Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in At the ’Cadian Ball, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love vs. Attraction
Decorum, Impropriety, and Feminism
Naturalism
Summary
Analysis
Bobinôt, an Acadian farmer, thinks to himself that he will not go to the ’Cadian ball, despite the fact that Calixta, the woman he loves, will be there. Bobinôt wishes he did not love Calixta, as she does not seem to return his affections; nevertheless, her hold over him is strong. Calixta is simply too beautiful and too charming. Bobinôt thinks all this as he is plowing cane.
From the names of the characters, readers can gather that the story takes place in a French American community. Since Bobinôt is plowing cane, readers can also infer that the story takes place in the American South. It is immediately clear that Bobinôt is primarily fixated on Calixta outer appearance, rather than her personality—it remains to be seen, then, whether his affections are based upon love, or merely upon physical attraction.
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Bobinôt recalls a time when the community gossiped about Calixta doing something scandalous at Assumption mass, though what she did he leaves unsaid. He remembers her verbally and physically fighting with Fronie. The community excused her impropriety on account of her Spanish blood. Bobinôt attempts to use this memory to convince himself not to go to the ball. However, upon hearing at Friedheimer’s store that Alcée Laballière is attending, Bobinôt decides to go, worried that “a gleam from Calixta’s eyes, a flash of her ankle, a twirl of her skirts” would “put the devil in [Alcée’s] head.”
Calixta’s behavior is quite improper for a lady from the late-19th century American South. In a culture that values demure manners for women, her lack of verbal and physical restraint is quite far from cultural ideals. Yet, it appears that despite Calixta’s impropriety, Bobinôt still loves her. Indeed, the sense of responsibility he has with regards to her wellbeing and his desire to shield her from Alcée demonstrates that his feelings for Calixta go beyond mere attraction.
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The story switches focus to Alcée, relating that the Creole planter put 900 acres into rice that year. His mother, Madame Laballière, and her beautiful goddaughter, Clarisse, look forward to the potential returns and often entertain guests while Alcée is working the fields. Alcée, in love with Clarisse, confesses to her with “a volley of hot, blistering love-words” one day after returning from the fields. Clarisse, scandalized, rejects him. Days later, a cyclone destroys the rice fields. Alcée, devastated, becomes “ill and gray,” and even the “soft, purring words of condolence” from Clarisse does not help.
Clarisse appears to be Calixta’s foil: she is well behaved and easily scandalized by anything less than polite. Yet, for all her and Madame Laballière’s high-class airs, life at the plantation is still agrarian—a single cyclone can have a devastating effect. Readers can see this in Alcée’s dejected behavior following the cyclone. Thus, readers can detect a sense of naturalism: in the story, nature and the environment determine characters’ fates, highlighting the relative powerlessness that human beings experience at the whims of their natural landscapes.
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One or two nights later, near midnight, Clarisse accidentally witnesses Bruce, a black servant, leading a horse to Alcée, who then mounts the horse and leaves. Unsettled, calls out to Bruce from the gallery and asks him where Alcée is going. It takes some coaxing from Clarisse before Bruce reluctantly relays that Alcée has gone to the ’Cadian ball to relieve his frustrations after drinking “a big dram o’ w’iskey.” Clarisse, scandalized, reenters the house.
Clarisse’s disapproval of Alcée’s attending the ball is telling. First, it indicates that though she rejected Alcée, Clarisse is actually interested in him. Alcée has claimed to be in love with Clarisse, but it is unclear whether she possesses the same fidelity and devotion for him, or if she is merely attracted to him on a superficial level. Second, it hints that the Laballière family is of a higher social class than the attendees of the ball and does not typically attend such social events. Indeed, the family is rich enough to employ a manservant. This highlights the importance placed upon decorum and status in Southern society.
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Get the entire At the ’Cadian Ball LitChart as a printable PDF.
Alcée arrives at the ball, which takes place in a big room surrounded by galleries. The ball has a great variety of people, albeit only white people, from “sober-faced men” playing cards to babies sleeping in “le parc au petits.” Alcée’s presence causes “a flutter,” and many men admire his braveness in showing his face after the cyclone. It is revealed that the cyclone does not entail much of a financial blow to the Laballière family, as the family is wealthy and has other resources; nevertheless, the men at the ball think that “it [takes] a brave homme to stand a blow like that philosophically.”
Although the story takes place after the Civil War, racial equality is still far away: there are no black attendees at the ball. In addition to the clear gap in expectations between male and female characters, this is yet another level of inequality present in Acadia’s social structure. Alcée appears to be a bit of a celebrity among those in the Acadian community. Men and women alike watch, admire, and gossip about him. The fact that the loss of 900 acres of rice crops isn’t much of a financial blow to Alcée reinforces the idea that the Laballière family belongs to a higher social class, and thus highlights the stratification that is inherent to their community.
Themes
Though he does not show it, Alcée is “in a mood for ugly things,” something that only Bobinôt vaguely detects. Alcée stands out among the other men, as most of the men are “dull-looking and clumsy.” However, the women are beautiful and many of them hope to capture Alcée’s attention, glancing at him as they pass him.
Alcée is not only rich but also quite handsome, setting him apart from the other “dull-looking and clumsy” men at the ball. Consequently, he is a desirable match for all the single women at the ball—regardless of whether their feelings for him are genuine, or merely based on superficial attraction. In this way, Chopin sets up the story so that Calixta’s attraction to Alcée seems inevitable and only natural.
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Calixta is the belle of the ball—“Such animation! and abandon! such flashes of wit!” She briefly teases Bobinôt: “Hé, Bobinôt! Mais w’at ’s the matta? W’at you standin’ planté là like ole Ma’ame Tina’s cow in the bog, you?” Bobinôt takes this in stride, glad that Calixta has shown him any attention at all. However, Madame Suzonne, an older woman, is disapproving. The narrator comments that “the women did not always approve of Calixta.”
Chopin depicts Calixta as Alcée’s natural partner at the ball: she stands out among the women the same way that Alcée stands out from the men—it is clear that they are valued first and foremost for their physical appearances, rather than any deeper qualities they may possess. However, where Alcée receives what seems to be universal approval, Calixta experiences disapproval from older women who find her much too improper and, perhaps, too ostentatious.
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Calixta and Alcée escape to the gallery for a rendezvous. They talk about last year’s Assumption mass, where people assumed they had a scandalous tryst. Bobinôt unsuccessfully looks for Calixta, which Alcée sees. Alcée asks Calixta if she plans to marry Bobinôt, and she replies with “I don’t say no, me.” The two flirt and Calixta’s senses are “reeling,” “well-nigh [leaving] her when she [feels] Alcée’s lips brush against her ear like the touch of a rose.”
The community in the story is very traditional: even a young woman and man attending mass together can lead to gossip regarding the potential of impropriety. In this way, Calixta and Alcée’s intimate interaction on the gallery is highly improper, especially if readers compare Calixta’s behavior to the reaction Clarisse had towards Alcée’s blustering confession.
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A black servant interrupts the rendezvous by informing Alcée of a visitor. Alcée harshly dismisses him, saying, “I wouldn’t go out to the road to see the Angel Gabriel. And if you come back here with any more talk, I’ll have to break your neck.” Calixta and Alcée then continue their flirtation until Clarisse arrives. Though Clarisse assures Alcée that nothing is wrong, he immediately abandons Calixta without a second thought and starts for home with Clarisse.
Alcée’s suave language around Calixta forms a contrast with his verbal ineptitude around Clarisse. This hints that he is only attracted to Calixta and does not love her. The superficiality of Alcée’s feelings for Calixta is reinforced by his immediate abandonment of Calixta when Clarisse comes to the ball to fetch him.
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Bobinôt finds Calixta alone on the gallery. She expresses a desire to go home. Bobinôt asks if he may accompany her, and she assents with indifference. On the way home, Calixta tersely accepts Bobinôt’s affections: “You been sayin’ all along you want to marry me, Bobinôt. Well, if you want, yet, I don’ care, me.” Bobinôt is elated and asks Calixta to kiss him. She refuses, but still, he is satisfied.
Alcée’s rejection leads Calixta to brusquely accept Bobinôt. In this way, readers can continue to see the naturalistic cause-and-effect sequence present in the story, as chance encounters and decisions have profound impacts on other characters. Bobinôt rejoices in her acceptance despite her indifference, reinforcing his unconditional love for her.
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The story switches to focus on Alcée and Clarisse. The two are taking a break to rearrange the saddle and Alcée asks Clarisse “for the twentieth time” if something is wrong. She replies that she was afraid he would go to Assumption. Eventually, Alcée coaxes a confession of love from Clarisse and, overjoyed, forgets all about Calixta and even the cyclone: “The one, only, great reality in the world was Clarisse standing before him, telling him that she loved him.” The story ends with pistol shots in the distance signaling the end of the ball.
Clarisse’s roundabout acceptance of Alcée contrasts with Calixta’s direct acceptance of Bobinôt, once again establishing Clarisse as Calixta’s foil. Alcée, overjoyed by Clarisse’s confession, forgets about Calixta and the cyclone. In this way, readers can see that it takes one force of nature—one “great reality”—to counter the effects of the other. Love and attraction, then, are portrayed as natural and ultimately uncontrollable forces that can have profound impacts on an entire community—not just the two people directly involved in a romantic pairing.
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