Kate Chopin, in “The Storm”, her most sexually explicit story, narrates a moment of passionate sex during a harsh storm between two married people who cheat on their spouses (Koloski, 2018). After both the act and the storm had passed, nobody felt shame, and the author emphasized that “everyone was happy” (Chopin, 2005). Somebody can say that this story is only about sinners and love-rats, but this point of view is superficial. If we look more profoundly, the narrative tells about the irrepressible power of Eros because it can be seen in the unexpected passion and is presented by the symbolic storm.
Exploded Eros provokes the unfaithfulness of two people. Everybody can see the evidence of it in the plot. The story unfolds around two characters: Calixta is the wife of Bobint, that was at a store with their four-year-old son Bibi. Alcee is an acquainted man of hers, a second main character. He asked Calixta to wait out the coming storm in her house. Chopin let a reader know a little of the background of Alcee’s attitude toward her, writing that she “had aroused all the old-time infatuation and desire for her flesh” (Chopin, 2005). Alcee once desired Calixta, and now he could not help himself and kissed her. In her turn, Calixta did not resist and gave herself to him. She wanted it, too, because “in her liquid blue eyes had given place to a drowsy gleam that unconsciously betrayed a sensuous desire” (Chopin, 2005). Ostman notes that this story represents a vision of the world that reshapes accepted Catholic conventions (Ostman, 2020). Thus, aroused Eros overcame their conscience and faith, and they gave up their social and moral boundaries under his influence.
In short, Kate Chopin’s short story “The Storm” tells about the power of Eros, which overcomes any conventions. She emphasizes it especially by describing its influence on two married people that cheat on their husband and wife with each other. Besides, the author uses some artistic means, symbolizing a growing desire by the harsh storm. Certainly, there are other layers of the story’s meaning, but the one described before is the most profound because it reveals metaphysical reasons for the sexual act.
References
Chopin, K. (2005). The storm. Short Story Press.
Koloski, B. (2018). The Historian’s Awakening: Reading Kate Chopin’s Classic Novel as Social and Cultural History. ABC-CLIO.
Ostman, H. (2020). Kate Chopin and Catholicism. Springer International Publishing.
Appendix A
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Appendix B
Demographic Information for Cummings et al. (2002)’s Review.
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