The single effect of the story is an obsession. The short story is a romantic story between two lovers obsessed with each other and shares deep affection. The story creates an obsessive effect because the characters in the story are portrayed as individuals who could not survive without their love. Obsession is a state of the mind where a person continually thinks of another person. The main characters in the story are Suzette and Recaredo. However, towards the end of the story, we are shown that Suzette gets jealous because of competition for her lover’s affection. It is the obsession she has for Ricardo that leads to the death of the China Empress.
Obsession is evident throughout the story. It begins after the priest’s visit, where their bond is blessed and marks the beginning of a long life afterward. The new love birds spend a lot of time together at the beginning of the story and rarely leave one another. It is an obsession that makes the two lovers seek reassurance from one another regularly. It is an act that makes them feel a sense of appreciation for one another’s love. Reassurance is shown in the story when Suzette asks Recaredo if he cares for her. He then answers that he does. It shows that the two lovers were insecure because of obsession, and they had to guarantee one another that the feeling was mutual. It is a sign that reveals that none of them wanted the other person to leave.
Obsession is also shown in the short story through the songs they sang to each other. Singing is one of the ways of showing appreciation and commitment to the love between the two lovers. In the story, the songs were a means of soothing the lovers and strengthening the bond. Singing was, in fact, one of the reasons why Recaredo loved Suzette. In the story, we see that he sometimes asked her to sing for him, making him happy. Recaredo would also sing at work in a manner that the people passing outside his studio would hear the songs. He was delighted and felt content because of the love his lover was giving him. Sometimes Suzette would visit him at work, and they would sing to one another as he continued with his work, which creates a feeling of an obsession for the reader.
In the story, we are shown that Recaredo is a talented sculptor and was also obsessed with his job. He would sometimes spend so much time in his work and not give Suzette the required attention. She had talked to him a lot, telling him she did not like how he did not have time for her because of work. She said to him that some of his sculptures were the reason he did not kiss her anymore. Recaredo, in particular, had an obsession with Chinese and Japanese exotica. Suzette further told him she did not like his workshop. Her passion for Recaredo made her wish that he would spend all that effort used at work on her and make their love even strong.
Later towards the end of the story, we see Suzette become sad and gloomy because of Recaredo. She is mostly quiet and often shades tears because of being upset. Because of the strong affection for his lover, Recaredo gets worried about Suzette’s condition. He does not know why her lover is sad, unlike in the past where she was always jovial and full of life. Suzette finally agrees to tell him that she is sad is because of competition. It means that Suzette was obsessed with Recarado and did not want to share him with anyone else. Recaredo tries to think of the person that she is referring to as her competitor in vain. She even makes a couple of guesses that he thinks could be considered competition. It is a sign that his obsession with Suzette made him ready to reveal all his secrets.
Towards the end of the story, Suzette tells Recardo the truth that her competitor is China’s empress. Due to her obsession with him, she asks him to choose between the two because she did not want to share his affection with anyone else. Recaredo chooses her, and she destroys the Empress of China at the end of the story. It means she wants things to go back to normal, where her lover gave her all his attention and spent most of the time with her.
In conclusion, the single effect of the story is an obsession. The short story is a romantic story between two lovers who are obsessed with each other and share deep affection. The main characters in the story are Suzette and Recaredo. Obsession is evident throughout the story. It begins after the visit of the priest, where their bond is blessed and marks the beginning of a long life afterward. The new love birds spend a lot of time together at the beginning of the story and rarely leave one another. Obsession is also created in the short stories through the songs they sang to each other. Towards the end of the story, we see Suzette becomes sad and gloomy because of Recaredo. She is mostly quiet and often shades tears because of being upset. It is because of competition. Because she was obsessed with Recaredo, she destroys the Empress of China.