Symbolism InThe Storm, By Kate Chopin

Her sexuality has been repressed by the constraints of her marriage and society's view of women, represented by the housework being done before the storm hits. Chopin alludes to this theme of suppression again as Alcee is invited into Calixta's home. The author writes, 'Come 'long in, M'sieur Alcee. His voice and her own startled her as if from a trance, and she seized Bobinot's vest. Alcee, mounting to the porch, grabbed the trousers and snatched Bibi's braided jacket that was about to be carried away by a sudden gust of wind.'; Alcee grabs Bobinot's pants, symbolically subverting the social and martial constraints that control Calixta.

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,

In the story "The Storm", Kate Chopin plots a situation in which two people surrender to their physical desires. Chopin wrote fiction stories in the late 19th century. She was condemned due to the immorality presented in her work. At her times, woman was considered to be very innocent, and always faithful to her husband. In Chopin's work one sees a totally different view of a woman's behavior. She is not a popular writer of her era because of her crude works; the audience of her period could not justify her stories. In the story "the storm", Kate Chopin by hiding the immoral behavior of her characters behind the fear of bad weather is being ironic.

What is Naturalism? Naturalism is applying scientific principles of objectivity to study humans. In Kate Chopin narrative “The Storm” nature was taking over the story. The Storm is a story that was centered on the nature and how does it force Alcee and Calixta to do things that they did not want to do. In this essay, I will analyse or show how does naturalism was introduce in the story.

The theme adultery was first initiated when Alcee requested to reside in Calixta’s house till the rain passed. “His voice and her own startled her as if from a trance…”. Judging from the way they both reacted, it is clear that the two still have some sort of feelings for each other. Another aspect that leads to the feelings of both characters is when Chopin outlines the setting of the room they are in. “The door stood open, and the room with it’s white monumental bed, its closed shutters, looked dim and mysterious.” Already, the tone has changed becoming more tense and so has the storm as it beat upon the shingled roof with force like Chopin describes in the story. When Calixta realizes the storm has gotten worse, she then walks over to the window with a disturbed look on her face and Alcee of course follows behind her which proves that he wants to be around her. From the minute Alcee walks in, Calixta begins to show signs of nervousness which proves that he still has some affect on her. The tension of the rain and Calixta’s feelings both build up as it begins to rain harder, the winds blow harder and the lightening become stronger which symbolizes Calixta’s feelings at the moment. She tries to

“The Storm’s” theme was based on Love, Immoral affair, and Freedom. Chopin’s technique of foreshadowing, symbolism, irony, tone, and imagery set the plot for Alcee, Calixta, Bobinot, and Clarisse in this short story. “A bolt struck a tall chinaberry tree at the edge of the field. It filled all visible space with a blinding glare and crash seemed to invade the very boards they stood upon” (425). The writer used Imagery to depict how nature shook the foundation of their respective marriages. The significance of the tall chinaberry tree that crashed the boards was that it made Bobinot and Clarisse almost irrelevant in the story. The author used the metaphorical expression to indicate how the storm schemed Bobinot and Clarisse out of the reckoning.

With the passing of the storm and the departure of Alcee, Calixta does not revert to her subordinate housewife bonds. Instead, she uses her awakening to discover newfound happiness in her marriage and duties as a wife and mother. When Bobinot and Bibi return, the reader sees a different Calixta than the downtrodden, worried, and selfless Calixta from the beginning of the story. In fact, it is the father and son who must begin ?to relax and enjoy themselves,? not Calixta, who is already joyously preparing dinner (861). At the dinner table, ?they laughed much and so loud that anyone might have heard them? (861). The only other time

'The Storm' begins on a stormy spring day, with the protagonist Calixta at her sewing machine. She is alone, her husband Bobinot and son Bibi have gone to the store. Calixta seems to be a bored woman, confined to her duties as a housewife and mother. As the distant storm approaches she is unaware of what the storm brings, her former lover Alcee.

Story takes place within a society which morally cannot allow sharing of this type of an encounter with others. Both of the main characters are expected to continue their marital life and remain faithful to each owns family. In the story, the writer addresses the theme of womanhood and the complexities of the holy matrimony. The story is drawn to a close by this sentence, “So the storm passed and everyone was happy” (Chopin). This sentence reflects the relationship that Calixta and Bobinot share and provides us with a glimpse of the emotional bond the two of them have. The writer’s view is that a woman’s sexuality and her desires are suppressed by marriage, although sometimes that desire can be fulfilled without placing any type of damage on the relationship.

Calixta and Alcee had a strong passion for each other. Chopin says: Alcee rides up to her house and asks “if he can take shelter

            Similar conflict is also found in Chopin's short work "The Storm". However, the disharmony does not manifest itself in such an apparent fashion as witnessed in "The Yellow Wallpaper". "The Storm" takes place in New Orleans and deals with the controversial issue of infidelity. Here again we can attribute a substantial portion of the stories conflict to the husband, Bobinot, who seems almost indifferent to his wife Calixta. In the opening of the short story by Chopin we find Bobinot and his son, Bibi, sitting in front of a local store where they notice a storm of impending detriment drawing near. Bobinot's lack of concern rears its

Thesis: In Kate Chopin's "The Storm" and "The Story of an Hour," the wives seem to share the foul qualities of selfishness, unfaithfulness and confusion.

The presence of Calixta's sexual desire and its intensity make this story revolutionary in its feminist statement about female sexuality. Chopin uses the conceit of a thunderstorm to describe the development, peak, and ebbing of passion in the encounter between Calixta and Alcee. At first, Calixta is unaware of the approaching storm, just as her sexual desire might be on an unconscious level; yet, as the storm approaches, Calixta grows warm and damp with perspiration. Chopin does the obvious by these two events when she writes that Calixta, "felt very warm . . . she unfastened her white saque at the throat. It began to grow dark and suddenly realizing the situation she got up and hurriedly went about closing windows and doors" (Part 2 Paragraph 1).

The short story, “The Storm,” can be classified as a story that is explicit of its kind because of its sexual and adulteress content. Although the story is portrayed as that, Chopin is able to bring about two parallel subjects to combine with each other to bring about one meaning that contributes to the subject as a whole. In the story, an affair occurs in the midst of a storm between Calixta and Alcee, two fond lovers that find each other once again and relive their

Feminist American author, Kate Chopin, is known for her stories with strong and daring female lead stories. Her common themes display women, femininity, marriage, liberation, oppression, and perseverance. The Louisiana based novelist famous works started the feminist movement. Chopin’s stories The Story of an Hour and The Storm have many similarities and differences as do the majority of her work. The main characters, Calixta and Mrs. Mallard, both portray an odd attitude towards marriage.