Addressing the Value of Setting in “The Storm”

[Mariah Smith]

One contradictory in the story is the emotions from the storm. In HTRLLAP, dark and cloudy images come to mind while picturing a storm. In "The Storm", Alcee and Calixta are acting as if there isn't a depressing storm happening right outside of the home. The two are enjoying each other's company. Meanwhile, Calixta's husband and son are worried sick about her being alone during the storm, while she's having an affair with Alcee. Going back in the geography direction, the rain in a way can represent "cleansing" and "washing away" her infidelities that took place while her husband was out.

[Anuthmi Waas]

Aug 28, 2021 20:08:25 GMT -8 joshuaisinvalid said:

One contradiction, in the excerpt from “The Storm,” by Jack London, is the circumstances and locations Calixta and Bobinot are in during the storm. Taking into account the time period this novel was written in, the husband would’ve been tasked with creating income, whereas the wife would’ve been tasked with housekeeping. Although, it is implied that they have a housekeeper. The irony shows when Bobinot, the husband, has to trudge through the mud to make his way back home, but Calixta just cheats on him inside the safety and comfort of furniture. Focusing on an HTRLAP perspective on geography for contradictions, rain may represent purification, life, or washing away something. However, because Calixta stays away from the rain, she “misses” the chance and isn’t “purified” from her unfaithfulness to her husband.

I completely agree that the situations Calixta and Bobinot are put in throughout the story contradict one another and show the contrast in their situations. To add on, I believe the contrast of their situations displays how Calixta is betraying her husband. At the end of the story, Bobinot is not aware of the cheating;however, I think that seeing how Bobinot comes out of the storm versus Calixta displays this betrayal. Not only is Calixta coming out of the storm 'clean' while Bobinot is dirty, but when they come home dirty, Calixta is simply happy that they are safe. This combined with the contrast of how their storm experiences contrasted, shows that while she may be clean (on the outside), she is guilty inside and trying to make up for betraying her husband, by overlooking how dirty her husband is. 

[Samantha Olivar]

Contradictions can be found within “The Storm,” especially when different descriptions of weather contradict each other, when their symbolic meanings are compared. For instance, as the storm occurs, “the playing of lightning was incessant” (3). Typically, lightning or light in general can be interpreted to bring clarity to characters, giving them a deeper understanding of their lives and futures. Therefore, readers would expect that Calixta would have the sense to reject Alcee after the lighting gives her clarity to focus on her family. However, this is not the case. Instead, Calixta brings more confusion into her relationship by accepting Alcee and spending time with him while the storm passes. Additionally, considering chapter 9 of HTRLLAP, the presence of mist in this scene further contradicts the presence of lightning. The author describes that the rain was “enveloping the distant wood in a gray mist” (3). Fog and mist are types of weather that symbolize confusion and being lost. In combination, the mist and lightning are two symbolically contradicting settings in the short story that serve to highlight Calixta’s wrongdoing towards her husband and general confusion in her relationships.

[Samantha Olivar]

Aug 29, 2021 10:47:51 GMT -8 celinaespanta said:

The storm intensifies when Calixta and Alcee are alone together, but the two are laughing and enjoying each other's companies. This serves as a contradictory because while the weather becomes more violent outside, Calixta and Alcee are enjoying their time together inside a shelter, barely even paying attention to the storm. At the same time, this shows that Calixta and Alcee's past feelings for each other have never went away throughout the years and releases like a "storm" when they're guaranteed to be alone together. The storm intensifying when Calixta and Alcee are together also signify that a peaceful love between them is unattainable.

The storm can definitely be seen to contradict the time that Calixta and Alcee enjoy while in the comfort of Calixta’s home. I also agree that the storm is symbolic of the unattainable peace for the two of them. However, as an alternative perspective, the storm can also be seen to compliment the couple’s adventures because the dark and stormy weather could be seen to represent the mood while the couple is together. Much like the storm, the couple goes through heated and wrongful actions that create a dark and mysterious atmosphere.

[Grace Su]

One of the contradictions in "The Storm" is the contrast between the purity of the house, and Calixta and Alcee's affair. The inside of the house is described to have white bedsheets and a white bed, however when Calixta and Alcee begin thei r affair, they do it on the white bedsheets, which is contrasted to the sinful nature and dirtiness of their actions. Additionally, when Bibi and Bobinot return to the house, they are covered in mud and dirt, tracking the dirt into the clean house. From How to Read Literature like a Professor, we know that rain has a symbolic meaning, and that it can often bring out a person's true character since walking in the mud tends to make a character more stained, miserable, and angry. However, even though Bibi and Bobinot are the ones caught in the rain, it is Calixta's character that is brought out in the story, through her affair, and the fact that she instantly returns to normal after her affair showcases the contrasting sides of her personality.

[Madison Zhuang]

In “The Storm”, by Kate Chopin, the environment inside the house contradicts the storm that is beginning outside. Storms are typically associated with destruction and chaos, but the interaction between Alcee and Calixta show rekindling and underlying relief. The relationship between Alcee and Calixta shows the destructions of their individual marriages; however, the last line of the story contradicts everything else, saying “So the storm passed and everyone was happy.” Despite the ignorance of the other partners leading everyone to feel happy, the aftermath of the storm cannot be avoided.
In the chapter titled “…Except Sex” in HTLAP, it discusses how authors choose to depict these scenes as a metaphor for something else. In the short story, the storm forced the proximity of Alcee and Calixta. However, it can be interpreted that the storm represents the relationship between them: predictable and inevitable. The storm picks up when Alcee steps into the house, and coincidentally ends when Alcee and Calixta are finished.

[Grace Su]

Aug 29, 2021 14:23:22 GMT -8 Samantha Olivar said:

Contradictions can be found within “The Storm,” especially when different descriptions of weather contradict each other, when their symbolic meanings are compared. For instance, as the storm occurs, “the playing of lightning was incessant” (3). Typically, lightning or light in general can be interpreted to bring clarity to characters, giving them a deeper understanding of their lives and futures. Therefore, readers would expect that Calixta would have the sense to reject Alcee after the lighting gives her clarity to focus on her family. However, this is not the case. Instead, Calixta brings more confusion into her relationship by accepting Alcee and spending time with him while the storm passes. Additionally, considering chapter 9 of HTRLLAP, the presence of mist in this scene further contradicts the presence of lightning. The author describes that the rain was “enveloping the distant wood in a gray mist” (3). Fog and mist are types of weather that symbolize confusion and being lost. In combination, the mist and lightning are two symbolically contradicting settings in the short story that serve to highlight Calixta’s wrongdoing towards her husband and general confusion in her relationships.

I agree with your interpretations of the weather; I forgot how the story also focused on mist and lightning besides rain. Another point from How to Read Literature like a Professor is that rain has double meanings and can also symbolize restoration and new growth whereas in this story, Calixta experiences the opposite and returns to an old affair even after she has married. She should have denied Alcee's advances, but she chose to continue the affair with him, and as a result, the rain ended up symbolizing destruction instead of being restorative. 

[ellenpark]

The biggest contradiction that can be seen in "The Storm" is the everchanging weather along with the affair of Alcee and Calixta. From HTRLLAP, it can be read from Ch. 20 about seasons that most often times, storms don't represent happiness but rather times of despair and negativity. An affair is usually a happy time between the people that are partaking in it but the storm outside shows that the two are not exactly meant to be and can lead to utter destruction of their current relationships. Alcee's and Calixta's relationship is like the storm and the house in which they are having the affair in could represent the current relationships the two have. The affair is only enjoyable for the two people and being in the house could also represent their safe haven and that they want to avoid all the disturbances from their happy moments together. 

[Madison Zhuang]

Aug 29, 2021 12:41:34 GMT -8 Luigi Lozano said:

Kate Chopin's short story, "The Storm", revolves around the disastrous setting in atmosphere between the numerous characters that are facing nature alone. From the beginning of the story, for instance, there existed a "sinister intention from the west, accompanied by a sullen, threatening roar" (Chopin 1). This mention of a sinister intention is the storm that is approaching. However, there stood a contradiction between the setting and the events in the story as the events that existed was not uniform to the setting. The setting was continuously pressuring and ominous to the characters among the story, but different characters reacted differently to the same storm. Based on circumstance, some characters felt safe in their location, while others felt uneasy. Based on How to Read Literature Like a Professor, the text states "geography can also define or even develop character" (Foster 116). This context indicates that no matter what circumstance the characters came through, the actual geography they resided in was what constituted their character. If the location was safe, then the characters feel safe, contradicting the idea of a dangerous setting. However, if the location was unsafe, then the characters feel unsafe, even though the storm exists throughout all of the characters.

Hello, Luigi Lozano. Your analysis in which each character reacting differently to the same storm, showing the underlying feelings of what defines each character, was a perspective I had not considered and was truly eye-opening! Furthermore, your interpretation relating to the diction describing the storm and how it is different per each character shows that a setting can allow a deeper understanding of character based on how one perceives its surroundings.

[andrewcollard]

One contradiction of the setting and events is in the way the storm clears up after Alcee and Calixta committed adultery. In HTRLP rain is said to bring tragedy, but in this case, as Alcee begins to leave, the sun begins “turning the glistening green world into a palace of gems.” The rainstorm fades away as they embark on an act that is so inherently evil, which is typically what invites a rainstorm but instead it goes away. The contradiction between setting and event shows the act of adultery had fixed Calixta’s problem with her marriage, even though it is not explicit, Bobinot’s prediction of Calixta’s mood shows he did not want to do anything more that would upset her. Instead Calixta displays the opposite of what he thinks, illustrating that Alcee’s time with her had lightened her mood, taking her mind off marital problems.


One alternative interpretation from HTRLP uses irony to convey how unproblematic the rainstorm really is. Bobinot is purely focused on getting Bibi back to the house in a mannerly fashion, trying to dispose of any mud Bibi had managed to get on himself. From HTRLP the setting of a rainstorm should convey a disaster or even a danger of some sort and that is what Bobinot thinks the disaster is: getting home to a grouchy wife. However, the tragedy is in the act of adultery that goes on while Bobinot is out with Bibi, creating irony in the sense that he is concerned with the opposite of what he should be looking out for, ultimately suggesting that the storm is not the problem.

[Srinidhi Muralidhar]

The setting plays an immensely important role in the course of the story as the progression of the story is enhanced by the use of the weather. As the story progresses, the weather becomes worse and worse. The story starts are the storm begins to catch on. The raining begins and quickly picks up to give Calixta, who is in her house, a sense of anxiety and fear. She is scared that her family is outside in the rain. From HTRLLAP, we know that rain has the quality in literature to be able to unite characters fatefully. This happens here as well. Calixta and Alcee are united here due to the rain as Alcee asks Calixta if he can stay with her until the storm goes away. The storm does not go away. Instead it gets even worse, supposedly beating down on the roof and almost ripping away the very floorboards that they were standing on (Chopin). This was dramatic as the storm was tearing things up on the outside of the house. The contradiction between the setting and events of the story is that as the storm became worse and worse, Alcee and Calixta are drawn closer and closer together. As Calixta worries, Alcee comes closer to her and eventually makes contact with her, noting her warm, "palpitating" body (Chopin). We can see that as conditions became colder and more violent outside, there was more warmth between Alcee and Calixta on the inside. Rain does not necessarily unite people for the right reasons. Alcee and Calixta should not be together, but they are, which can be tied to how the storm got progressively violent. It is as if the weather itself was not in favor of this action as lightning periodically struck trees and tore up the fields far away from the house. The alternative interpretation to take away from here is that the setting allowed for these two character to come together, but not for the right reasons. It was done more for the purpose of the "sinister intention" of the weather. We can understand the contradictory effect of the weather which isolated some people from each other and brought others together. Ironically, the rightful relatives were isolated and the people who were not supposed to unite were united. This is quite the contradiction according to me. 

[carlyin]

The most significant setting in "The Storm" is the description of the weather. It not only reveals the environment, but reflects different characters' emotions. At the beginning of the story, the author describes the storm as a horrifying thing in order to emphasize Bibi and Bobinot's worry toward Calixta. In the passage, the author uses words such as "sombre clouds", "rolling", "threatening roar"(1) to show how intense the storm is. And then, he shows Bibi and Bobinot's worry toward Calixta through the conversation- "Mama'll be 'fraid, yes", "She'll shut the house" (1).

Connecting with HTRLLAP, the contradiction in the story is that the meaning of the storm is different for Bibi, Bobinot, and Calixta, Alcee. For Bibi and Bobinot, the storm represents horror, worry, and depressing. But for Calixta and Alcee, the storm represents a sense of mysterious and joy. Calixta and Alcee are happy about the storm because it creates a perfect environment for them to have an affair without being worrying to get caught.

[ellenpark]

Aug 28, 2021 14:19:22 GMT -8 Elia Wong said:

The weather is dark and stormy, with “certain somber clouds that were rolling with sinister intention from the west, accompanied by a sullen, threatening roar” (page 1), creating a rather depressing mood. Right away, we begin to associate the atmosphere with incoming disaster and the negative feelings that come with having to stay cooped up inside when a storm approaches. However, the settings affects the situation of each character differently. Whereas Bobinot and Bibi faced the misfortune of having to wait out the storm inside the wooden store as the elements rained down outside, Calixta and Alcee had a fabulous time, “not [heeding] the crashing torrents,” which made Calixta “laugh as she lay in his arms” (page 2), showing a contradiction of the implications of a storm since the two were feeling the opposite of glum and bored. The setting also gave Calixta and Alcee the opportunity to have an affair, which is also a contradiction since we perceive storms as disasters that take away opportunities. These contradictions can convey the possibility of still attaining joy in atmospheres that have the potential to prevent it. In chapter 9 of HTRRLLP, “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow,” Foster mentions rain having a cleansing effect. By carrying out her affair inside the bedroom, Calixta is protected from that cleansing, allowing her to keep her tarnished personality as seen by her having an affair.

I agree with this! I also did see that the weather in terms of Bobinot and Bibi in comparison to Calixta and Alcee was very contradicting in terms of the mood. Having a joyous time in the storm is not usually what happens, especially if a family member is out and about in a terrifying storm. I also found it interesting how you connected the rain and cleansing for this story because it seems to be true that Calixta is avoiding the problems that could follow and I also thought that she could even be hiding from the rain because she doesn't want to let go of this opportunity to enjoy a time of lust.

[carlyin]

Aug 26, 2021 14:51:01 GMT -8 Emily Willett said:

One of the biggest contradictions in "The Storm" is between the weather and the actions of Calixta and Alcee. As seen in HTRLLAP, stormy weather represents danger, depression, sadness, conflict, and negative events. However, while the storm is going on outside and the other characters are afraid and trying to find safety, Calixta and Alcee are inside laughing. They are almost oblivious to what is happening outside and are passionately having an affair. Both of them are happy, laughing, and enjoying their time which is opposite of what the storm represents. It can seem as if the negative events and danger only applies to Calixta's family that is stuck in the storm. This can represent Calixta's actions being harmful to her family but not herself.

I totally agree with you. The description of the storm reflects two different emotions on Bibi and Bobniot, and on Calixta and Alcee. In Bibi and Bobniot's point of views, the storm is intense and scary, and they worry about the safety of Calixta, in which the description of the storm reflects their worry emotion. But on Calixta and Alcee's side, they're happy about the storm instead of scared of it. The storm creates a perfect time for them to have an affair. That's why the storm reflects a sense of joy on them.

[Srindhi]

Aug 29, 2021 14:56:33 GMT -8 andrewcollard said:

One contradiction of the setting and events is in the way the storm clears up after Alcee and Calixta committed adultery. In HTRLP rain is said to bring tragedy, but in this case, as Alcee begins to leave, the sun begins “turning the glistening green world into a palace of gems.” The rainstorm fades away as they embark on an act that is so inherently evil, which is typically what invites a rainstorm but instead it goes away. The contradiction between setting and event shows the act of adultery had fixed Calixta’s problem with her marriage, even though it is not explicit, Bobinot’s prediction of Calixta’s mood shows he did not want to do anything more that would upset her. Instead Calixta displays the opposite of what he thinks, illustrating that Alcee’s time with her had lightened her mood, taking her mind off marital problems.


One alternative interpretation from HTRLP uses irony to convey how unproblematic the rainstorm really is. Bobinot is purely focused on getting Bibi back to the house in a mannerly fashion, trying to dispose of any mud Bibi had managed to get on himself. From HTRLP the setting of a rainstorm should convey a disaster or even a danger of some sort and that is what Bobinot thinks the disaster is: getting home to a grouchy wife. However, the tragedy is in the act of adultery that goes on while Bobinot is out with Bibi, creating irony in the sense that he is concerned with the opposite of what he should be looking out for, ultimately suggesting that the storm is not the problem.

I completely agree with Andrew here. It is very contradictory that such a violent storm clears up after something bad has been committed. Different weathers and settings usually represent different actions of the main characters, however, this is misplaced. The rain beats down on the house as the event begins to unfold, but then immediately goes away as the mistake has been made. A good interpretation to be made here could be that the weather was concealing their actions from everyone else. The rain that is associated with purity and cleansing is hiding something that is very impure and wrong in nature. This is ironic in a sense but it qualifies under a contradiction within the story.