The Storm: Part 2 Summary & Analysis

Like the clouds building heat and tension overhead, sweaty Calixta appears ready to burst. With housekeeping making her physically miserable, drenched in sweat hunched over a sewing machine, Calixta is the very image of an overworked, pent-up housewife. The confines of the home make Calixta uncomfortable, as indicated by the need to release her throat from the restrictive collar of her traditional gown. Chopin notes that her collar is white, the classic color for this constricting garment. As white is the often associated with purity, Calixta’s fussiness with traditional feminine clothing implies a more general discomfort with conventional expectations of female virtue.

Readers of the story’s prequel, “At the ‘Cadian Ball,” would know that Alcée and Calixta share sexual chemistry. But even if the reader is unfamiliar with the couple’s romantic history, Chopin lets the reader know right away that Calixta feels a sexual pull towards Alcée, noting that his voice pulls her out of a “trance.” The thunderstorm serves both as a plot device used to bring together old lovers and as a symbol for their encounter. An allegory for the encounter between the two, as the thunderstorm builds, so does the tension between the two former lovers. Importantly, Chopin portrays both characters respectful to their marriages. As a wife to another man, Calixta “had not seen [Alcée] very often since her marriage, and never alone.” This suggests that the two respect their roles as husband and wife to other people. As further evidence that Alcée is a gentleman, even with the storm picking up outside, he hesitates to put himself alone in Calixta’s company. Alcée only asks to enter Calixta’s porch (referred to as “gallery” in the story) when the rain intensifies.

Although Alcée first intends to stay on the porch, away from the more intimate sections of Calixta’s home, the storm is too strong. Upon entry to the house, Alcée does not appear motivated to come in so that he can be alone with Calixta. Instead, Alcée seems motivated by a desire to help Calixta in the face of the tremendous thunderstorm. Still, as the rain intensifies, Alcée and Calixta’s bodies draw close to “thrust” a rolled-up rug under the crack of the door to keep rain from spilling into the house—a piece of storm preparation Chopin describes as “necessary.” Chopin doubles down on the symbol of the thunderstorm through the use of sexually charged language to describe the storm (like the word “thrust”). Readers may interpret Calixta’s observation that this is the most powerful storm in years as Calixta’s saying she hasn’t been this sexually aroused in years.

As readers from the prequel already know, Alcée’s observation regarding Calixta’s “vivacity” suggests that the younger Calixta was much less buttoned-up than the married woman she is today. It’s also significant that Chopin uses white to describe an intimate space of Calixta’s home. Here, the bed sits off to the side, just like the sexual tension between Calixta and Alcée. The bed in this scene, glowing in the distance, foreshadows the sex that’s about to occur. As the bed glows with the color of virtuosity, Chopin suggests that the intimate bond between Calixta and Alcée is likewise innocent.

While she never mentions the location of the story outright, Chopin’s characters speak in a dialect specific to Louisiana commonly known as Louisiana French. For example, the phrase “Dieu sait!” is a French expression meaning “God Knows.” Combined with the mention of the levees and the shrimp, readers can correctly assume that the story takes place in Southern Louisiana. The use of specific regional dialect is characteristic of local color, a style of writing in which an author relies on region-specific features (such as dialect, cuisine, and weather) to tell a story. On another note, this passage contains further evidence that Calixta and Alcée respect their marriages: Calixta worries for her family’s safety, while Alcée is quick to defend her husband, explaining that Bobinôt is capable enough to navigate the storm. Relatedly, Chopin once again mentions the color white to further frame the meeting between Alcée and Calixta as an innocent endeavor.

With the mention of past kissing, readers now know for sure that Alcée and Calixta share an intimate past. Also, from Alcée's recollection of his "honor," it’s clear that they didn't have sex when they were young. This suggests that, for the younger Alcée, to sleep with single Calixta without the intention of marriage would be moral wrongdoing. The implication of Alcée’s recollection is that, as already-married adults, Calixta and Alcée can now enjoy sex free from the expectation of marriage.

The mention of white in this scene once again suggests that the sex between Calixta and Alcée is a beautiful act of love rather than a morally transgressive one. Moreover, with sex occurring parallel to the storm, Chopin depicts sex between Calixta and Alcée as a natural act, implicitly arguing that sex and sexual desire is a integral part of human nature. This passage also suggests that Alcée’s sexual relationship with his wife leaves something to be desired, as he’s able to tap into “never yet […] reached” levels of pleasure with Calixta. It’s also significant that, as they part, Calixta appears refreshed. In contrast to the wound-up, overworked Calixta from the story's beginning, post-sex Calixta is comfortable and cheerful, once again positioning the extramarital affair as a positive and invigorating rather than shameful.