Female Curiosity: The Piano and Bluebeard Essay example

In the past many decades the definition of what a marriage means changed dramatically in some areas. For the author of both stories, Kate Chopin, she wanted the reader to get something out of the story. She likes to explore all types of themes in her stories such as, racism, the roles of women, and adultery. With these themes and messages she struggled to have most of her stories published. In many of her stories she passed along these messages through the manner of a marriage. In her short stories “The Story of an Hour” and “Desiree 's Baby” she showed just how different marriages could be as well as how similar they can be. Chopin portrays the lives of the main characters, Louise Mallard from “The Story of An Hour” and Desiree Aubigny

     Relationships seem to be the favorite subject of Kate Chopin’s stories. As Margaret Bauer suggests that Chopin is concerned with exploring the “dynamic interrelation between women and men, women and patriarchy, even women and women” (Bauer 146). In “The Story of an Hour” Chopin deals with the subject of marriage. She illustrates the influence of family alliance on individual freedom. According to Wohlpart,“The Story of an Hour” describes the journey of Mrs. Mallard against the Cult of True Womanhood as she slowly becomes aware of her own desires and thus of a feminine self that has long been suppressed”(Wohlpart 2). The Cult of True Womanhood in the XIX century included “purity” and “domesticity”. The former suggested that women must maintain their virtue. The latter – denied them their intellectual and professional capabilities (Papke 12). Being the victim of this Cult, Louise Mallard was a good example of a wife without “her own desires and feminine self”.

If one has no desire to look further in life and discover new ideas or uncharted territory, they will eventually lose the voracity for their existence. The author even goes to say that the curious are the only ones with lives worth living and a tale worth telling.

There are several female characters in Bluebeard, though the one with the most potential for examination is the younger sister who marries the titular character. His wife is never given a name, and she, along with her sister, is described only as “perfect beauties” (Perrault 144). She, at least at first, and many other women are repulsed by Bluebeard. While he may be wealthy and appears to be kind, he “had the misfortune of having a blue beard, which made him look so ugly and frightful that women and girls alike fled from the sight of him” (Perrault 144). The young bride is obviously someone who is focused on the attractiveness of her partner, but she actually manages to overcome this and

7a. Interested and intrigued- having the attention or curiosity engaged; to arouse the curiosity or interest of by unusual, new, or otherwise fascinating or compelling qualities

Margarita Engle, a poet, and novelist, once said, “Marriage without love is just one more twisted form of slavery.” In the eighteenth century, marriage was the exit door of many women from their homes whether they believed in love and filled their hearts with hope, or had no choice, and they were sold to men as if they were cattle. In The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin shows complex issues such as marriage, independence, symbols, and ironies. After hearing the news that Brently Mallard was dead in a railroad accident, Richards, Mr. Mallard’s friend, went to the house to be next to Mrs. Mallard and to help her at this difficult moment. Contrary to what everyone was worried about, Mrs. Mallard knew that she would lament her husband’s death, but she was full of hope, dreaming of her freedom, appreciating life beyond the window, and a new beginning. Unfortunately, Mrs. Mallard’s dreams faded when she went downstairs and her husband arrived alive, and she could not stand it and died. Focusing on The Story of an Hour, there are three main points related to women in the early eighteenth century, such as oppressive marriages, women’s new perspective and ways of liberation, and women’s submission and obedience that demonstrates how women survived, even though they were not heard.

Thesis: Many often ignore the genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire towards Armenians, with the Armenian genocide being referred to as “one of the greatest Holocaust’s you’ve never heard of.” However, it did happen and many who stories were not, or could not, be told often expected their stories to die with them in the harsh heat of the death marches with their deaths and survival did impact others and where necessary knowledge for their future generations. The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian is a historical fiction set which examines the love story between genocide survivor Armen and American witness Elizabeth which is chronicled by their granddaughter

Florentine is illustrated as an overwhelmed frightened character when faced with the “Breadwinning” position, her parental influence has emphasized this “frailty” in her character. Florentine;s mother, Rose-Anna is a mother of twelve children; Rose-Anna’s life has been stricken by the country’s dire economical situation, neither her nor Florentine's dad Azarius is employed. Due to the continual dependence on Florentine, effects of exhaustion and frustration is being built up by Florentine. “It was obvious she hated her job, yet she gave almost everything she earned to her family”(29); this passage is an accurate representation of the women working class in the 1940's. The narrative of a historical fiction renders influence for actual concepts; The Tin Flute was published in 1945, just 6 years after a very dramatic economical depression, concepts from Gabrielle Roy's actual life must have influenced her story-telling of The Tin Flute. Katrina Srigley's representation also represents a similar ideology, continual pressure on working women was necessary, “the vast majority of women, both married and single, worked because they had to or were expected to, not because of selfish indulgence(29). Avoiding poverty was the required goal; the constant pressure to provide for a family was discernible,“domestic

Mademoiselle Reisz is socially a stranger who wants to follows her own dreams and passions. In the novel, Reisz is described as, “a disagreeable little woman, no longer young, who had quarrelled with almost everyone, owing to a temper which was self-assertive and a disposition to trample upon the right of others” (Chopin, 43) This description of Reisz’s personality is oddly different and socially unacceptable for women in those days. Mademoiselle Reisz is unmarried and once in a blue moon socializes with people when she is summoned to play piano at a gathering. Her dreams of being a musician is her only passion, and society appreciates her far-fetched musical talent, but her companions during the vacation at Grand Isle have a hard time relating with her. She is the picture of Chopin’s idea of an independent woman pursuing her own goals; contradictory of what Creole society believed

Curiosity can be a good or bad quality considering there are many different consequences that can result from it. For example, you might get too curious about a certain topic that you end up in a dangerous situation, or you could pursue what you are curious about

Being curious means you are inquisitive, and have the desire to know more. You want to go further and deeper, and ask plenty of questions. Curiosity is valuable because many people lose their child-like state of wonder and curiosity when they grow up. Curiosity will give you opportunities to understand more and uncover truths. However, there are negative types of curiosity. For example, obsessing over celebrity news and gossip and following closely to all the rumors is unhealthy. Eavesdropping on a conversation or going through someone’s phone or bag is also wrong. Gossiping about classmates and friends is still someone being curious about someone else’s private matter. All in all, curiosity has helped humans advance in many ways, and continues

‘The Piano’, a film directed by Jane Campion, is focusing on how Ada, the protagonist, is struggled against the society. The film is about Ada, a mute Scottish woman, who is being arranged into a marriage by her father with a man she has never met. In the film, Ada makes a journey to New Zealand along with her daughter, Flora, and her piano to meet her new husband, Stewart. As Ada migrates to a new country, Ada is struggled to blend herself into a new culture, struggled from being isolated from the society, and struggled to keep her possession of the piano. These ideas of struggles that Ada has faced are introduced and reinforced in the film through the use of various cinematic techniques, for instance, camera angles and costumes.

What motivates people to try things that are out of the ordinary that may even defy normally-accepted ideas? Curiosity is the driving force in advancements of our society. Curiosity causes people to try new ideas in wonder of the potential outcomes. Truly curious people simply enjoy discovering results first-hand, regardless of a new result being found. The products of these curious conquests have benefited us all, even though curiosity may have killed a few cats in the process. Curiosity makes people not become complacent with what is known, but compels people to pursue a quest for knowledge.

Though set in the underworld of thievery, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera codifies a set of Marxist sexual politics in which marriage stands as the great equalizer of desire and power. An often aphoristic overview of the traditional power struggle between men and women frames a world in which marriage reduces the wooer's desire but raises his power by an equal degree through ownership as a husband. This commodity fetishism of the wife spurs, in turn, the external desire of potential suitors, restoring equilibrium to the scales of eros. I will argue that Macheath's eventual capture (disregarding his brief escape and ironically crowd-pleasing twist-ending) stems from the

You must have heard the quote “Curiosity Killed the Cat”. In reality, more cats are killed because of lack of curiosity.