Depth of Meaning Through Perspective and Imagery - Essay Example

Depth of Meaning Through Perspective and Imagery Short stories are often mistaken as meaningless because of their length, which, as Edgar Allen Poe once said, is designed to be read in one sitting. However, closer inspection of good short stories usually reveals a much deeper meaning within the text. This is accomplished through a careful use of perspective and imagery. By focusing on key elements of the environment in which the characters move and through special attention given to just how the story is to be told, authors can open the story to a variety of interpretations. To illustrate this, two short stories will be examined, “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty. In “The Storm”, Chopin uses the elements of nature to illustrate how her characters are feeling. As the storm builds, Bobinot takes cover with his young son and Alcee requests permission to enter Calixta’s realm. Within the first few sentences of the story, the storm is seen as “somber clouds that were rolling with sinister intention from the west, accompanied by a sullen, threatening roar” (Chopin, 1898). Calixta, just as the storm starts to build, is seen to be creating a storm of her own. “She sat at a side window sewing furiously on a sewing machine … she felt very warm and often stopped to mop her face on which the perspiration gathered in beads” (Chopin, 1898). As she sees Alcee Labalierre ride in at the gate, as she stands there with her husband’s Sunday coat in her arms, the raindrops begin to fall. When it is learned that Alcee was the man she was in love with before she married Bobinot and understood how much her life is constrained by the domestic duties expected of women, these falling raindrops can be seen as her expression of grief at what she cannot be. Her building frustration as a result of her constrained passion is expressed in the flash of lightening that sends her jumping backward into Alcee’s arms and the storm finally peaks as the two of them finally give expression to their desire. Eudora Welty also uses nature to bring out the qualities of her main character, Phoenix Jackson, but does so in a slightly different way. As old Phoenix makes her way through the countryside toward the town, one can trace to some degree the path she’s taken to get to her current station. She starts in “dark pine shadows” (Welty, 1940) where “the sun made the pine needles almost too bright to look at” (Welty, 1940). These evergreen trees represent the springiness and immaturity of the young girl she once was. Just as the wood of the pine tree is softer and easy to damage, so was Phoenix malleable in an innocence that shone out in the sun in a momentary blaze. Phoenix herself seems to realize this temporary state as she crests a hill. “’Up through the pines,’ she said at length. ‘Now down through oaks.’” (Welty, 1940). The process of maturation, though, must go through the adolescent stage before it reaches adulthood, a period often full of many hardships. This, too, is seen in the story as Phoenix has to fight the wild animals “Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals!” (Welty, 1940), climb a hill with what feels like chains on her feet, make her way through thorn bushes and finally walk a log like a balancing beam to finally reach the forest of oaks and adulthood. The oak trees are a much harder wood, often having been tested by wind and weather and proving themselves to be strong and true, tests that Phoenix herself must now weather through. While she finally gains a chance to rest for a moment, she also acquires those elements of life that help her to continue in later life, such as the little boy who needs her. This gives her the strength to get through the greater trials of the hunting dog and the white man who pointed his gun at her to finally arrive at her destination – the town where she can get medicine for the boy and old age where she is able to enjoy the love and company of her small grandson. Both authors utilize a detached, third person approach to describe the action, but again, there are subtle differences. Chopin describes what is happening during the storm and just afterward as if she were a disembodied spirit, floating above the principle characters to know how Bibi is feeling as he waits out the storm with his father, Bobinot, at the grocery as well as to be able to report Alcee’s impressions as he finally experiences what had been denied him in his tryst with Calixta. As the storm bursts over Bobinot’s head, he is seen to sit stolidly holding a peace offering to provide his wife as apology for not being at home to take care of her during the storm and leaving her alone. The center of the storm is described in violent terms as “it shook the wooden store and seemed to be ripping great furrows in the distant fields” (Chopin, 1989) while his wife is back at the cottage having sex with Alcee, one of their neighbors. Alcee, meanwhile, experiences Calixta’s “firm elastic flesh that was knowing for the first time its birthright, was like a creamy lily that the sun invites to contribute its breath and perfume to the undying life of the world. The generous abundance of her passion, without guile or trickery, was like a white flame which penetrated and found response in depths of his own sensuous nature that had never yet been reached” (Chopin, 1898). This is compared to the third person account of Phoenix’s journey through the country as it is described in full detail. Although Phoenix’s thoughts are not reported consistently, she occasionally mutters something to her surroundings that reveals what she is thinking and, on one occasion, the reader is permitted access to her mind as she dreams of the little boy who gives her the strength she needs. It is the little boy who “brought her a plate with a slice of marble-cake on it” (Welty, 1940) who woke her from her reverie and reminded her of her purpose, a love of its own that starts her on her way again instead of just sitting there and sleeping forever. There is no other action in the story other than Phoenix’s journey, and her encounters with others are seen from the outside as well, hearing what other characters say to Phoenix, but not able to discern what is in their thoughts. Yet we are consistently given help and insights into Phoenix’s actions in these encounters, such as when she contrives to keep the nickel she saw fall out of the white man’s pocket. While each author uses a third person approach to tell their stories, they each provide some insights into the action by relating some of what one or more of the characters are thinking. When this occurs for more than one character, as it does in Chopin’s story, the author only provides insights into the thoughts of one of the characters appearing in the scene so as to avoid confusion. This isn’t possible in Welty’s story as the action is comprised entirely of what happens to Phoenix as she makes her way to town. Both authors also make heavy use of nature to illustrate their ideas, but the way in which they do so is widely different. While Chopin allows the weather outside to take on many of the characteristics of her character Calixta, Welty uses nature to illustrate the various modes of Phoenix’s life journey. Through imagery and tone, however, both authors bring out much deeper meanings than their simple-seeming stories might suggest upon first impression. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. “The Storm.” 1898. January 21, 2008 Welty, Eudora. “A Worn Path.” The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1940: 142 – 149. Read More