Marriage and Infidelity Theme Analysis

“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, the pair rekindle their romance. Thrown together by a chance encounter, Calixta and Alcée revisit the passion they both felt as younger people. The experience leaves both Calixta and Alcée with increased tenderness towards their families which, in turn, leaves "everyone was happy." "Everyone" here refers to both married couples: Alcée and Clarisse, as well as Calixta and Bobinôt.

When readers first met Calixta, she prioritizes her home and family over her own well-being. Leading up to her sexual encounter with Alcée, Calixta is working hard to maintain the family home, sweating profusely over a sewing machine. She responds to the storm not by seeking safety for herself, but rather by attempting to gather laundry left outside. When lightning strikes violently nearby, shaking the “very boards” Calixta and Alcée stand on and splitting a nearby tree, Calixta responds by fretting about her son, Bibi, who happens to be safer than herself. As such, it’s clear that Calixta is completely preoccupied with maintaining the home at the risk of her own safety. The storm triggers an outburst from Calixta, who’s initially unable to handle the stress of it. She is so distraught, she begins to cry, unable to “compose herself.” Without Alcée’s assistance, it’s unclear if Calixta could face the storm at all. Taken together, these details reveal that Calixta is clearly stressed out. Fixated on keeping up her home, Calixta is quickly thrown into a frenzy over the developing storm. Because she’s so single-minded in this regard, she’s unable to handle the thunderstorm without Alcee’s help. As a result, she places herself in a dangerous situation. Without taking care of herself first Calixta is unable take care of anyone.

Readers get the sense that Calixta’s level of stress is generally high, leading her to snap at her family over minor infractions. As they trek back through wet fields, both Bobinôt and Bibi are preoccupied with Calixta’s reaction to tracking mud into the house, “expecting the worst.” The stress causes Bibi to carry a sense of “pathetic resignation,” while Bobinôt is the “embodiment of serious solicitude.” The pair expect Calixta—as an “over-scrupulous housewife—to respond with anger when they return home. Due to Bobinôt’s fear of Calixta’s anger, he stops to periodically scrape mud from their clothes, even though they are tired and soggy. Bobinôt and Bibi’s general displeasure to return to Calixta indicates a high level of tension within the home, with Calixta ready to snap at any disruption in the cleanliness of her domain.

As they have sex, Calixta and Alcée focus on their own happiness rather than the service of their families. Afterwards, they are kinder to their spouses. The moment of intimacy allows Alcée and Calixta to escape the daily grind as the two take a moment to “swoon together at the very borderland of life’s mystery.” With Calixta, Alcée accesses new “depths of his own sensuous nature.” Afterwards, the once-stressed Calixta is left in a much better mood, “beaming” and “laughing.” As a happier woman, Calixta is kinder to her family; when Bobinôt and Bibi return, Calixta appears renewed, with “nothing but satisfaction at their safe return.” Alcée also appears driven by consideration keep his family healthy and happy. This motivation inspires Alcée to send a “loving letter, full of tender solicitude” to his wife, Clarisse, encouraging to take a longer vacation if she’d like, and reminding her that her happiness and well-being is a priority for him. Attending to their own sexual desires appears to spark an expression of love and care from Alcée and Calixta towards their families.

At the end of the story, both Clarisse and Alcée and their respective families are happy. At the center of Clarissa and Alcée’s good moods is the fact that the both took the time to tend to their own personal desires. Through its happy ending, Chopin’s story of an extramarital affair makes the radical claim that sex outside of marriage isn’t as sinful or shameful as readers may think. Instead, both Calixta and Alcée appear devoted as ever to their respective spouses and exhibit a clear sense of generosity of spirit following their sexual encounter. Thus, rather than destroying relationships, love breeds more love.