Sunday, February 11, 2007
Chopin
While I was reading "At the cadian Ball" and "The Storm." There was something that came to mind about the two of them, they both made me think of a romantic movie of our time. For instance, like Dirty Dancing Havana Nights, I mean without the dancing part of course. I really enjoyed reading the both of them and they were both sensual and just interesting to read. At first I thought that Chopin would have been a very boring writer, but she was completely different than hat I thought. Usually when I read something, i pick up on the hidden things or underlying meanings of certain lines or descriptions. But with these readings it was kinda hard to pick up on stuff. To be quite honest I didn't even know that the characters were creole or spanish. I would love to read some more of Chopin's writing. The themes of romance and the use of race and class status is what i believe makes the writings so fascinating. In class when we had to compare these readings to other things that we read in class, i couldn't think of a thing. And for some reason i still can't. These are so different, I mean i guess the use of class status could be compared to most of the readings. But it doesn't have humongous comparisons. This is completely off subject but i was also thinking, If you were Calixta, would you have married Bobinot even if you didn't love him. I probably would've just stayed single especially if i can't have Alcee. I would feel guilty to have an affair with Alcee, while married to Bobinot, so instead i would just stay single, so that way i wouldn't have to cheat. That sounds kind of Shallow or slutty, but whatever. That was just a thought that I had, you could feel completely different and I respect that.
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6 comments:
I like your comparison of Chopin’s works to a romance movie because I was thinking of her writing as a precursor to the romance novel. However, her work is on a deeper level than the typically trashy romance novel of today because she finds a way to make a shocking statement (like people can have affairs and go on to be happy) or prove a valuable point (such as rejecting people for their race is ridiculous) while maintaining her readers’ interest through the writing’s sensual content.
I also did not know that the characters were Creole and Cajun upon my first read of At the ‘Cadian Ball because it is only mentioned that “the Spanish was in [Calixta’s] blood” (622), and it seems strange that people who all have French and Spanish ancestry would place distinctions between themselves.
As far as marrying Bobinôt, I am not sure what I would do. Personally, I do not believe in marrying for any other reason than love, but Calixta lived in such a different time. It was not realistic for her to be able to marry Alcée, the man she longed for, because class constraints were much more rigid than they are today. As a female, she probably wanted to avoid having to work so hard to support herself or being viewed as an “old maid” if she did not marry eventually, and thus she settled for marrying someone whom she knew would at least be a dutiful husband. I suspect I would have made the same decision, although I probably never would have been happy since I don’t think I would have cheated on my husband and received the satisfaction she did.
I also didn’t pick up on the hidden meanings of some of the stuff until after reading. I loved these pieces because I’m still thinking about them. If I were Calixta I think I would have married Bobinot because he was a solid provider. Alcee would have never married Calixta, which is kind of sad. I almost hoped he would, but you can’t change it. At least they had one night of passion.
I also think that the stories were more interesting then what we have read thus far. I definately thought it was a good way to show different areas of the south instead of just sticking to slaves and masters.
She did talk a lot about the class structures. For example the creoles were the wealthy group and the cajuns were the peasants. She was a good writer because she gave great description and it never got boring. For example she described the woman very well. All her beautiful features very well.
I also enjoyed reading Kate Chopin's stories, she had so much description in her writing which kept it interesting. I also didn't pick up on the characters being creole and spanish until our class discussion. If I were Calixta I wouldn't have married Bobinot, I would have waited until someone else came along that I truly loved. I would never want to be with someone if I wasn't in love with him.
So allright i completely agree with what you are saying. First off i really thought Chopin's writing was going to be boring as well. But when i read it i realized it was completely opposite as well. And here's the thing: i really thought too when we had to write in class that the stories we have read so far had nothing really in common. I mean besides for an issue with race. Other than that i think what you have said about Chopin's writings is really true. Especially when you say there was nothing extra that you really picked up behind the scenes.
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