Introduction to English Literature 2024
 

The Storm

 

1. An Open Celebration of Female Sexuality

 

 

They did not heed the crashing torrents, and the roar of the elements made her laugh as she lay in his arms. She was a revelation in that dim, mysterious chamber; as white as the couch she lay upon. Her firm, elastic flesh that was knowing for the first time its birthright, was like a creamy lily that the sun invites to contribute its breath and perfume to the undying life of the world. 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 yet been reached. When he touched her breasts they gave themselves up in quivering ecstasy, inviting his lips. Her mouth was a fountain of delight. And when he possessed her, they seemed to swoon together at the very borderland of life's mystery.

 

2. A Curious Ending: a regret, a compromise, or a freedom from the conventional morality?


The rain was over; and the sun was turning the glistening green world into a palace of gems. Calixta, on the gallery, watched Alcee ride away. He turned and smiled at her with a beaming face; and she lifted her pretty chin in the air and laughed aloud.

...

Bobinot and Bibi began to relax and enjoy themselves, and when the three seated themselves at table they laughed much and so loud that anyone might have heard them as far away as Laballiere's.

... 

As for Clarisse, she was charmed upon receiving her husband's letter. She and the babies were doing well. The society was agreeable; many of her old friends and acquaintances were at the bay.

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 which she was more than willing to forego for a while.

...

So the storm passed and everyone was happy.

 

3. Questions;

 

- Is this story suggesting a liberation or a compromise?

-Pursuing female sexuality outside the marriage is itself a liberation for women?

-Does this story support or contradict Ortner's idea of a woman as a "cultured" being like any other man? 

 

 

4. Comments from Per Seyersted, a Chopin biographer.

 

 “sex in this story is a force as strong, inevitable, and natural as the Louisiana storm which ignites it.” The conclusion of the story, Seyersted adds, is ambiguous, because Chopin “covers only one day and one storm and does not exclude the possibility of later misery. The emphasis is on the momentary joy of the amoral cosmic force. Kate Chopin was not interested in the immoral in itself, but in life as it comes, in what she saw as natural–or certainly inevitable–expressions of universal Eros, inside or outside of marriage. She focuses here on sexuality as such, and to her, it is neither frantic nor base, but as ‘healthy’ and beautiful as life itself.”

 

5. A Film Adaptation

 

 

 

  Related Binaries

The Storm.pdf  Storm in PDF

 

  Related Links

The page on The Storm in a webpage devoted to Kate Chopin

 

   Related Keyword : Kate Chopin
 

 

 
 
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