Kate Chopin's "The Storm" and Mary Freeman's "The New England Nun"

In both Kate Chopin's "The Storm" and Mary Freeman's "The New England Nun" women break social conventions in order to achieve independence. Their need for social freedom breaks the firm and rigid perception of women from the nineteenth century as innocent, young and good. In Chopin's "The Storm," Calixta's sexuality represents a vehicle to pursue freedom from the domestic domains of a housewife in a seemingly stable marriage to pursuing extramarital sex. Chopin does not associate adultery as a social taboo, rather it provides eroticism and allows women to pursue her own basic instincts.

The title of a storm induces the violent imagery of nature with the release of passion. Calixta's giving in to these passions puts her into the category of a heroic individual. She is a housewife and mother yet, the social rigidity when meeting a former beau Alcee is not relevant to the pursuit of her passions. The juxtapositions of the physical storms and her release of her sexuality and physicality to Alcee, recharges her social identity as a woman and heroic individual as one who believes intently and intensely in what she does. Chopin wants us to see that extramarital sex is okay. For Calixta, pursuing her passions also provides the vehicles to the freedom of her maiden days when she had no responsibilities as a mother and a wife to Bobinot. In the end, Calixta represents the woman as the assertive and overdomineering housewife in the domestic realm of things. Extramarital sex gives her passion and the joy of living. Calixta is the rebellious individual who on the outside, appears to be responsible and concerned for her child's safety. Yet, when the sexual need arises, her heroic individualism comes to a climax as eroticism plays the key role for personal fulfillment.

Similarly, the female protagonist Louisa in Mary Freeman's "The New England Nun" represents a woman who is an artist at heart. Unlike Casita who is married and centers her life around domestic duties, Louisa is unmarried or rather, she has waited for fourteen years to marry Joe who took up residence in Australia. Freeman describes Louisa as one who daintily arranges her house in order. She is a scrumptilious artist who is possessed with the desires for order and organization.

Louisa, after breaking a fourteen year engagement with Joe, confines herself to a world of independence and privacy thus estranging herself from the institution of marriage. Louisa is described as an "uncloistered nun." She is depicted as a heroic individual for breaking these conventions. Yet, she believes in the individual. Unlike Calixta who is garrulous and unrestrained, Louisa professes a soul of intimate privacy where she cannot relate to people; she does not have the potential for building interpersonal relationships. She prefers the calmness and serenity of her living, for marriage imposes a threat of social reorganization giving up her house, familiar objects she admires and adores. She cannot compromise between privacy and marriage. Marriage threatens her privacy.

Ultimately, Mary Freeman poses the questions if Louisa's behavior signifies independence of isolation. By virtue that Louisa heroically defines her individualistic nature of maintaining the literal life to life alone in order to maintain her privacy, there is a price. Freeman writes: "Her heart went up in thankfulness ... sold as the birthrite itself. Yet, there is a price involved in Louisa's choice - for she sat.. prayfully numbering her days like an uncloistered nun" (Freeman ). Louisa is free to be herself and pursue the life of a nun. However, heroic individuality has a price. Will Louisa be eternally happy for the choice she has made? Are her pursuits legitimate in the sense of fulfilling a social function or a need for strengthening her heroic individuality?