The Storm

In Kate Chopin’s short story “The Storm”, the narrative surrounds the brief extramarital affair of two individuals, Calixta and Alcee.   The story does not seem to be as a condemnation of infidelity, but rather as an affirmation of human sexuality.   “The Storm” may be interpreted as a specific affirmation of feminine sexuality and passion cojoined with a condemnation of its repression by the constraints of society.   Even though the adultery considered a crime at that period of time, the storm allowed a moment.


The title of “Storm”, with its obvious connotations of sexual energy and passion, is of course critical to any interpretation of the narrative. Its title refers to nature, which is symbolically feminine; the storm can therefore be seen as symbolic of feminine sexuality and passion, and the image of the storm will be returned to again and again throughout the story.   At the beginning of the story, Bobinot and his young son Bibi decide to wait out a rapidly approaching storm at the store. Although they worried about Calixta, the main character of this story. “Mama’ll be ‘fraid, yes”. “She’ll shut the house. Maybe she got Sylvie helpin’ her this evenin’”. Calixta didn’t notice the approaching storm. Suddenly realizing the situation she got up hurriedly and went about closing windows and doors”. As she was gathering up the laundry, Alcee Laballiere enters the yard, seeking shelter from the coming storm.   There is a mutual attraction between Calixta and Alcee, and this attraction is not new: “She had not seen him very often since her marriage, and never alone”.


With Alcee’s arrival comes the beginning of the rain, and he asks to wait out the storm on the frond gallery. “His voice and her own startled her as it from a trance…”.   The apparent difference in formality with which they address each other is important; Alcee addresses Calixta informally, as befits a man addressing a woman, but her response is almost coquettish, somewhere between formality...