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The Storm

In Kate ChopinÆs The Storm, we find that the female protagonist, Calixta, suffers from repressed sexual desire even though she is married with a son. In the story, Chopin uses the symbol of the ôstormö that is unleashed unmercifully to represent the awakening of repressed sexuality in Calixta. Like the storm catches Calixta off-guard and cleanses everything when gone, so CalixtaÆs act of infidelity catches her off-guard but cleanses her soul of frustration and discontent.

Calixta is a married woman with a male child. Calixta is vaguely aware of a certain discontent in her being, one that stems from being unfulfilled sexually in her marriage. We see that the approaching storm catches Calixta off-guard with its rapid outbreak as her expression of sexual desire will catch her off-guard, ôShe was greatly occupied and did not notice the approaching storm,ö (Chopin, 1).

A man named Alcee, who Calixta knows, rides onto her property just as the rain begins to fall. He asks if he can wait on CalixtaÆs gallery until the ôstorm is over,ö and she tells him to ôCome ælong in,ö (Chopin, 2). When the storm becomes violent, forcing them indoors, it becomes ônecessary to put something beneath the door to keep the water out,ö (Chopin, 2). The ôbaggingö they use to do so represent them shutting out the outside world and CalixtaÆs commitment to her husband and family.

As the storm becomes ferocious, Calixta becomes worried it will blow the house down and over the whereabouts of her husband and son in the storm. Alcee consoles her by taking her in his arms. Though Calixta initially resists his amorous pursuits, she eventually will give in to the rising ôstormö of desire within her, ôAs she glanced up at him the fear in her liquid blue eyes had given place to a drowsy gleam that unconsciously betrayed a sensuous desire,ö (Chopin, 3).

Like the storm will cleanses everything once it subsides,

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The Storm. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 06:20, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1709639.html