“The Cadian Ball” is a prequel to the short story “The Storm,” which takes place at a Cajun party made for finding marriage suitors. Calixta is described in “The Cadian Ball” as the most beautiful young woman at the party. Moreover, readers discover her passion for Alcée, who seems the only attractive man to her (The Cadian Ball). However, Alcée only uses Calixta for his purposes, that is why she decides to marry Bobinot. I believe Calixta and Alcée do not love their spouses as they both got married for money or stability (The Storm). However, it is difficult to say that Calixta and Alcée love each other, although there is a strong attraction between them and some degree of care.
Describing the negative consequences of adultery would be overly moralistic on the part of Chopin, who focuses more on the complexity of human feelings and experiences. Such deceitful, unstable, self-centered relationships end with drama at least for all parties involved. Chopin intertwines storm and sex, associating it with an emotional and natural storm. When the reader already understands the direct relationship, the author gives the final line: “So the storm passed and everyone was happy” (The Storm). Chopin, brought up in a moralistic society of the 19th century, anticipated the future attitude towards sex as a pleasant sensual experience. Displaying repercussions would shift the focus of the story towards the traditionalist side of cautionary tales.
The text was published only in the 1960s when the second wave of feminism and the sexual revolution made it possible to look at it with an open mind (Jobert, 2018). Sexual explicitness is closely connected in “The Storm” with emotional frankness and openness. At the end of the 19th century, it was merely impossible for society to accept both as intrinsic value without regard to moral and social assessments.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. (1892). The Cadian Ball.
Chopin, Kate. (1989). The Storm.
Jobert, M. (2018). Soundscapes and Narrative Silence. A phonostylistic approach to Kate Chopin’s “The ‘Cadian Ball” and “The Storm. Études de stylistique anglaise, 12, 177-192.