"The Storm"

The concept of the short story, "The Storm" is clearly sexual in its contexts. This story is full of sexual innuendos and senxual terms when looked at little differently than they are used, even before Calixta and Alcee embrace in their forbidden passion. Bobinot and Bibi, husband and young son to Calixta are stranded at the store as a somber storm approaches. As they wait there, they worry of her and Bobinot even buys a can of shrimp which his wife is fond of. This is just a symbol of his love for his wife. The storm in this part of the story represents a hindering force keeping a family apart.

Calixta is at home gathering laundry as the storm closes in when Alcee, a former lover approaches on his horse. "She had not seen him very often since her marriage, and never alone." (par. 7) tells the readers that the love affair has not happened before, but perhaps that the chance of it happening was there which is why they avoided the encounter up until this point. Alcee thinks very passionatly of Calixta, and the sexual desire they possess for eachother is prominant. As the storm beats down, and they give into their desires. "Do you remember - in Assumption, Calixta?" (par. 23) Alcee asks her after he first kisses her. This brings them back to a time when they were together before her marriage, which in turn brings those feelings to the present. He had such a passion for her then, that he "to save her he would resort in desperate flight." (par. 23) He thought her too defenseless to act on his feelings for her, yet now that she is a wife and mother, as well as he a husband and father, he feels as though this is the right time. This to me seems a little off, however the storm builds the sexual tension until they both give in. In this part of the story, the storm represents sexuality and passion.

When the storm subsides, so does the passion, and Alcee rides away before Bobinot and Bibi arrive home. Ironicly enough, life goes right back to normal. Bobinot and Bibi arrive home to a loving, caring wife and mother, and they enjoy a feast together and laugh as though nothing happened. Alcee writes a loving letter to his wife who is away with their children, telling her that not to hurry home. His intentions in this may be that he feels quilty, or maybe he would like the affair to happen again. Clarisse, Alcee's wife, has a surprising reaction to this letter. She was charmed and was enjoying herself "And the first free breath since her marriage seemed to restore the pleasant liberty of her maiden days. Devoted as she was to her husband, their intimate conjugal life was something wich she was more than willing to forego for a while." (par. 38) Perhaps with a strange twist to the story, she too was having an affair.

Although I do not agree with what happens in this story, I do not believe that either Calixta or Alcee are nessecerly in bad marriages. I think that they both could very well love their spouses and be happy with their marriages, but possibly the intensity of the storm with the intensity of their desire for eachother was too much for them to deny. The undeniable power of passion could be the same undeniable power of a mighty storm.