Consequence of Love
...e distributed to more than just on person? Is it possible to love more than one? Many writers in literature manipulate both the joy and sorrow caused by love in their stories. Such writers include Kate Chopin in both "Desiree's Baby," and "The Storm." Ann Petry in "Like a Winding Sheet" and Raymond Carver in "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." The protagonists and many characters enter into a "romance" with great expectations, believing in all the stereotypes associated with love only to find greater disappointments. “Desiree’s Baby,” by Kate Chopin portrays the life of a woman living with her racist husband in the late 19th century. Desiree, the protagonist, is married to Armand, a slave owner. They are happily married and have a child as well. Desiree and Armand take great joy in the presence of their baby. Nevertheless one day Desiree notices a change in Armand’s behavior. “Then a strange, an awful change in her husband’s manner” (866). This astonishes Desiree leaving her in a very abstruse situation. Desiree finally questions her husband about the change of attitude. Her question is answered when he replies with “…that the child is not white; it means that you are not white” (867). It is now apparent that Armand notices that his child is of mixed race. He then concludes that his wife has to be of mixed race as well. Due to Armand’s life style, his child’s diversity is of great deal. Clearly, the couple is in love however; it is now when their love is proven to be conditional. Due to society’s pressure, Armand’s idea of his wife being of mixed race, leads him to no longer loving her as well as his child. Armand’s love towards his wife is conditional, however, Desiree’s love towards Armand is unconditional. Her love to Armand is so vast, that she does not question once if Armand is of mixed race. Rather, she takes the blame for her child’s skin color. Due to shame, she then proceeds by killing herself as well as her child. Later on it is evident that Armand was in fact the parent that was of mixed race. In this story the idea that love is unconditional is not able to sustain it self, similarly to the idea that love is harmless in Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” and Ann Petry’s “ Like a Winding Sheet.” Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” is a story told by the narrator while he is sitting in kitchen with three others. Terri, a married lady discusses her old relationship with a man named Ed. “But he loved me. In his own way maybe, but he loved me. There was love there” (977). It is clear that Terri believed that Ed loved her, and isn’t true love harmless? “He beat me up one night. He dragged me around the living room by my ankles.” It is obvious that Ed was abusive. He abused Terri. Even though love is present, he would still hurt her similarly to Ann Petry’s “Like a Winding Sheet.” In Ann Petry’s story it is clear that Johnson and Mae are in love. After a hard day’s work Johnson is very angry and stressed out. He was exposed to severe racism earlier and is tremendously angry. After Mae jokes around by saying a racist comment, “There was the smacking sound of soft flesh being struck by a hard object and it wasn’t until she screamed that he realized he had hit her in the mouth” (1609). This quote illustrates that Johnson did in fact hit Mae, however it does get worse. “He kept striking her….” (1609). Johnson severely abuses Mae due to all his tension built up. What happened to love being harmless? Many times people do things not intentionally. Whether in love or not, abuse may play a roll in a relationship. But when two are in love, shouldn’t their love be harmless? In both Carver’s and Petry’s stories the theory that love is harmless is proved to be falsifiable. In Petry’s story, Mae comes across a great downfall, however in Chopin’s story titles “The Storm,” Calixta decides to play with an expectation of love and succeeds without a downfall. In the story, “The Storm,” by Kate Chopin, a woman is anxiously waiting for ...