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Literary Devices
Part 2
Explanation and Analysis—Acadian Dialect:
In “The Storm,” characters speak in local Louisiana dialects. The primary dialect in the story—in which both Calixta and Bobinôt speak—is Acadian, meaning it comes from the descendants of the French-speaking Acadian people who moved from Canada (and the northeastern portion of the United States) to Louisiana between the 1600s and 1700s. The following passage demonstrates the way that Chopin captures Calixta’s Acadian dialect in a conversation with Alcée:
“If this keeps up, Dieu sait if the levees goin’ to stan’ it!” [Calixta] exclaimed.
“What have you got to do with the levees?”
“I got enough to do! An’ there’s Bobinôt with Bibi out in that storm—if he only didn’ left Friedheimer’s!”
“Let us hope, Calixta, that Bobinôt’s got sense enough to come in out of a cyclone.”
This passage comes after Alcée has sought shelter from the storm in Calixta’s home. Here, Calixta speaks in dialect, expressing worry about the safety of her husband and child in the face of the storm. She exclaims, “If this keeps up, Dieu sait if the levees goin’ to stan’ it!” combining English with French (Dieu sait, meaning “God knows”), a common occurrence in the Acadian dialect. Chopin also intentionally spells “going” as “goin’,” “stand” as “stan’,” and “didn’t” as “didn’” in this scene in order to capture the ways that Acadians often drop the final sounds in words.
That Chopin does not alter the spelling or grammar of Alcée’s words at all suggests that he is not Acadian. In fact, in “At the 'Cadian Ball”—the prequel to “The Storm”—Chopin directly states that Alcée is Creole. Alcée’s more traditional use of the English language also hints at the fact that Creole people in Louisiana at the time tended to be of a higher socioeconomic class (and therefore have more access to formal education). That the two characters have a deep and intimate sexual encounter despite these differences suggests that love and sexual desire transcend such social divides.
Related Themes:
