Chopin’s writing style in “The Storm” shifts depending on which character the narrator is closest to. The story is split into five parts, with the narrator focusing on different characters’ inner experiences—in Part 1, they are closest to Bobinôt and Bibi, in Part 2 to Calixta and Alcée, in Part 3 to Bobinôt, followed by Alcée in Part 4 and Clarisse in Part 5. In every part of the story except Part 2, Chopin’s writing style has some descriptive moments but is primarily journalistic—the narrator is reporting in simple language on what is going on in a given character’s mind.
In Part 2, on the other hand, Chopin’s style becomes full of emotional and imagistic language, including similes, metaphors, and hyperboles. This shift in style effectively communicates the extraordinary nature of Calixta and Alcée’s sexual connection in juxtaposition with the mundanity of the other characters’ lives. Take the following passage from Part 2, for example, which comes before Calixta and Alcée’s sexual encounter:
She was a little fuller of figure than five years before when she married; but she had lost nothing of her vivacity. Her blue eyes still retained their melting quality; and her yellow hair, dishevelled by the wind and rain, kinked more stubbornly than ever about her ears and temples.
Here, the narrator brings readers more fully into the scene by describing Calixta’s “fuller” figure and “vivacity.” They can also see through Alcée’s eyes how Calixta’s “blue eyes still retained their melting quality” and how her hair “kinked more stubbornly than ever about her ears and temples.” In other sections of the story, there is very little description of characters’ appearances, yet here Alcée notices many details about Calixta at once, tying his love for her in the past to his desire for her today. Chopin’s more flowery and literary style in Part 2 suggests that loving extramarital affairs like the one that Calixta and Alcée are engaged in can be positive and life-giving rather than immoral and harmful.
