Literature on The Storm by Kate Chopin - Research Paper Example

The name of the story ‘The Storm’ guides the entire narrative throughout the course of the events within the pages as has been described further. (Bloom, Harold) The area where the story is set is Louisiana, a place where most of the members that lived were practicing Catholics and here, Chinaberries were used in order to make rosaries before using glass and beads. The Chinaberry tree in the neighbourhood gets struck by lightning and that represents the sins that Calixta has committed by being with Alcee, in the Catholic area.

Committing adultery is considered to be a terrible sin which would send her to hell if she did not repent for her mistakes according to religion. The time when this piece was written was when people began to question the motives of faith with respect to these aspects of feelings and emotions. A number of literary styles are present within the story after closely analysing it as Chopin portrays the events of her story against the backdrop of a storm. She helps in conveying the conflict of thoughts that Calixta has been going through with respect to her marriage and disappointment at life after having a child, Bibi with her husband Bobinot.

The storm is pointed out by Bobinot as he calls out to his son saying “certain sombre clouds that were rolling with sinister intention from the west, accompanied by a sullen, threatening roar” (p.531) (Chopin, Kate) While the storm brews, Calixta sits quietly at home as her old flame Alcee rides up on a horse and she invites him in to shelter him from the thunder and incessant rain as Alcee cannot be kept out, despite the best efforts of both characters.  In fact, the storm is so menacing, the rain beats so hard upon the house “with a force and clatter that threaten to break an entrance and deluge them there” (p. 532) Soon they begin to rekindle what the possessed for each other in the past and Calixta is reminded of the passion that she was once able to feel in her youth which was absent with the onset of her marriage.

(Elliott, Emory) A double meaning can be seen in the mention of the storm itself; a pun has been intended on nature’s fury as well as the passion bottled up within Calixta. The storm is a double meaning for the excitement that she was exuding within which came out upon meeting Alcee; “They did not heed the crashing torrents, and the roar of the elements made her laugh as she lay in his arms” (p. 533) (Chopin, Kate) the two brought to life the meaning of passion that was hidden in their respective marriages; they climaxed as the storm peaked and reached the ultimate phase of attainment of satisfaction and as the storm began to die, so did their moment, giving them completely different perspectives in life thereon.

A metaphor can be seen in the lines “the sun was turning the glistening green world into a palace of gems,” referring to the rain as passion and the world being the marriages of Calixta an Alcee and how they perceived their marriages to be beautiful after possessing some passion which would go away just as the sun dries up the drops that glisten on the grass after the rain is over. The point of view