Analysis Of Emily Dickinson's 'The Storm'

Kate Chopin wrote the short story “The Storm” one of her most bold stories and did not even intention to publish it (Cutter 191). The two main characters in the story are Calixta and Alcee. They both used to be attracted to one another in previous years, but now they are both married to someone else. After Alcee arrives to Calixta’s house looking for shelter they are driven into a passionate moment. In the story “The Storm” the storm has a significant meaning; without it the affair of Calixta and Alcee performed would not have been as powerful as it was between them. “The Storm” has a great deal of symbolism throughout the story: the clouds, the use of color white, the storm relative to the affair, the after effects of the affair, Calixta,

The short story “The Storm” by Kate Chopin revolves around a theme of adultery. The story takes place in Southern Louisiana during the early 1900’s. “The Storm” not only serves as a title but creates a setting as well as symbolizing the affair that takes place between the two main characters, Calixta, the wife and Alcee, the former lover. While reading the story, you’ll begin to notice that as the storm begins, comes to a peak and ends, so does the affair and the story. Overall, the title metaphorically resembles their relationship while also implying that adultery is natural being that a storm is also a natural occurrence. Not only does Chopin use imagery to shape Calixta and Alcee’s sexual encounter in Calixta’s house, but he also uses the color “white” which represents purity. Although this sinful act does not illustrate purity, the experience and feeling that the two lovers undergo during the act does. This also goes to say that Chopin uses both imagery and color to also redefine female agency and sexuality.

Kate Chopin implies in the selection, "The Storm" that the setting and the plot reinforces each character's action, but only two characters exemplify the title itself, Calixta and Alcee. The storm becomes the central element of Alcee's unrequited love for Calixta and ultimately the instrument of their forbidden love to each other. Hurston concurs in the "The Storm" that a forbidden relationship can become a cancerous love and silent death sentence.

Her sister Josephine takes this into consideration when she tells Mrs. Mallard the news of her husband’s death. After hearing the news, Mrs. Mallard immediately begins to cry and then proceeds to lock herself in her upstairs bedroom. She gazes out of her bedroom window, noticing the beauty in the streets below. She is suddenly overcome with a sense of joy as she realizes that she now lives for herself, not for her husband. Mrs. Mallard then opens her bedroom door and walks down the stairs with Josephine to find that someone is opening the front door with a key. Mrs. Mallard’s husband walks through the door and shortly after, Mrs. Mallard is pronounced dead. In Chopin’s “The Storm,” a storm is approaching the town and Calixta, the main character, is at home while her husband and son must take shelter at a nearby store. Alcée, an old boyfriend of Calixta, is passing by the house right as the storm picks up. Calixta welcomes Alcée in the house to wait for the storm to pass. The romantic past of the two begins to distract them from the storm, and they soon find themselves engaged in romantic activities. The storm then passes and Alcée rides off on his horse. Calixta happily welcomes her husband and son home despite the fact that her son has gotten

Kate Chopin's story is set in Louisiana in the mid 1900s and in it she depicts the demonstration of affection and unfaithfulness. There are two individuals in a marriage and it is imperative for each gathering to feel adored, uncommon, and to get their coveted achievements. Chopin utilizes this story to delineate the energetic urges that a man can be overwhelmed with on the off chance that they are missing it in their own particular relationship. In the short story "The Storm," Chopin utilizes the abstract components imagery, perspective, and setting to uncover her point of view on the subject of marriage and satisfaction. Kate Chopin utilizes the moving toward storm as an image of bringing the primary characters back together. The two principle characters, whom are previous sweethearts are Calixta and Alcee. Alcee was happening upon Calixta's home amid the season of the tempest and needed to take shield in her home while it passed. The tempest is the most critical image in the story since it is depicted as the explanation behind bringing Alcee and Calixta back together. Alcee and Calixta had not seen each other "all the time since her marriage, and never alone" (Chopin 122) which made this moving toward storm extremely helpful for the two since her better half and child were held up at the store and Alcee's family was away.

Haruki Murakami said, “When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” This quote is shown throughout Kate Chopin’s story “The Storm”. This story is about two families who are having problem in their relationships. Calixta and Alcee are past lovers and rekindle their love, which actually seems to improve their relationships with their spouses. The feelings between Calixta and Alcee only faded, never fully went away. They do not treat sex and love the same. Their attitudes towards their spouses and families changed. Desire stormed through their lives just like the storm raged through

Kate Chopin writes a short story named “The storm.” The plot of the story where the author shows two married couples, a total of five people and two of them have an affair. We can see a woman who is a mother, a lover and a wife and her different reaction while performing each one of the different roles. After the storm the characters seem to reveal hidden aspects of them.

The storm is menacing, it rolls in “somber…with sinister intention.” Chopin allows us to see the storm build up slowly, reaching its highpoint, and passing. The storm builds chaotically to its climax, Alcee and Calixta are together. As the storm dies out and fades away everything is quiet again in terms of the relationship. The reader can make the assumption that the marriages are unharmed, but it shows that they aren’t perfect.

The short story, “The Storm” by Kate Chopin is about a love that could never be until it briefly was. The point that Chopin was trying to get across was that Calixta and Alcee had a strong passion for one-another, and perhaps loved each other, but they could never have been married because of their social differences. It is a passionate, but brief affair between two married people from different social classes that takes place during a cyclone in Louisiana around 1898. The story symbolizes the freedom that a woman felt inside after the rain during a time when women had no freedom. (Firtha lesson 2 page 1)

According to popular belief, women need to be married to be truly happy. In society, marriage is the holy grail; the end-all-be-all of happiness. After all, a woman couldn’t possibly be content with independence! In both "The Storm" and "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, the protagonists, Calixta and Louise, go against the norm; they share a commonality through their dislike of a confining, traditional marriage. While Calixta seeks out happiness through a one-night-stand in "The Storm," and Louise discovers it through the death of her husband in "The Story of an Hour," the misery both women share in marriage is revealed through Chopin's diction and imagery.

Chopin uses the symbol of the storm to portray the brewing storm, its peak, and end with Calixta’s sexual encounter with Alcee. The storm is being used as a metaphor for Calixta’s increasing passion. In the beginning, “the leaves were so still” and the “somber clouds were rolling with sinister intention,” foreshadowing chaos and impending destruction. Similarly, Calixta is blissfully unaware of the quickly approaching storm as she furiously sews at her sewing machine. She is also unaware of her increasing sexual desires being stirred within her and is unaware of the chaos that lies ahead. Chopin writes, “But she felt very warm and often stopped to mop her face on which the perspiration gathered in beads. She unfastened her white sacque at the throat. It began to grow dark…she got up hurriedly and went about closing windows and doors.” Chopin is foreshadowing Calixta’s passionate encounter with Alcee by using the increasing humidity of the incoming storm to provide means for taking her clothes

Usually a storm creeps upon us, hits a luminous climax, and then fades away into nothingness.  In The Storm, Kate Chopin develops a parallel between a rainstorm and an emotional storm in a woman’s life.  Chopin uses symbolism to depict the feelings of relationships that are as unpredictable as that of a raging storm.

Stanza two and three depicts two types of storms, one externally and one internally, that are bound to happen. As the storm persists, the speaker observes that “weather abroad / And weather in the heart alike come on / Regardless of prediction.” The speaker associates the storm currently happening as a parallel to the troubles he has metaphorically. The “weather abroad” speaks of the disorder present outside of his sentiments. Even though predictions or storm warnings can aid people in toughing through the occurrence, such as stocking up on food and basic disaster supplies, the storm is imminent either way; the weather cannot be manipulated and it will continue to bring forth destruction. Meanwhile, in regards to the emotional state of the speaker, it is of the heart. An individual can attempt to brace themselves in the face of trying times that will weather away the heart, however, they can’t hinder the turmoil set to come. The speaker “can only close the shutters” to the storm raging outside or within. However, by closing the only way he can view the turbulent storm, either from the house or within oneself, he is closing his eyes to the destruction, choosing to be blind to it. Nevertheless, the storm will go forth and wreak havoc that will remain for an extended period of time, engendering suffering. Instruments may well predict the storm, but it is unavoidable and the outcome depends on what one does with the

This conceit of the storm continues throughout much of the story with the storm's crescendo symbolizing a climax in Calixta and Alcee`'s sexual encounter. At first, the obvious desire between the pair is sublimated into a nervous tension, and the effort to restrain their physical longing for the sake of social mores is paramount. Calixta exclaims, "If this keeps up, Dieu sait if the levees goin' to stan' it," which is symbolically indicative of the growing force of their passion and the weakening of their resistance before that passion. A blinding bolt of lightening breaks the lovers' nervous tension, much as it splits through the air and strikes the chinaberry tree. This violent crash precipitates Calixta and Alcee`'s first embrace and kiss, and the affair that ensues vividly matches the progress of the raging storm. The storm reaches a crescendo, which Calixta views as a delightful counterpart to their passionate love-making, for, "they did not heed the crashing torrents, and the roar of the elements made her laugh as she lay in his arms" (284). To make the parallel between the storm and Alcee and Calixta's affair particularly evident, Chopin consistently uses this conceit until the end of the encounter, for the thunder

“Storm Warnings,” true to its literal subject matter, possesses flowy sweeping syntax created by the strategic use of commas and phrasing to draw parallels between the physical oncoming winds and the gales of life. The author crafts a long run-on sentence that spans the first stanza and carries on into the latter portion of the second to mirror the continuous flowing of windy weather and the forward motion of life. Once the speaker notices the brewing storm, they “walk from window to closed window, watching boughs strain against the sky.” In this portion of the affromented run-on sentence, alliteration, rhythm, and the repetition of words all contribute to the impression of movement. The various “w” sounds at the beginnings of words and the repetition of the word “window” create a sensation of continuously flowing forward, especially when read aloud; the comma adds a small swirling pause to the rhythm, which is then soon after resumed with the word “watching.” Just as the poem rhythmically moves forward with its long phrases connected with frequent commas, so must life carry on with each additional experience, whether it be misfortunes or joys. The elongated syntax allows all these elements to work together within sentences to highlight the similarities between physical storms and emotional struggle and to stress the inevitability of predicaments in life.