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Part 5
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Storm, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sex, Gender, and Liberation
Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” tells of a brief, passionate encounter between Calixta and Alcée, two former lovers who reunite as a thunderstorm rages outside Calixta’s home. Alcée stops at Calixta’s house seeking shelter from the rain, which has also momentarily prevented Calixta’s husband, Bobinôt, and young son, Bibi, from returning home. The separation from her family grants Calixta and Alcée time to be alone. Calixta and Alcée subsequently have sex, allowing Calixta…
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Sex and Nature
“The Storm” details two parallel events: a tremendous thunderstorm and a passionate sexual encounter between Alcée and Calixta. The thunderstorm is so intense that all characters must take shelter. This leaves Calixta alone at her home with her former lover Alcée, who is traveling nearby when the storm breaks. Meanwhile, the thunderstorm leaves Calixta’s son, Bibi, and husband, Bobinôt, stranded at a store. Beyond serving as a plot device for situating each…
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Marriage and Infidelity
“The Storm” details a passionate encounter between former lovers Calixta and Alcée. Set long after the pair share a kiss in a different Chopin short story, “The Storm” tells the story of two people with unrequited sexual chemistry. At this point in their lives, Calixta has a husband, Bobinôt, and Alcée has a wife, Clarisse. Both are also parents to young children. When Alcée seeks shelter at Calixta’s home during a thunderstorm…
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Get the entire The Storm LitChart as a printable PDF.
