The Relevance of the Atmospheric Disturbance in the Storm

The Relevance of the Atmospheric Disturbance in The Storm The Storm, by Kate Chapin, is a short story about two people that participate in an affair during a storm. It's set in a small town in the late 1800s. The story involves two families, one consisting of Bobinot, Calixta, and Bibi, the other consisting of Alcee, Clarisse, and their babies. Calixta is at her house separated from her family due to the storm. (35) Alcee is separated from his family because they are visiting another town. The storm brings Calixta and Alcee together resulting in a torrid affair. A storm can symbolize many things both good and bad. The storm is essential to the story both symbolically and directly. The storm acts as a catalyst in the story as it causes the events to unfold as they do. The initial unambiguous effect the storm has in the story is it causes Bobinot and Bibi to stay at the local store to take refuge. This leaves Calixta home alone. Alcee, we are lead to believe, was out riding his horse somewhere near Calixta s house when the storm started. This causes him to take shelter there.
Before Calixta got married five years earlier, the two had romantic feelings toward each other. They rarely saw each other after that and this was the first time that they had been alone together in many years. Because of the awkward feelings he had, Alcee expressed an intention to remain outside (35). This is where the storm forces him to go inside. Once inside it seems harmless conversation would be all that took place. But alas, the storm once again comes into play. While Calixta, worried about her family, was looking out the window the storm sends down a huge lightning bolt into a tree nearby. This causes her to jump and for Alcee to instinctively wrap her in his arms. (35) The storm now comes into play one last time. As Calixta is nervously pacing around the house (because of the storm), Alcee grabs her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down. At this point their old feelings become too overwhelming resulting in an affair. When the storm ends, it symbolizes the end of the affair. (36) We are never told what Chapin meant by the title The Storm. The most obvious answer is that it is referring to the actual, physical storm. But she could have intended it to represent the symbolic storm that is taking place in the characters emotions and bodies. The physical storm is used in the beginning to foreshadow the events that follow. Bobinot points out certain somber clouds that were rolling with sinister intention from the west (34). The storm could also represent how an affair can affect a marriage. A storm can mean change, and an affair will obviously change a marriage. When the author describes the affair she says, they did not head the crashing torrents which could symbolize that they did not care about the affects their affair would have.
Storms can be considered either good or bad, depending on how, when, and by whom it is viewed. One may question how a storm can be considered good; consider when rain comes in the middle of a drought. Just the same several good things can be found in the story that is brought about by the storm.
The first and most obvious good this brings is the physical pleasure for Alcee and Calixta. Just like the rain brings life in a drought, the affair brought new life to their sex lives, which were in a kind of drought. It also did some good for their families too. Bobinot did not get in trouble for coming home dirty and they had a nice dinner that night. As for Clarisse, Alcee wrote her a nice letter inviting her to stay for another month in the city.
The most important thing to remember is that all of these good things are temporary. We do not see the bad parts of the storm. Many people view storms as generally bad. Just by thinking about tornados, floods, ice storms, etc., you quickly get an idea of the destructive power of storms. The same thing can be applied in this story. The endless negative possibilities that the affair can bring far surpass the temporary good.
When people first read the story, they get the impression that Chapin is in some way defending, or approving of, adultery. As with her previous works, it deals with a controversial theme and was quickly judged immoral. I disagree. If Calixta and Alcee would have thought their actions through then the affair would not have happened. You have to look a little deeper, and once you do you realize that things are not as they first appear. To illustrate this, I will reiterate a point made earlier. When Bobinot tells his son of the approaching storm, Chopin describes it as somber clouds that were rolling with sinister intention accompanied by a sullen, threatening roar (34). On the surface it is just a way of describing the storm. To me, when she uses words like sinister intention and threatening roars it is a type of personification, or giving an inanimate object the qualities of a person or animal. Looking back at the direct effects the storm has on the characters, it is clear that the storm was the main reason for the affair taking place. Everything the storm does drive them closer to it, as if fulfilling it s sinister intent. In the events of The Storm, it is clear that the storm has a tremendous effect on the characters involved. The way we view the story, good or bad, depends on how we look at it.