Domestic Lies and Scandals - Essay Example

Domestic Lies and Scandals Many great thinkers have explored the human personality. Among them, Maslow constructed what can be considered the most appreciable, the Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow 376). In this hierarchy, emotional needs count third from the most basic. Considering our basic instinct to respond to our needs, people will usually long for love, sex and belongingness. This human instinct is presented in the two famous stories of American authors. The first story, titled, “The Storm” was written by a female writer, Kate Chopin in the late 1800s. The second one, titled, “A Rose for Emily” was written by a male author, William Faulkner. Although these two stories were written by opposite genders, they present common themes, domestic lies and scandals. The two stories show female protagonists who get involve in domestic lies and scandal in response to their need for love and sex The two stories show female characters who are well-respected and prim and proper. Calixta is a housewife who lives in a peaceful community. The way her husband regards her suggests that she is a respectable woman. Bobinot, her husband brings her some shrimps to please her. This gesture illustrates the respect Bobinot has for Calixta. In the same manner, Miss Emily Grierson is respected by her community. Being the only daughter of a doctor, Miss Emily does not need to make a name for herself. Being a daughter of a doctor in her times is reason enough to be respected. Both Calixta and Miss Emily are seen by other characters as women deserving of good treatment. However, behind the modesty the two characters show are lies and scandals. In “The Storm,” readers are exposed to a lie that married people like Calixta keeps. The story is about a married woman who is tempted to have sexual contact with her former lover while her husband and child are trapped in a storm. As the rain pours heavily, Calixta’s and Alcee’s feelings for each other also pour out, leading to their contact. Like the storm whose water is suppressed in the skies, the passion the lovers have for each other is kept hidden inside them. When they cannot keep the feeling anymore, like the storm, they shed all and express it to each other. All the while, Calixta has kept her love for Alcee, which is a form of lying to her husband. Calixta’s life is a big lie. Aside from marrying Bobinot while still longing for Alcee, she appears to be a well-cultured woman to her husband and son. Before arriving home, Bobinot tells Bibi, “wat will yo mama say! You ought to be ashame. You oughta put on those good pants. Look at em! An that mud on yo collar! How you got that mud on yo collar, Bibi? I never saw such a boy!" (Chopin 112). Bobinot’s statement suggests that Calixta is prim and proper, always makes sure that her family’s clothes are neat and ironed. Similarly, Miss Emily Grierson lives a big lie. The townspeople respect her for being the daughter of the only doctor in town but they scorn at her for keeping something that stinks. The title of the story implies that the people in the town, including the narrator, give respect to her. The rose symbolizes the tribute the town gives her as she passes away. The narrator opens the story with, “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument” (Faulkner 29). Miss Emily is described as a “fallen monument” (Faulkner 29). This means that people regard Miss Emily with respect. Her status as a daughter of a prominent man and her wealth make others view her as a woman on a pedestal. Nevertheless, the wealth and fame are not what Miss Emily longs for. Instead, she longs for love. When her father died, Emily is left alone without anyone to care for her, except the gardener. Considering Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (370), readers will understand why Miss Emily feels this way. She cannot attain self-actualization because she lacks emotional comfort. In contrast, Calixta has a family. People may see her as a happily married woman but her biological need (for sex), which only Alcee can fulfill is more overwhelming than emotional comfort that her family brings. As demonstrated by Maslow, biological needs come first before emotional needs. This means that people need to fulfill biological needs first before they can realize emotional needs. In other words, Calixta experiences a void in her life because she is not satisfied with Bobinot. If she is, she will not agree to having physical contact with Alcee. Some readers may argue that Calixta’s feelings for Alcee is not just physical. It could be more than that. It could be love. Calixta’s gestures can attest to this idea. As they rest in bed, “With one hand she clasped his head, her lips lightly touching his forehead. The other hand stroked with a soothing rhythm his muscular shoulders” (Chopin 111). These gestures suggest gentleness, thus showing that Calixta may still be in love with Alcee. After all, finding her still wanting Alcee demonstrates the love she has kept for years. The lie that each character commits can be considered as domestic scandals. They happen and circulate within their domestic boundaries. They are scandals because if people in their community find out, the acts will be considered scandalous. Calixta’s infidelity to Bobinot is a scandal because people in her community will not accept her act as morally correct. Likewise, Miss Emily’s scandal as seen at the end of the story, is something that the townspeople do not expect from an educated woman like her. At the end of the story, the lie that Miss Emily lives is exposed as the people find the remains of Homer Barron, which Miss Emily has kept for years. The “indentation of a head…[and] a long strand of iron-gray hair” (Faulkner 31) the people find in the house suggest that Miss Emily has been sleeping with the dead Homer Barron. The issue of sleeping with the dead or even killing Homer is a great scandal as it proves the insanity of the well-regarded Miss Emily. Aside from the emotional needs that each character needs to fulfill, one factor is common between them, the expectations of other people. It is a common knowledge that when freedom is supressed, people will tend to be rebellious. They will do something unexpected just like the way Calixta and Miss Emily act in the stories. Calixta, seen as “over-scrupulous wife” (Chopin 112) may have lived in a conventional society where there are strict rules that can suffocate a person. Likewise, Miss Emily lives in a community that scrutinizes her moves and decisions. When she is seen going out with Homer, the people whisper to each other, saying, "Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer" (Faulkner 30) The expectations that the society has for Miss Emily may have caused her to be like Calixta, prim and proper and complete outside but trivial and void inside. The expectations of society may have led these two women to do something unexpected of them, which challenge their freedom of choice. However, between the two, Calixta’s act is more realistic because that of Miss Emily is madness. If readers are to judge between them, they would say that Miss Emily must have suffered much loneliness to lose her mind and do what she does in the story. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. “The Storm.” Book. Place: Publisher, Year. Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Book. Place: Publisher, Year. Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, (50): 370-396.  Read More