Instructions
1.) We’ve seen how Chopin’s female characters were seen by critics of the time as unwholesome people. What do you think? Do you think Mrs. Mallard and Calixta are immoral in their thoughts and actions? Please explain your answer.
2.) Much of what Chopin wrote about was considered to be taboo for the time. What about now? How are these same topics (unhappy marriages, extra marital affairs) seen by us? Does it somehow make it more taboo that it was a woman engaged in this behavior?
3.) At the end of “The Story of an Hour” Chopin decides to flex her muscles with some last minute irony. At the end of the story, what is it that the reader knows that the other characters in the story do not? How do you, as a reader, come to this conclusion?
4.) At the end of “The Storm” Chopin writes that everyone is happy. In other words, it seems that Calixta and Alcee come away from their affair guilt-free. What do you think Poe would say about that attitude?
