I thought that The ‘Cadian Ball and The Storm by Kate Chopin were both very interesting writings and descriptions of Louisiana. I found it interesting that the Cajuns and Creoles had issues with one another and thought of each other so differently. I never knew of this issue, generally in the south you think much more of black vs. white or north vs. south. While both groups used a French dialect and got along to a certain extent, it eventually became obvious that the Creoles were thought of as dominant in the community.
While Clarisse was asking Bruce where Alcee had gone, it seemed as though she already knew what he was up to and had to save him from his foolish mistake. Alcee had gone to the ‘Cadian Ball because it would be an easy place for him to pick up a lower class woman. Here they would flock to him due to his social status and he seemed to know this would be the case. Clarisse eventually stopped Alcee from leaving with Calixta, and when she spoke he knew immediately that he better listen. I don’t believe that he was necessarily listening due to his feelings for Clarisse, but more due to his embarrassment of being around this inferior woman.
In The Storm the continuation of Alcee and Calixtas fling eventually led to where they both had wanted all along. While they both knew what they were doing was wrong, it was as if they could finally concede to their passion for each other without the public telling them what they were doing was wrong. I found this part very interesting, now that they had waited until they were married, what they were doing really was wrong. Originally society would have judged them for something that was considered socially wrong, now they must judge themselves for for actually committing something morally wrong.
9 comments:
You bring up many interesting points. The Cajun/Creole class conflict does add to our picture of the South, and it shows that feelings of superiority were embedded in the South during this time period. Ending slavery was not going to end racism or discrimination. This Cajun and Creole class distinction makes even less sense to me because both have a similar ancestry and appearance. Although determining which group someone belongs to was not as obvious as it was for separating blacks and whites, there are signs that people still knew and quietly accepted their place. For example, you mention Alcée abandoning Calixta as soon as Clarisse arrives at the scene in At the ‘Cadian Ball. Although there were prior indications that Calixta is a feisty female, such as Calixta getting into a fight on Church steps with another woman, here she does nothing. She pretends not to notice Alcée any longer and does not even put up a fight, presumably because she knows that she is Cajun and Clarisse is Creole. Calixta’s lower-class status silences her.
I agree with you that Aclee went to the Cadian ball in anguish to revil in the situation of having girls flock over him. however, i dont think he left Calixta to go with Clarisse out of embarassment, i think it was more of him knowing his role. society was taking its course and interviened in any unjust actions between a creole and a cajun. He folowed her and ignored Calixta imediatley because Clarisse is whom he knew he would end up with, because that what had to happen.
I also found that both of Chopin's writings were great, they were so interesting, and like you said,in both she gave us a vivid picture of what Louisiana was like. yeah, it was weird that since this did take place in the south, you would think that it would be a Black vs. White issue but it wasn;t and that was shocking to me as well. In school we usually learn about the south as a whole black vs. white area, but Chopin changed that by describing the issue between the Cajuns and the Creoles. I have to agree with Andrea, that Alcee went to the cadian ball because women flock around him, but i don;t think he left Claixta to go with Clarisse because of embarrassment. It was definetely a class issue, but it was i think more of the fact that he knew his place and he knew he didn't belong with her.
I agree that it was interesting to read about the social class structure in Lousiana. When thinking about the South the first thing that comes to mind is slaves and the conflict between blacks and whites. It was hard for me to see the difference between the Cajuns and the Creoles because where the slaves were working their masters lands, both Alcee and Bobino were described as working, Alcee even more so. It was however important that these people remain in their social class no matter what. This was obvious in Alcee and Calixta's obvious attraction to someone in a different class.
You brought up alot of interesting things that happened in both stories. For example, the fact that people never hear too much about Creoels and the Cajuns- I definitely never thought of that conflict when we were asked to describe our thoughts on the south.
I thought it to be strange when Chopin wrote the characters as having a love affair after they were married- an getting away with it. Most stories- even today would have had at least one if not both the characters feeling badly for their actions, but not Chopin. And like you said, if they had done this before it would have just been frowned upon, but it was not morally wrong- as we all know cheating on a spouse is.
I also thought that Alcee listened when Clarisse confronted him at the ball while he was talking to Calixta because he was embarrassed. I don't believe that he had true feelings for Clarisse because if he did, he wouldn't be trying to meet other women. When he was confronted, I think he was more concerned with who was watching them, rather then hurting Clarisse.
I think that you made several really good points in your post. For one, It is really interesting that we never do hear of conflicts between classes such as the Creoles and the Cajuns, but rather when we think of conflict in teh south, we think of conflict between blacks and whites, and the issue of slavery.
Also, you had a really good point when you said that the degree to which the affair between Alcee and Calixta was wrong was based on society's view, and had nothing to do with morals or anything that would actually make something wrong. This is really interesting, and I did not even think about it like that until i read your post. You would think that morals would be what would hold somebody back from expressing their feelings more so than society, but I guess not.
So I think you bring up some really good points when you talk about how the South is normally pinpointed at the differences between whites and blacks versus it Kate Chopin's stories it's kind of a battle between the Creole's and the Cajun's. I think when we see this it can be an idea that more groups are out there and there is more segregation than we think. I think that the reason there are issues with blacks versus whites is obvious but i think that the issues between the Creole's and the Cajun's isn't as obvious because the groups are very similar. I guess Kate just wanted to show us the difference in the groups.
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