Complaints for a seemingly happy ending

http://classiclit.about.com/od/stormkatechopin/a/aa_thestorm_kchopin.htm

The first time I read this story, I was outraged by the ending.

What?!?! Alcee and Calixta cheat on their lovers, and they just get away with it? And Clarisse is more than happy to have some time away from her husband? How is this a good way to end a story?!


Regardless, afterwards I tried to keep an open mind about it, so when we discussed this reading in class the next day, I tried to see where Kate Chopin was coming from.

Dr. Vince tried to explain that what Chopin was trying to get at was that, while society wants us to believe that love, marriage, and sex are all intertwined, people are more complex than that.

At first, I was able to accept that, and even wonder about that sort of thing myself, debating on whether or not it is possible to be in love with someone and have sex with another and not feel guilty about it. In the end, however, I came to the same conclusion that most of our society has rammed down our throats for years: no.

Scientific studies have shown that sex with love is more fruitful and satisfying than sex without love (http://www.livescience.com/11067-reasons-sex-linked-satisfaction-study-finds.html), and also there are countless examples of people who tried to have "meaningless sex" only to end up getting hurt because one of them falls in love with the other. While Chopin was true in believing that people are more complicated, she actually oversimplified the complex emotions that intertwine love, sex, and marriage, at least from what I can tell.

I suppose that my opinion is biased however, as I am interested in a monogamous marriage with plenty of sex (don't laugh, it's possible!), so I feel threatened by her ideals of unbounded passion. I'll let you decide for yourself, I hope this will inspire you to think for awhile (what a crime, how dare we think?), and I hope you enjoyed tonight's installment of American Lit: Kyle Style!