When describing the end of Alcée and Calixta’s sexual encounter, Chopin uses imagery, as seen in the following passage:
He stayed cushioned upon her, breathless, dazed, enervated, with his heart beating like a hammer upon her. With one hand she clasped his head, her lips lightly touching his forehead. The other hand stroked with a soothing rhythm his muscular shoulders.
The growl of the thunder was distant and passing away. The rain beat softly upon the shingles, inviting them to drowsiness and sleep. But they dared not yield.
Chopin uses different kinds of sensory language here in order to bring readers more closely into this pivotal scene. Readers can feel Alcée’s heart “beating like a hammer” against Calixta as well as how Calixta kisses Alcée’s forehead and strokes his shoulders “with a soothing rhythm.” At the same time, they can hear the “growl of the thunder” fading away and the rain “beat[ing] softly upon the shingles.”
All of this descriptive language combines to communicate how simultaneously loving and tender Alcée and Calixta’s sexual experience was, with the storm-related imagery mirroring the gentle post-coital moment. This is important because it suggests that sex outside of marriage is not inherently “bad”—just because Alcée and Calixta are not married does not mean there isn’t love and care between them. They do not end their experience with shame or regret, but with care for the other, and renewed energy that they then put into their respective relationships.
Before Alcée and Calixta have sex, the narrator communicates Alcée’s desire for her using imagery and a simile, as seen in the following passage:
Alcée clasped her shoulders and looked into her face. The contact of her warm, palpitating body when he had unthinkingly drawn her into his arms, had aroused all the old-time infatuation and desire for her flesh […] He pushed her hair back from her face that was warm and steaming. Her lips were as red and moist as pomegranate seed.
This passage opens with Alcée holding Calixta in order to comfort her after lightning struck down a nearby tree. The imagery here demonstrates how much Alcée desires Calixta in this moment of closeness, as the narrator zooms in on Alcée’s sensory experience of Calixta’s “warm, palpitating body” and “warm and steaming” face.
The simile in this passage—“Her lips were as red and moist as pomegranate seed”—also presents Calixta’s body as an object of Alcée’s desire and hints at how much he’d like to kiss her, preparing readers for him to do so. This is one of several moments in which the narrator compares Calixta’s body to an aspect of nature, subtly communicating that sex is a natural part of life. (It is also worth noting that the pomegranate has historically been seen a symbol for sexuality and lust.)
Before Alcée and Calixta have sex, they watch the storm through Calixta’s windows. The narrator hints at the growing sexual tension between the two characters through the use of imagery, as seen in the following passage:
[Calixta] went and stood at the window with a greatly disturbed look on her face. She wiped the frame that was clouded with moisture. It was stiflingly hot. Alcée got up and joined her at the window, looking over her shoulder. The rain was coming down in sheets obscuring the view of far-off cabins and enveloping the distant wood in a gray mist. The playing of the lightning was incessant. A bolt struck a tall chinaberry tree at the edge of the field. It filled all visible space with a blinding glare and the crash seemed to invade the very boards they stood upon.
Chopin uses rich language that engages different senses at once—readers can feel how “stiflingly hot” it is in the house, see the rain “coming down in sheets,” the “gray mist” beyond the rain, and the lightning that “filled all visible space with a blinding glare,” while also hearing the loud “crash” of lightning that “seemed to invade the very boards they stood upon.”
All of this storm-related imagery hints at Alcée and Calixta's emotional experience, specifically the growing sexual desire each feels for the other. The sexual tension between them “heats up” as the house itself becomes hotter and the storm starts to ramp up. And, though it’s not captured in this passage, it is only after the climactic lightning strike that Alcée and Calixta end up in each other’s arms, leading to their passionate sexual encounter.
