The Storm By Kate Chopin

 

There is a tempestuous storm outside, husband and son are stranded in a store, drenched in mud. Calixta, the wife, is back home, busy with the household chores, not disconcerted about the storm or their well-being. The ex-lover drops-by seeking shelter, they share an erotic moment, and disperse! Post that they all live happily ever-after! 😊

 

All characters remain stolid, irrespective of the events in their lives, or their current situation, the storm!

The husband and wife are proclaimed as dutiful and conscientious, but nothing about their chemistry/biology has been revealed 😊

 

Omitting the adultery, passion, the story has a strong message of how fulfilment of ignored needs, can infuse new life and make the present more colourful and vivacious!


The storm brings two married people into a transient fleeting affair. With no repercussion, everyone involved (including families) live happily ever after.

Kate Chopin, having composed the concept of extra-marital affair, in the end of 1800s, showcased temerity. Must have been a taboo then!

Calixta, all immersed in her duties as a mom and wife, is introduced as sewing, washing and drying clothes (all mechanically!).

She is an ideal consummate robotic homemaker, looking perfectly after the household.
With the raucous storm outside, she isn't bothered about the menace, and imbibed in her duties. Storm doesn't perturb her.

She has been ignoring a part/desire of her, which comes out perilously. Consumed in house duties, she has been neglecting her own wishes and needs. Storm is a metaphor for the storm within her. A metaphor for all the desires which have been accumulating within, unnoticed like a volcano.

She is ignorant to the storm outside, like she is ignorant to the tempest within!

Storm has a positive connotation, is purgatory, as it is a cleansing purifying force, leaving her feeling gruntled and elated!

A satisfied happy household, where husband and son buy Calixta’s favorite shrimp. As Calixta, is over-scrupulous about cleanliness, they are scared, fearing if she will allow them inside, as they are drenched in mud.

But she is relaxed and happy, rather turning into a better mother and housewife, post the passing away of the storm!

So is the authoress, promoting extra-marital affairs, for the well-being of the current marriage?

I guess the bigger message is if we constantly ignore our needs at any level- mind body soul, we have nothing left to give. On a bigger note, giving and receiving should be a balanced affair for smooth functioning of relationships and life. We tend to get absorbed in our daily-chores and responsibilities, leaving us inanimate, lifeless, like empty coconut husks!

The languid and spiritless Calixta, is all rejuvenated, regenerated and refuelled, post the storm.

Beaming with energy, she is introduced back to her family as a new Calixta, brimming with life and energy, calm and composed!

It is not only the storm of body needs, but at intricate level, all our emotional and mental needs, that need fulfilment, like we all keep bombarding GRs with reviews to satiate our mental needs! :P

I furnish 4 stormy-stars, and subtract one, only wishing if Kate Chopin, could have used a non-profane way of depicting the storm! The parochial bit in me, doesn’t adhere to the blasphemous bit of the storyline, and would have given a big shout-out, for better pristine ways of bringing about such important issues on giving and receiving!