Stay or Leave? That is the Question
... made it hard for her to fight for her ability to stay in the house (Chopin 185). Armand clearly acts on his own instincts without trying to gain any type of facts. It seems as though he is doing what he thinks is best for his self image. Making Desiree leave puts him the clear for any wrong speculation from his family or society. Desiree easily becomes a slave to her husband’s past. She never finds out about her husband’s dark secret. The question could be raised, what does Armand do when he finds the letter from his mother to his father? Does he try and find Desiree to apologize or does he keep it to himself? The reader can assume that Armand keeps this secret to himself because what of someone else finds out about it and tries to use it against him? Then what is he going to do? Because of his decision to probably keep this secret to himself, he becomes a slave to his society and to himself. Now he has to live with the fact that he sent his wife away for no reason and the fact that he can never let anyone know the real truth about him. All the while, Desiree has to live in suspense as to why her husband made her leave. Eveline’s situation is the same in the sense that she could be considered a slave to her own past and to her own free will. Eveline is stuck with the decision either to stay with her father and brother or run away with the love of her life, Frank. The main conflict was within herself. She didn’t want to break the promise she made to her mother “to keep the home together as long as she could” (Joyce 6). Even though she was deeply in love with Frank she loved her family more and knew she needed to stay with them and take up the role as woman of the house. This decision made her the slave of her own free will. In some sense it seems as though she wanted to be needed by someone. If she stayed with her family she knew that they would depend on her for almost everything they needed. If the ran off with Frank she wouldn’t have to do anything for him but love and stay true to him. Frank would provide her with everything she wanted and needed. With her making the decis...