose, and sometimes were even able to do nothing all day. Unfortunately, poor men had to work long, hard, hot days, usually 12 hours long to just barely get by and support their families, with extremely low and unfair wages and working conditions, like Bobinot. One good thing for the poor men was that they still were dominant and got to do as they pleased (81, 83, 84). All in all, if you were a woman, you stayed home, and if you were a man, you worked in some way or another, but your hierarchy determined your roles as a spouse even further, because this determined your privileges. Yet again, Chopin displays that the men are put above the women and have less work to do than them, but still