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  • Essay / The Importance of Setting in Kate Chopin's Short Story, “The Tempest

    In Kate Chopin's “The Tempest,” the setting remains a huge detail that adds to the heartbreaking journey of this father-son team. Drawing "the child's attention to certain dark clouds which rolled with sinister intent from the west, accompanied by a sullen and menacing roar..." (3) is an example of brilliant foreshadowing using the storm as a metaphor of an imminent catastrophe. The story takes place in a store, and the feeling of being trapped inside while a storm rages outside feels very real. “The rain fell in sheets obscuring the view of the distant cabins and shrouding the distant woods in a gray mist” (46) is another brilliant descriptor to describe the disastrous effects outside. These setting examples place the reader in the narrator's world and show with emotional words how frightening the storm outside truly is. "The generous abundance of his passion, without guile or trickery, was like a white flame which penetrated and found a response in the depths of his own sensual nature which had never before been reached" (76) describes an event in the he story arc in which two main characters fall in love, the setting here brings an inner warmth to the cold and threatening events in the outside world. The description of the passion and white flame created between these two characters adds to the warmth they ultimately felt through all this cold bitterness. The rest of the tale depicts the latter in each of the lives of the father and mother described here, but the setting takes on a much warmer role as the storm is described as having passed. Setting is essential in this tale, as the storm keeps the characters aligned with the universe in which they are described; Chopin did an incredible job with this fiction. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Although the story is dark due to the weather outside, it is true that the language used offers a somewhat lighter tone. “Bobint got up and went to the counter and bought a can of shrimp that Calixta really liked” (12) is an expression that describes Bobint's actions in the slang used by their family; the use of actual linguistic manipulations adds to the realism of the time and place and allows the reader to understand the fact that these people are real. Even reactions described as: "My God! What rain! It's been raining like this for a good two years!" (33) show how light-hearted the protagonist can be while such a sinister storm is brewing outside. The relationship between innocence and ignorance can almost be extracted from the present context, and this whole story sort of tests the idea that there is very little difference between the two. Calixta's growth can eventually be seen, but we realize the irony that even parents are sometimes more afraid than their children. "Calixta put her hands over her eyes and, with a cry, staggered back. Alce's arm encircled her, and for a moment he pulled her close to him and spasmodically. (43) This answer seems to go back to the last part of the story which embarks on a somewhat fictionalized journey through a torrid love story. ““Calixta,” he said, “don't be afraid. house is too low to be struck, with so many tall trees standing around” (49) The previous sentence is the beginning of the matter, and it shows the innocence of a mother who needs comfort; same necessary comfort is that which she has provided to her loved ones throughout the story There is a...