illustrated portrait of American author Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin

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How does Kate Chopin view love/hate relationships in "The Storm" and "The Yellow Wallpaper"?

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Kate Chopin explores love/hate relationships in "The Storm" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" through the lens of repressive marital dynamics. In "The Storm," Calixta discovers her sexuality outside her cold marriage, highlighting societal constraints on women. In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the husband's oppressive control over his wife, masked as care, reveals a complex love/hate dynamic. Her eventual rebellion signifies liberation from these constraints, reflecting a dance of hate against her husband's dominance.

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In "The Storm", Kate Chopin's main character Calixta lacks the understanding of what marriage is in terms of sexuality. She lives life as it is expected of her, and the relationship in her marital life is obviously one of coldness, but it is due to the imposed role of women as carriers of children rather than hot blooded women what leads to this problem. When she finally has an affair she understands the naturality of being feminine, and sexual. In fact, it came to be so natural to her that she did not even feel shame.

In "The Yellow Wallpaper", as it was said in the previous response, we have another uncaring husband who does not even bother tending to the real needs of the wife (another baby-making machine) who is in real need of attention, but (maybe due to her role in society) gets none. They both feel the need to rid of the other for their own personal reasons, and in the end she finally gave in to what she felt was the right thing to do, just like Calixta did in "The Storm"

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In terms of "The Yellow Wallpaper," there is a definite presence of love/ hate relationship.  The relationship between the husband and wife is one where there can be definite perceptions of love and hate presence.  The husband's desire to want to take care of his wife in the wake of her "delicate condition" can represent a sense of love.  On the other side of this coin, the oppressive control shown by the husband in his attempts to control the wife, not to let her read or write, or go outside and partake in the world can all be seen as examples of a type of hatred.  In the wife's case, her willingness to acquiesce to her husband's wishes might represent love.  She does exactly what her husband asks of her.  Yet, at the end, when the husband enters the room and sees what has happened, the wife's dancing around the corpse of her husband could represent a dance of hate.

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