Sexual Healing
Kate Chopin’s short story, “the Storm” takes place in the late nineteenth century, at a time when women’s sexuality was not considered. It revolves around Calixta and Alcee, two former lovers, stuck inside Calixta’s house while they wait out a torrential downpour outside. The Storm is really a metaphor used by Chopin along with many subtle symbols to describe the sexual passion and tension that Calixta and Alcee feel for each other, and the events left in the wake of the storm.
The story opens with Calixta’s husband Bobinot, and son Bibi, waiting out a storm at Friedheimer’s store. While waiting at the store and conversing with his son, Bobinot notices “sombre clouds that were rolling with sinister intention from the west, accompanied by a sullen, threatening roar. They were at Friedheimer’s store and decided to remain there till the storm had passed” (263).
The “clouds rolling with sinister intention” can be interpreted as the foreshadowing of the affair soon to be taking place between Calixta and Alcee. Also note that the sinister, somber, and threatening storm was rolling in from the west, commonly referred to as the Wild West; symbolic of Calixta’s wild personality that she keeps bottled up. Bobinot’s decision to wait out the storm is also interpreted as his unwillingness to appease his wife’s needs of passionate loving, as Calixta herself is a storm of passion and sexuality. A criticism from essortment.com states that “Like a storm, Calixta began as quiet, calm and unthreatening to man. But as her passion began to brew, she became electric and powerful; a force driven by nature, as inept at controlling her own desires as a storm is at controlling the damage it leaves in its path”. The symbolism is also present in Friedheimer’s where Bobinot and Bibi “sit on two empty kegs” symbolizing their lack of excitement, emotion, and understanding of the storm that is to come. Bibi suggests that his mother will be frightened during the storm, because she is home alone, unbeknownst to Bobinot, who obliviously thought she had help at the house. Bobinot does not pay attention to his wife’s work or life in general, he knows very little about her. He buys her a can of shrimps to make up for not being able to tend to her during the storm. In Louisiana, seafood is a huge industry, so it is peculiar that Bobinot would buy his wife a wild food in a can, rather than as the fresh wild morsel that it is. This is symbolic of Bobinot not ‘thinking outside the box’, or can rather; and not realizing his wife’s wild passions being held back by him.
The Essay on The Storm 4
Kate Chopin writings are known for its realism and for its focus on the controversial issues of women. The Storm focuses on the issue of infidelity. I thought it interesting to break down the two male characters of The Storm, Bobinot and Alcee and the controversy that surrounds them. The story takes place during a tremendous storm, where when father (Bobinot) and child are away, the mother ( ...
Calixta was at home, occupied with her sewing and housework, and did not notice the storm approaching. This is also a metaphor for her ignoring her feelings and desires, tending to the needs of her husband and son, rather than her own. Also she “feels no uneasiness for their safety” possibly to suggest that she is not concerned with their needs anymore than they are with hers. “She was greatly occupied and did not notice the approaching storm (climax of emotions).
But she felt very warm and often stopped to mop her face (very sexual interpretations there) on which the perspiration gathered in beads. She unfastened her white sacque at the throat (white is commonly used as a representation of sexual purity, as in wedding gowns, the unfastening at her throat is suggestive of her taking off her shirt).
It began to grow dark, and suddenly realizing the situation she got up hurriedly and went about closing windows and doors (darkness and closing windows and doors symbolizing hiding from something bad about to happen, in private).” (264)
She was outside hastily gathering her laundry when Alcee rode in at the gate. This can also be interpreted as sexual; he is penetrating her personal border (the gate).
The Essay on The Storm Calixta Alcee Heart
The Ironic Storm After reading 'The Storm' by Kate Chopin, we see the irony not only in the title and the setting but in the internal soul of Calixta. As the storm approaches suddenly in the sky, it also approaches without warning for Calixta. Unfortunately she was unable to lock up her heart as she did her house. Just like the storm outside, M'si eur Alcee rumbles into her house as well as into ...
He was seeking shelter from the rain and Calixta let him in the house. Chopin used another sexual innuendo, writing that Calixta had to help Alcee “thrust”(264) a rolled up piece of bagging under the door, to keep the water from coming in. This is an interesting word choice and a vulgar one for Chopin’s time. Immediately the story jumps to Alcee, observing that Calixta is “fuller of figure”(264) than before she was married. This seems like a metaphor for the weight she must bear in her marriage, bottling up and suppressing her desires to keep peace with her plain husband. Also, there is another reference to purity, in mentioning the “white, monumental bed” in Calixta’s bedroom.
The tension between Calixta and Alcee begins quickly, as rapid and energetic as the rain storm occurring outside. Chopin uses key suggestive words, hinting at what is to come “Alcee flung (an aggressive, forceful action; lovers often fling each other onto a bed in a heat of passion) himself into a rocker and Calixta nervously began to gather up the lengths of a cotton sheet which she had been sewing (she is nervous, and a sheet is most often used on a bed, a slight sexual hint).” (264) Calixta also mentions that the levees might not be able to stand the water; which can be imagined as a breaking point and a rush of water, or passion in her case. Calixta stands at the window, which is clouded with moisture because it is so hot in the house. This is probably because they are reaching a boiling point, the tension is rising and they are hot for each other. Simultaneously, the rain starts coming down in sheets, the storm is worsening and reaching its peak. A bright bolt of lightning struck a tree in the distance which started Calixta, and she stumbled backwards, not coincidentally into her former lover’s arms. “This moment can be termed as the climax of the story when both of the individuals embrace each other letting out their inner passions and desires. Chopin uses the image of the “strike of the lightning” to represent this strong passion” (scribd.com).
“The old-time infatuation Alcee had once felt for Calixta was aroused when he spasmodically and unthinkingly caught her and drew her warm, palpitating body to him.” (265).
He observed her warm face and her moist ruby red lips (a color of love) and her “liquid blue eyes” and began to feel a sensuous desire that drove him to kiss her. This is the climax of the storm as well at the climax of the love affair, about to reach its peak, so to speak.
The Essay on Calixta Alcee Storm Family
1. Her personality is implied through her reactions and feelings throughout the story. Calixta was a caring and worrisome mother. When the storm came she was standing at the window watching, lightning struck a nearby tree and she exploded in emotion for the safety of her husband, child, and herself. That would be her most significant trait. She is also very family orientated. Although she had a ...
All of this thick tension reminded Alcee and Calixta of their courtship. In those days previous to her marriage, Alcee would not dare damage her purity. He describes her “white throat and whiter breasts” as if to illustrate something so pure and holy, it could be tainted by no man. He also compares her to an “immaculate dove”, which is a common reference in the Catholic Church to the Virgin Mary. According to thinkbabynames.com, “Calixta means ‘cup, fairest, most beautiful’; is also a feminine form of Calixtus, which is used in reference by Christians to the cup containing the wine of the Christian sacrament.” This describes the passion, and intense emotion Alcee is feeling for Calixta that is the driving point and the giving in to all the passion that both have been missing.
As the two souls give in to their desires, the elements of the storm roared about the outside. The wild passion inside Calixta was finally set free, she laughed and laid in Alcee’s arms as he admired the many things about her. He refers to her as a revelation in the mysterious chamber that is her room because finally Calixta is shedding her mystery and letting it all out, every bit of passion she had been yearning to feel, every whole-hearted laugh that Bobinot has never been able to achieve with her, and the sexual pleasure she had never felt before. In the text, Alcee describes “Her firm, elastic skin, knowing for the first time in its birthright, was like a creamy lily that the sun invites to contribute its breath and perfume to the undying life of the world”, her skin is knowing now because she has finally felt all that she had been longing for most and never received until now. He further describes it in a loving, almost admirable manner, comparing it to a white lily, which is a symbol of purity; that invites the sun, symbolic of a God, or Alcee in this instance, who granted her every desire. Calixta and her wild passion awakened something inside of Alcee that he had no previous awareness of. Chopin describes their lovemaking as something most people seek out but never attain.
