The mood of “The Storm” is primarily erotic and joyful. While the story opens with a somewhat suspenseful mood—as Bobinôt and Calixta separately worry about the effects of the storm—it quickly shifts into an erotic register as Alcée enters Calixta’s home to shelter from the rain. The following passage captures the growing sexual tension:
The rain beat upon the low, shingled roof with a force and clatter that threatened to break an entrance and deluge them there. They were in the dining room—the sitting room—the general utility room. Adjoining was her bed room, with Bibi’s couch along side her own. The door stood open, and the room with its white, monumental bed, its closed shutters, looked dim and mysterious.
Throughout the story, the storm mirrors the sexual energy between Calixta and Alcée, and this passage is no exception—the rain hits the roof “with a force and clatter that threatened to break an entrance and deluge them,” hinting at how the tension between the two characters will soon “break” and “deluge” them in the form of an extramarital sexual encounter. The way in which the narrator describes the “dim and mysterious” nature of Calixta’s “white, monumental bed” also adds to the erotic undertones of this moment, foreshadowing the fact that Calixta and Alcée will find their way to the bed eventually.
Once the two characters begin to have sex, the mood of the story remains erotic while also becoming joyful and liberating. The narrator captures the beautiful quality of their sexual encounter, including the gentle and loving ways they touch each other and how they laugh together as they say goodbye. Following this, the narrator includes a few small scenes in which the joy and love Calixta and Alcée felt together gets poured into their relationships with their spouses and children, resulting in more joy for every character in the story.
