The Storm

In Kate Chopin's “The Storm” we are presented with a story about an affair. This act of adultery took place between two individuals whom had already been involved romantically in the past. Calixta and Alcee, both who are presently married, were reunited and forced together after many years by the titular storm. Whilst Calixta is at home with her old fling Alcee, her husband Bobinot and son Bibi are out in the storm, and not knowing their whereabouts is making Calixta very worried; putting her in a vulnerable place. Alcee attempting to comfort her brings up old memories, memories that rekindled a suppressed passion from their youth. In the story, Alcee mentions that he was always unable to follow through with his desires for Calixta in the past, but now it was different. They engaged in sex, shortly after the storm ends and they both go on about their day. Everything is normal and unchanged when Bobinot and Bibi return home, the actions that Calixta committed didn’t weight heavily in her conscious.
I believe that the affair was portrayed to be inevitable because of Calixta and Alcee’s past, and the lack of closure there was between the two. I feel that Chopin chose to tell a story of an affair with no consequences because it symbolizes the storm in the story. The storm embodies Alcee and the passionate moment with Calixta. Just as the storm came, poured, and left in a matter of moments, and so did Alcee. The story tells us that the actual storm passed by without causing any real damage, subsequently letting us know that Bobinot and Calixta also remained undamaged.
I don’t agree with Chopin’s views on marriages and what she might have believed to be the realities of it. I think that the lack of consequences is not a realistic outcome of an affair; granted that aspects of marriage are not as they were in the story’s time, adultery shouldn’t be tolerated. Hiding adultery within a marriage is wrong and selfish to the spouse who is being lied to. When and if the truth