SHORT STORY:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 Kate Chopin:
 Original name: Katherine O'Flaherty
 American author.
 Born: 8th February, 1850 in Louisiana.
 Died: 22nd August, 1904.
 Novelist and short story writer.
 Family: Oscar Chopin (spouse) and 6 children.
 Considered forerunner of American 20th-century feminist authors
(Southern or catholic background).
 Works were published in national magazines as Atlantic Monthly, Vogue,
The Century Magazine, and The Youth's Companion.
 Controversial works: Because of her subjects and her approach; they
were condemned as immoral by some critics.
 Writing style: Wrote realistic fiction.
o She explored the personal, intimate lives of women through
stories often set in Louisiana. She wrote about feelings and
insinuated that women had a sexual appetite and craved
independence which made her stories taboo in her time period.
 Famous works: “The Story of an Hour", "The Storm", “The Awakening”
and “At Fault” etc.

THE STORM (1898):

 Setting:
The story is set in the late nineteenth century in Southern Louisiana. The
different places include countryside, Friedheimer’s store, Bobinot and Calixta’s
home.

 Characters:
The characters in this short story are as follows:
A. Calixta is the wife of Bobinot and the mother of Bibi. She has an affair
with Alcee, a former lover and who is now married.
 B. Bobinot is the husband of Calixta and the father of Bibi.
C. Bibi is the four year old son of Calixta and Bobinot.
D. Alcee Laballiere is the husband of Clarisse and the former lover of
Calixta.
E. Clarisse is the wife of Alcee and she is out with her children at Biloxi.

 Summary:
In the first part of the story, Bibi, a young boy, and his father, Bobinot, are
stuck at Friedheimer’s store and are waiting for a storm to pass. Bibi is worried
about his mother, Calixta, who is at home alone.
In the second part of the story, the reader is introduced to Calixta, Bobinot’s
wife and Bibi’s mother. She is busy with housework, but she eventually notices
the approaching storm. She hurries to shut the windows and do other
preparations necessary for a safe waiting out of a storm. Meanwhile, Alcee
Laballiere, an old acquaintance of Calixta, stops by as is in a need of shelter due
to the storm. Calixta welcomes him. She is quite worried about her son and
husband, who did not arrive home yet. Soon enough, Alcee, seized by desire
for Calixta, starts kissing her. Later they make love, which take Calixta’s mind
out of her worries. When the storm passes, Alcee leaves.
In part three, Bibi and Bobinot arrive home. Calixta welcomes them and
appears to be happy to see them.
In part four, Alcee decides to write a letter to his wife. He says he misses her
and that he would be glad if she came home soon. However, if she wants to
stay at the bay a bit longer; he would be quite alright with that.
In the last part, Clarisse, Alcee’s wife, receives the letter from her husband. She
feels rather relieved that Alcee does not mind if she stays a bit longer, because
this is her first alone time ever since she got married and she is in no rush to
come back to her marital duties, even though she loves her husband.
After the storm passes, everybody is happy.

 Analysis:
In "The Storm", Kate Chopin attempts to unveil an unhappy marriage between
the characters Calixta and her husband, Bobinot. She addresses the aspects of
their unhappy marriage by focusing on Calixta and her personal sexual desires.
It appears that Bobinot pays little attention to her needs and desires;
therefore; she pursues them with Alcee as he seems to be in tune with her
urge to explore her sexual side. Bobinot is depicted as a husband without little
authority or dominance with his family. Calixta seems to be seeking a man that
possesses these characteristics, which is why she falls so easily for Alcee. From
the instant Alcee and Calixta interact we read that "his voice and her own
startled her as if from a trance". Chopin's choice of wording here suggests that
Calixta was taken over by Alcee's presence. With so many desires and feelings
she wants to explore, Calixta is easily convinced to commit adultery with Alcee.
She gave herself up openly and affixed herself to the passion between them. I
think in this moment Calixta feels more needed and desired by a man since she
last encountered Alcee in Assumption. The dialect Chopin selects to depict the
story is that of a realistic nature. It is told in third person point of view allowing
the reader to understand the thoughts of the narrator as well as what the
other characters were thinking. Chopin's ability to create descriptive images
through her wording aid in the reader's understanding of what Calixta is feeling
and how the interaction with Alcee satisfied her inner urges.

Literary figures:
There are many literary figures used in this short story which are as follows;
 Metaphor:
The title of this story “The Storm” is a metaphor which is intended to reflect
Calixta’s sub-conscious sexual longing as a result of her inadequate conjugal
relationship with her husband. It is observed that the storm's passion is similar
to that shared by Calixta and Alcee. Chopin uses the image of the storm to
represent the sexual tension that builds throughout the story between Alcee
and Calixta. For example, that the lightning and thunder playing outside
Calixta's home foreshadows the sexual encounter that is about to take place.
The metaphor “she was not an immaculate dove” shows that she was an
exceptional beauty whose attractiveness was not disturbed by maturity.
“Her mouth was a fountain of delight” is another metaphor which shows that
every kiss they shared was special for him. Being his first infatuation, every part
of her body was considered by him to be something delightful.
“The rain was over and the sun was turning the glistening green world into a
palace of gems.” shows that the frightening rainstorm has washed off all old
dust and dirt from trees’ leaves, grass and flowers, filling the air with a
freshness and liveliness.
 Simile:
“Her lips were as red and moist as pomegranate seeds” is a simile used in the
story showing the beauty of Calixta lips.
Another simile “as white as the couch she lay upon” shows the tenderness and
fairness of Calixta’s skin.
“Her firm, elastic flesh that was knowing for the first time its birthright, was
like a creamy lily” is a simile used to represent that she was absolutely
flawless.
 Imagery:
Calixta’s little fuller of figure, her “blue eyes” and her “yellow hair,” are the
imageries that shows the beauty of Calixta.
“How you got that mud on yo’ collar” is an imagery used to show that Bibi was
the picture of pathetic resignation.
Imagery “wet fields” shows the view of the field in the story.
 Symbolism:
In this story “a can of shrimps” symbolizes the thoughtfulness and care of
Bobinot for Calixta.
“She felt very warm” symbolizes the yearning of Calixta for sexuality.
“White” usually symbolizes purity or chastity, but all the whiteness mentioned
repeatedly throughout the story represents sexual desires, passion and
emotions for love and longing.
“Grow dark” symbolizes foreseeing of sins.
“Yellow hair” symbolizes Calixta’s sensuality.
“Bobinot’s coat in her hands” symbolizes that Calixta did not want to lose her
husband.
 Personification:
“Somber clouds that were rolling with sinister intension”, “storm burst”,
“shook the wooden store and seemed to be ripping great furrows in the
distant field”, “kinked more stubbornly than ever about her ears and temples”,
“the playing of the lightning was incessant”, “soothing rhythm his muscular
shoulders”
 Hyperbole:
“The very borderland of life’s mystery”, “the meeting with an over-scrupulous
housewife”
 Onomatopoeia:
“Umph-umph” is an onomatopoeia used in this short story.
 Paradox:
“Whose very defenselessness had made her defense” is a paradox.
  Allusion:
“Dieu sait” is a biblical allusion which means only God knows.
The name “Assumption” is an allusion that has religious connotations that
remind us of virginity and chastity. In Christianity, it's a reference to a specific
event: the Virgin Mary's ascent to heaven after she dies. In this story
Assumption is the small town where Calixta and Alcee met up and shared
kisses long ago. As this place is associated with virginity therefore they never
had sex there.
 Foreshadowing:
“She had not seen him very often since her marriage, and never alone.”
This quote foreshadows the fact that Calixta and Alcee used to be close.
 Understatement:
“Nothing can happen.”
Alcee clearly underestimates the power of a cyclone.
 Parallelism:
He had kissed her and kissed and kissed her.

 Themes:

Happiness through unconventional means:

One possible theme is finding happiness and fulfillment through
unconventional means. The main character is a woman who finds incredible
gratification in an elicit affair with an old acquaintance. Chopin seems to be
indicating that freedom and happiness can be found outside of regular moral
conventions of the time. Calixta, who commits the affair, seems perfectly
happy, afterwards treating her husband and son with unusual kindness. So
even though Calixta seemed to love her husband and a husband who by all
outward signs, loved his wife, she still found even more fulfillment through
satisfying her sexual desires with another man.

Lust:
In this story the strong feelings for sexuality can be seen time and again by
Calixta. She tried a lot to avoid those feelings by indulging herself in household
chores but unfortunately she got attracted towards Alcee and thus committed
adultery.
Betrayal:
The theme of betrayal is also shown in this short story. Both Alcee and Calixta
betrayed their life partners by involving in themselves besides the fact that
both of them were having their family.

Encouraging women to live happy:

In this story the author Kate Chopin had encouraged women’s empowerment
that women should live happily without enclosing themselves in any sort of
boundary. They should go for any means in order to fulfill their desires and
pleasures which were considered immoral at that time.