Calixta would be there That little Spanish vixen. No matter what the age, there are certain types of women who seem to capture the attention of every man in the room. In the story At the Cadian Ball by Kate Chopin, the protagonist Calixta is precisely that kind of a girl. She is an atypical female of her time. The ideal woman of the late 1800s was demure, prim and restrained. She was the paragon of prudery, modesty personified. Then there was Calixta. Calixta was everything that the idealized Madonna of her time was not. She was boldly flirtatious, impulsive, sensuous and altogether outrageous. For all these anomalous characteristics, she is admired in a fashion. Especially since society of the time is rather homogenous and has strict guidelines for behavior.The heavy racial preconceptions of the times are also evident in this story. The only reason Calixtas scandalous behavior is tolerated by the community is in her ethnicity. Even so, the men do not seem to mind her behavior much. The women on the other hand did not always approve. Bon chien tient de race She was dismissed often leniently since her mother was Spanish. It did not matter that Calixta had never been to Cuba. The fact that Spanish blood flowed through her veins was enough for the people to automatically assume she was indecent. Perhaps Calixta was influenced by these preconceived expectations. Yet despite her shocking behavior, her indecency was innocent, and deliberate at the same time. Her taunts towards Bobinot, Mais, wats the matta? Standin plante la like ole maame Tinas cow in the bog you! was deliberately provocative, however it came naturally to her. Since it was in her nature to say such things out of fun, it was innocent. However, the prairie people still find it amusing, yet at the time they would never tolerate such behavior in their daughters. By this standard, Calixta is seen as slightly inferior to the rest of the girls. Of course no matter how much leewa...
