Chopins The Storm: A Metaphor of Lust and Passion - Essay Example

?Chopin’s The Storm: A Metaphor of Lust and Passion Today Kate Chopin is recognized as one of the 20th century’s foremost While Chopin’s works explored a variety of themes, one of the most prominent considerations has been the exploration of feminist concerns. Indeed, in both Chopin’s novels and short stories she is recognized for challenging accepted social notions of gender and class. In her story The Storm she follows the events of a storm that causes individuals to brace for shelter. Within this plot the narrative explores a number of heightened emotions and memories. While ostensibly the story is about taking shelter from the storm, this essay argues that on a literary level it functions as a metaphor of the chaotic intensities of love, passion, and lust. While the story presents a unified narrative, this narrative advances through a number of stages that heighten its underlining metaphorical significance by gradually heightened emotional intensity. One of the early narrative concerns of the story is the recognition that the narrative elements build along with the specific oncoming storm. In these regards, the reader experiences the oncoming nature of the storm along with the characters. Chopin implements the impending storm as a means of heightening the need of the characters to group together to face the challenges. Chopin writes, “The leaves were so still that even Bibi thought it was going to rain”. In this instance, Chopin uses the stillness of the leaves as a means of foreshadowing the impending chaos of the storm. The underlining metaphor in this situation is the recognition that the social interactions in the story are at a relative place of stillness that will later be disrupted. Another prominent consideration in the opening segments of the story is the characterization and symbolism involved with Bibi. Chopin describes Bibi’s reaction to the impending storm. She writes, “Bibi laid his little hand on his father’s knee and was not afraid”. This line holds a degree of complexity in terms of the narrative and the story’s overarching metaphorical significance. In terms of the heightened connection of the narrative it demonstrates a physical linkage between son and father. It also represents their familial coming together that was required when the mother commited adultery. One further considers that Bibi purchases a can of shrimp. In this sense, it seems that to a degree the shrimps symbolize Bibi’s innocence and naivete in terms of the larger context of the story. This naivete is also indicative of the readers’ own perspective regarding the totality of the story’s narrative. While from a literal context the story foreshadows the impending storm, there is the recognition that the foreshadowing just as effectively refers to the upcoming lust and passion that will be experienced between Calixta and Alcee. One considers this when Chopin writes about “certain sombre clouds that were rolling with sinister intention from the west, accompanied by a sullen, threatening roar”. While the symbolism or foreshadowing here is abstract or impressionistic, this description of the impending clouds also can refer to the turbulent emotions that will be experienced through the adulterous actions that Calixta participates in. This consideration is further enhanced by the recognition that rather than the storm arriving first to Calixta’s home, it is Alcee Laballiere that arrives. Ultimately then the narrative advances the overarching metaphor by seamlessly interweaving the coming of the storm with the emergence of the emotional intensity created by the affair. As the story shifts focus from the corner store to the farmhouse, there are further elements that heighten the metaphor of the storm as emotional intensity. After Alcee Laballiere enters, he asks, “May I come and wait on your gallery till the storm is over, Calixta?”. Such considerations, while directly contributing to the narrative, also add the dimension of care and concern. This care and concern lays the foundation, creating suspense for what will develop into the storm-like affair. Indeed, it’s clear that Chopin implements this interaction not only to develop suspense but also to further advance the metaphorical linking of the storm to the chaotic nature of the love relationship between Calixta and Alcee. Chopin writes, “Alcee Laballiere rode in at the gate. She had not seen him very often since her marriage, and never alone. She stood there with Bobinot’s coat in her hands, and the big rain drops began to fall”. In this portion of the story, Alcee has just come into the picture; at the moment when Alcee enters the story, the ‘big rain drops’ begin to fall. In this way, the beginning of the rain metaphorically signifies the beginning of the lustful affair. The nature of the story as considering the storm from this metaphorical perspective is heightened by Chopin’s implementation of vivid and descriptive language that demonstrates the ways that the characters ban together. Chopin writes, “Calixta put her hands to her eyes, and with a cry, staggered backward. Alcee's arm encircled her, and for an instant he drew her close and spasmodically to him”. This language is woven into the fabric of the story. While ostensibly this descriptive language refers to the physical actions that Calixta and Alcee are undertaking, in another sense it is descriptive terminology that just as easily describes the actions of a violent storm. For instance, Calixta is brought ‘spasmodically’ close, just as one might envision a storm throwing around debris outside. This is a significant insight regarding the story, as previously Chopin had used the storm to metaphorically signify the lustful affair. In this instance, however, the lustful affair metaphorically represents elements of the storm. In this way, Chopin has furthered and seamlessly interweaved elements of the storm and the affair together. In a sense, Chopin presents a transcendental meditation of the nature of the human condition in the metaphorical linkage between lust and the storm. Outside the context of this story, individuals often speak of a ‘crime of passion’ or being drawn into a dysfunctional relationship. Many times individuals speak of being ‘crazy in love’. These expressions demonstrate that humans are often perplexed at the very chaotic nature of their emotions and feelings. Chopin writes, “They did not heed the crashing torrents, and the roar of the elements made her laugh as she lay in his arms…The generous abundance of her passion, without guile or trickery, was like a white flame which penetrated and found response in depths of his own sensuous nature that had never yet been reached”. These are richly textured statements. From an overarching perspective they advance the metaphor of the storm as lust. More specifically, however, one considers the symbolic connection that Chopin draws between crashing torrents and the nature of sexual intercourse. Noted earlier, the essay argued that the story specifically works to articulate the throes of lust, love, and passion through recourse to nature. In this instance, Chopin directly links these elements as Calixta’s passion is described as a part of nature. In terms of transcendentalism, Chopin has turned to the chaotic and unexplainable movement in a storm as a close proximity to the mysterious emotions of love and passion. In addition to the metaphorical concerns advanced by the narrative, the story implements the metaphor of the storm as a means of heightening character concerns. Perhaps the most prominent instance of this occurs in regard to the remembering of the events in Assumption. Chopin writes, “she remembered; for in Assumption he had kissed her and kissed and kissed her; until his senses would well nigh fail, and to save her he would resort to a desperate flight”. Chopin then implements the storm narrative as a means of metaphorical significance to heighten the narrative through placing the characters in this proximity. That is, the love affair is not simply a one-time event; rather, it is a chaotic thing that has occurred in the past and then unwillingly returned. In conclusion it can be said that this essay has examined Kate Chopin’s short story The Storm in relation to its implementation if a storm as a metaphor of the lust and love occurring in an affair. This is significant as the narrative represents not only the literal storm but also the broader metaphorical considerations related to the nature of life sometimes functioning like a storm; there is the subsequent metaphorical need for individuals to group together to take shelter against this storm. This interpretation is heightened by the story’s conclusion, which describes the resolution of troublesome events in the characters’ lives and the ending of the storm. In regard to narrative techniques, the essay demonstrates that the story implements the storm as a means of bringing the characters in closer proximity; additionally, it allows the reader to experience the progressive oncoming of the storm along with the characters. Furthermore, the storm is used as a metaphor of the challenges of life. Ultimately, the story powerfully implements metaphors, symbolism, and descriptive language to articulate this passionate relationship and the way such lust often resembles the throes of a storm. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. "The Storm." literary classics. N.p., 2009. Web. 3 Jul 2012. . Read More