The Conflicts in Two Stories by Kate Chopin

This paper seeks to explore the conflicts in two stories by Kate Chopin. The two stories are The Storm and Desiree’s Baby. The Storm is a story about feminine sexuality and passionate love of Calixtia and her lover Alcee. The two exploded their overwhelming passion that had built up during the past years. The Storm has five characters Calixtia, her husband Bobinot, their son Bibi, Calixtia’s lover Alcee, and his wife Clarssee. Everything in the tale happens during and because of the Storm. The story's setting is in the late nineteenth century at Friedheimer’s shop in Louisiana and the neighboring house of Calixta and Bobinot. The tale is in five sections with the first handling the approaching of the storm, the second talking about Calixta’s lover seeking shelter in her house and the third phase exploring the love that builds up between the two. The last two sections describe how the two lovers go back to their matrimonial responsibilities without any guilt of what transpired between them during the storm.

Desiree’s baby is a highly notion-provoking story that talks about love, racism, and prejudice. The setting of the story is in south of America when people of different races did not agree, and the inferior people were the blacks. Armand is a leading character in the story that is a slave owner in Louisiana and the author describes him as the one who had it all. Armand is a proud man who is capable of doing anything to keep the name of his family. This is evident when he disowns his wife and child because the woman is black, and this is an insult to the family. The child is a boy, and he later own pretends to love him, as he will be the one to carry on the name of the family. The author of the two stories brings out some conflicts, which we now focus on.

In the tale, the Storm, there is the contention of weather being a justification for deceit. In the tale, everything takes place during the storm where we see two married people break into their physical desires. During the shower when her husband is off to stores with their son, Calixta invites Alcee to shelter in her house and then they end up cheating on their partners. The conflict is that during times of this book, women were to be faithful, and the author brings out the wickedness present in marriages. In the story Desiree’s baby, the conflict is in the love of Desiree and Armand. Desiree loves Armand genuinely while Armand is extremely proud to love a woman with mixed races. Comparing the conflicts in the two stories, we see that most people are not aware of what other people feel for them especially in marriages.

In the Storm, Calixta’s husband worries that the wife will be terrified by the storm and even buys her a can of shrimps to calm her down after the storm. On the other hand, Calixta is not guilty that she cheats on her husband with Alcee as she continues with her matrimonial duties as if nothing happened. In Desiree’s baby, Desiree loves the husband and will do anything to keep her marriage but later on in the tale, it is evident that Armand does not love Desiree. He lets his pride overcome the love they have by deserting his wife and child just because she is of mixed races and this could harm the image of the family. There is a conflict of the reasons the people in marriages use as a justification for their immorality. In marriages partners are supposed to be faithful and honest to each other especially about their feelings but in the two tales, this is not the case.