"The Storm"

I believe that the characters want to say that the storm excuses them from their responsibilities of their actions, but I don’t think it does. Before the storm even came into the picture Calixta explains her feelings about her marriage. The storm to me means more than just a weather condition. I think it means how Alcee and Calixta feel about their marriages and how they feel about each other.
Calixta and Alcee once were boyfriend and girlfriend. After all the years that had passed they still feel a strong connection towards each other. Paragraph 25 states, “the generous abundance of her passion, without guile or trickery, was like a white flame which penetrated and found response in depths of his own sensuous nature that had never been reached.” This to me makes it seem that they are not guilty at all about what they are doing. They obviously still have passion for each other.
Even when Calixta’s husband arrives home from the storm, she acts like nothing has happened. Calixta wanted to find some comfort from the storm and from her husband leaving. Alcee just happened to come in at the right time. I think for some odd reason the affair helped bring each of Alcee and Calixta’s marriages closer. On paragraph 35 Chopin states, “…and she gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek that resulted.”
This is a strange situation in which an affair actually brings people together instead of pushing them away. The storm was just an excuse for Calixta and Alcee to have the affair that they wanted to have for some time. After it was done they returned to their loved ones with more compassion then they ever had.