The_Storm

English 102-08 March 9, 2012 Setting Weathering the Storm Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” is a story of love, lust, and storms of plenty. The literal side of “The Storm” is background to the figurative storm of passion between Calixta, the main character of the story, and her stormy lover, Alcee Laballiere. Calixta is caught in a figurative storm with Alcee while her husband Bobinot, and her son Bibi are weathering the literal storm. “The setting of “The Storm” is the key force in the story. Calixta is trying to weather the storm outside, only to create a storm of irrationality inside her home and life. Calixta, Alcee, Bobinot, Bibi, and the world were all in conflict with the setting of “The Storm”. The storm not only brought the two secret lovers together, but also kept Bobinot and Bibi at bay while Calixta was creating her own stormy environment. Calixta was laden with the intense conflict of duel storms. For Alcee, the literal storm was at first a conflict for him riding his bicycle, but it turned into a positive thing by bringing him together with his old crush. Weather is the main aspect of “The Storm’s” setting. The extreme weather seemed to make Calixta act drastically out of character. It was a stormy predicted afternoon, and as the storm slowly starts to roll in so does Alcee. The storm grows stronger, with treacherous winds blowing arduously, and rain pouring in sideways. As the storm grows, so do the stormy relations between Calixta and Alcee. The atmosphere builds and recedes in a figurative and literal sense. The literal storm was predicted, but no one saw the figurative storm coming. The story starts serenely with no storms only clouds. As the story progresses the storm begins slowly, as Alcee drives up to Calixta’s house so does the rain and thunder. The two reconnect what was before and while having an affair the rain continues to fall. Eventually the rain stops falling just as Alcee leaves her. It is symbolic that the storm ends when Alcee leaves. After both Alcee and the storm leaves Calixa's husband and son come home. She acts if nothing out of the ordinary happened and they continue to lead a normal life while she has internal unhappiness. She has no love for her husband, only a love for Alcee. Love is a complicated thing, and affairs make things even more complicated. In Chopin's story the setting was a storm coming and passing, like Alcee passing through the lives of Calixa and her family. He made her realize that she did not really love her husband and that being married to someone does not mean that you love them. Love can change like the changing winds of a storm. Calixta will now be weathering her own storm of passion for another man.